Christmas Cheer - Part 3

Track 8
Journey to Christmas Island, The Rosebuds (2012)

I first mentioned this awesome group here 11 years ago in a short but rave review of their 2012 album Christmas Tree Island. I noted then that two of the album’s tracks — “Xmas in New York” and “Melt Our Way Out” — were already on my list of all-time holiday favorites, and that each of the 11 other tracks were “bona fide holiday treats.” I’m no less enthusiastic about the album today, which leaves me scratching my head as to why it’s taken me so long to include a second song by The Rosebuds on one of my compilations. (“Melt Our Way Out” was featured on my 2017 mix, It’s Christmas Time Again.) I truly have no idea; I’m just glad to rectify the oversight with the final track from their album, which is called “Journey to Christmas Island.” (I guess you can’t properly call this the title track as the journey here is merely to Christmas Island. Also, this tune is about a journey, not a land mass, in contrast to the album, whose title specifically refers to a location, Christmas Tree Island. Are these two completely different islands, or was the word “Tree” inadvertently dropped from the title in the track listing? Considering the track is an instrumental, I don’t suppose it really matters too much.)

Like Dillon Fence, The Rosebuds formed in North Carolina. Principal members Ivan Howard (vocals, guitar, drums, bass, keyboards and programming) and Kelly Crisp (vocals, keyboard, drums, guitar and accordion) met in college in Wilmington, NC and eventually settled in Raleigh after marrying and forming the band. Like Dillon Fence, the Rosebuds achieved considerable popularity as an indie band and also claim a particular affinity for holiday music. Unfortunately, like Dillon Fence, they’ve also disbanded. Their follow-up to Christmas Tree Island, the 2014 release Sand + Silence, was their final album. They divorced in 2012. Howard is currently pursuing a solo career on the West Coast, while Crisp works as writer on the East Coast.

The Rosebuds were active from roughly 2001 through 2014, and during this period they released over a dozen LPs and singles. I can’t claim to have heard them all, but they have a unique and pleasant indie sound. True Christmas music fans should really consider adding Christmas Tree Island to your collection, although the intimacy and tenderness that makes the album so special take on an edge of sadness knowing that Howard and Crisp are no longer together.

Track 9
Holiday Greetings, Former President Ronald Reagan and Former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney

I’ve been interested in politics going back pretty much as far as I can remember, and my interest was warmly encouraged by the adults in my family. Near as I can tell, our family has always been pretty much solid New England Republican in its orientation. New England Republicans confound the GOP faithful in other parts of the nation by staking out relatively liberal positions on issues involving race, disarmament and individual liberties. They tend to hold views closer to the traditions of Presidents Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt than Richard Nixon or Ronald Reagan.

Like many people, college introduced me to new ideas and perspectives and by the end of my freshman year I’d become the family’s first registered Democrat. After graduating college I spent ten years as political activist and neighborhood organizer in Boston, and I’ve remained a stalwart Democrat. To my great surprise, my Dad, a Republican banker, moved considerably to the left in his later years. In January 2008, the day before he died, he told me he was supporting Senator Barack Obama for president. My younger brother, a former Reagan partisan, is now staunchly anti-Trump and working for a green business in Maine.

I have many friends and a few relatives who are still Republicans, as is their right. It’s a free country. But to me, there’s a big difference between members of the Republican party and members of the Trump cult. I never agreed with Ronald Reagan about much, but I respect that he was doing what he thought was best for the country. I hold a similar view of Liz Cheney, the courageous Republican who served as vice chair of the U.S. Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack. Actually I respect Cheney a great deal, because she was willing to lose her seat in Congress to oppose Donald Trump and bring to light the facts behind the horrific attack on our nation’s Capitol on January 6, 2021, which Trump promoted. Unlike Reagan, Trump couldn't care less what's best for our country. He seeks to benefit only his own twisted self-interest.

This track was produced by Representative Cheney as a holiday message last December. It consists of an old Christmas message of Ronald Reagan’s followed by a short greeting of her own. The entire track represents a point of view that has all but disappeared from our land, which is tragic.

Track 10
MAGA Christmas Chipmunks, Patrick Fitzgerald (2022)

There’s an awful lot of history behind this next track, which uses one of the most recognized holiday songs of all time to take a swing at three of the most embarrassing characters to ever serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. The track was released last December by comedian and content creator Patrick Fitzgerald, who describes himself as the “[p]oor man's Randy Rainbow[,]” and “Weird Al [Yankovic] without the accordion or talent.” I’d say he’s a good bit more talented than he lets on. In just a little over two minutes he manages to pretty much mop the floor with GOP Representatives Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Green and it’s done in such a light-hearted way you can almost picture the three of them laughing right along with the rest of us.

The track is based, of course, on the classic novelty hit “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late),” originally released in 1958 by American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor Ross Bagdasarian under the name David Seville. Bagdasarian, who wrote the 1951 Rosemary Clooney hit "Come on-a My House," had spent the balance of the decade trying to come up with a suitable follow-up hit but things weren’t going well and by 1957 his funds were running out. On a whim, he decided to purchase a fancy new tape machine that allowed material to be recorded at a variety of different speeds. Recording at higher speeds produced funny, high-pitched voices, which led Bagdasarian to create a song called “Witch Doctor,” which was released by Liberty Records and became his first chart-topping hit. He continued to fool around with the recorder to create a fictional trio of chipmunks that he named after the top brass at Liberty Records – Simon, Theodore and Alvin, and their first single was a smash hit at the end of 1958, selling over 4.5 million copies in just seven weeks and topping the Billboard Hot 100 for two of them. In fact, “The Chipmunk Song” was the last holiday tune to top the Hot 100 until Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” hit the top spot in 2019.

My Dad bought me a copy of “The Chipmunk Song” sometime during the mid-‘60s and I nearly wore it out on my little record player. He was a pretty good sport about it most of the time, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t his all-time favorite record.

Bagdasarian did pretty well with The Chipmunks franchise, which eventually produced not only several additional hit records but a number of movies, a weekly Saturday morning cartoon series and a variety of television specials.

We're doing pretty well so far, having offered a few notes about the first 10 tracks on this year's mix before December 1. We've got 27 tracks to go and 24 days in which to describe them. Call me Pollyanna, but I think things are looking good.

I've often used the words Pollyanna or Pollyannaish to describe irrepressible optimists and those who tend to find the good in everything. I'd love to be one of them, though I fear I'm not cut out to be. I learned only today that this word comes from the 1913 children's novel Pollyanna by Eleanor Porter. In the book, a young orphan named Pollyanna Whittier is sent to live with her stern spinster aunt in Vermont following the death of her father, who had taught her the values of gratitude and appreciation before he died. Pollyanna used those lessons to create what she called "The Glad Game," which involved finding something to be grateful for in every situation, no matter how grim. For example, upon receiving a set of crutches rather than a doll as her Christmas present at the missionary home, Pollyanna decided to feel good about the crutches because she didn't need to use them. In the book, Pollyanna shared her outlook with the rest of the adults in the Vermont town she later settled in with her aunt. I'd say I have a lot to learn from young Pollyanna. 

I'll be back soon with info about my next three tracks.