I Wish It Was Christmas Today - Part 9

I started this blog to share information about the tracks on my annual holiday compilations, and we're currently in the midst of reviewing the 41 tracks on my 20th holiday mix, "I Wish It Was Christmas Today." We're now more than half-way through this year's mix and today we'll be looking at Tracks 22 through 26. Here we go!

Track 22
Holiday Greetings, William Shatner 

I don't know that I've ever seen a full episode of Star Trek or even a partial episode of T.J. Hooker on TV. I've watched none of the Star Trek movies and only a few bits and pieces of Boston Legal, although I keep meaning to watch more of that show since I did practice law in Boston for a number of years. Come to think of it, the only programs I can recall seeing William Shatner in are his Saturday Night Live appearance with the Sweeney Sisters that I wrote about last week and his two appearances on the original Twilight Zone series — "Nick of Time" from Season 2 and "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" from Season 5. Still, I'm crazy about the guy, especially because he's now 93 years old and still going strong. I stuck in this five-second holiday greeting strictly as a brief homage. Shatner's worked in a variety of media, kept busy throughout his career and while he takes his work seriously he's never taken himself too seriously, as we can see from the following rendition of the Elton John classic "Rocket Man," which Shatner performed in 1972 following an introduction by Bernie Taupin, who penned the song's lyrics:

Shatner's performance takes on special significance when you consider that in 2021 he became the oldest man to fly into space when he embarked on a suborbital Blue Origin flight at the age of 90 with Star Trek enthusiast and Blue Origin creator Jeff Bezos. I tell you, there's just no stopping William Shatner.

Track 23
Krampus Is an Evil Man, AAIIEE (2013) 

Krampus

While the predominant American image of Santa Claus has changed over the years (as I noted last week), he's generally seen as a kind and generous soul whose raison d'etre is delivering gifts to well-behaved children throughout the world. Because he sees kids when they're sleeping and knows when they're awake, Santa knows if they've been bad or good and dispenses gifts accordingly. The worst punishment he can inflict is leaving a lump of coal in a child's stocking — disappointing, but hardly catastrophic. There's a competing folk character,  however who metes out far more severe forms of punishment. Conceived in Germany and recognized in many European countries, this horned, anthropomorphic figure is known as Krampus, and he rounds up young miscreants on Christmas Eve, throws them in sacks and beats them with sticks. 

I first learned about Krampus by way of David Sedaris' story "6 to 8 Black Men," which appears in his 2004 collection "Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim." Seriously, if you haven't read this story or heard Sedaris recount it, it's worth your time to do so. Links appear below.

Krampus' origins are the subject of some debate, but the notion of an evil character who invades the winter solstice goes back many centuries. Sometime in the 17th century, many realized that it didn't look good for Santa's precursor, St. Nicholas, to be dishing out punishment to naughty children. He was, after all, a saint. The idea emerged that St. Nicholas need to have a helper who could inflict whatever pain was required, and Krampus was assigned to do the job. 

During World War II, the ruling fascists forbid any discussion of Krampus. I guess they figured that when it came to dispensing punishment they were more qualified than any made-up character. Things changed after the war. For example, the new government of Austria took to circulating leaflets titled "Krampus Is an Evil Man," which warned parents that evoking this character might lead to serious trauma, and surely everyone had had enough of that. Around 2000, however, Krampus experienced a revival of sorts, and he's lately begun to appear with increasing frequency at holiday celebrations throughout Europe. These have mostly been fanciful appearances to date — tongue in cheek, if you will. But given the troubles some European countries are currently experiencing, one wonders what sorts of duties Krampus might ultimately be asked to perform.

This track was recorded by the Seattle-based band whose name is depicted by the symbol at left. I think Prince did something similar some years later, didn't he? symbol at left. Somewhere along the way the symbol was translated into English as AAIIEE, which seems to have led only to additional confusion. 

The band was conceived and first started playing together in 1981 and is comprised of Johnny Vinyl on guitar, vocals and keyboards; Jeff Larson on bass and vocals; Brent Petty on drums, and Greg Stumph on guitar and vocals. While the band's maintained this same basic line-up from its founding, the members' outside pursuits and travels have led to a number of lengthy hiatuses over the years. They do not seem to have ever formally dissolved, but the "Gigs and News" page on the group's website lists nothing noteworthy after 2012.

AAIIEE

I first discovered "Krampus Is an Evil Man" on the album "Christmas Boogie Woogie:  Ten Years of Green Monkey Christmas," a truly offbeat collection of holiday mayhem that you can preview or purchase on Bandcamp HERE. I love the eerie and rather frightening sound of this track; in fact, along with "Christmas Party" and one track yet to be introduced, "Krampus Is an Evil Man" is one of my three favorite tracks on this year's collection.

Check out AAIIEE's Website

Read "6 to 8 Black Men," by David Sedaris

Hear David Sedaris Read "6 to 8 Black Men"

Buy "Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim," by David Sedaris on amazon.com

Tracks 24 and 26
Judy Garland Holiday Greetings, Judy Garland (1963) 

I included these tracks with a certain amount of misgiving because I'm a big fan of Judy Garland and I don't mean to ridicule her for requiring three takes to record a short holiday greeting. Garland is said to have suffered from drug dependency for much of her life, and I don't mean to make light of that either, as this is an affliction that can affect any of us and in her case it appears to have arisen in part because of the heavy demands placed on her by movie studio executives who sought to take maximum advantage of her talents and celebrity. Ultimately, I chose to include this recording, divided into two separate tracks, because it demonstrates that taping any message is difficult work and getting things right often involves more than one attempt. 

Track 24 is Garland's first attempt at recording the greeting. It ends badly, as she laughingly admits. 

Track 26 consists of the next two attempts, the first of which is unusable because she fails to include a mention of the holidays. "She's aware of that," says someone — possibly the director. On the next attempt, she gets it right.

I should note that I took some dramatic license in presenting these takes as I did. In reality, what I label "Take 1" was Garland's second take, and my "Take 2" was actually her first attempt. You can see the real recording of all three takes in their proper order HERE. 

Garland began her film career in 1936 at the age of 14 in the film "Pigskin Parade." She became a huge international star three years later with her portrayal of Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz," and went on to complete an additional two dozen features for MGM at the rate of around three a year over the next decade. Released from MGM in 1950, Garland was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actress for her role in the 1954 Warner Brothers film "A Star Is Born," and Best Supporting Actress for the 1961 film "Judgment at Nuremberg" for United Artists. In the 1960s, Garland's focus shifted from movies to sound recordings, live performances and television. In 1969, she died from an accidental overdose of sleeping pills at the age of  47. 

Here's Judy performing a Christmas medley with Jack Jones and her daughter, Liza Minnelli, from her 1963 holiday TV special:

And here's Judy's moving performance of "'Till After the Holidays" on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, from December 17, 1968:

Garland was an enormous talent whose life included both magnificent achievements and terrible challenges. She was a warm and empathetic personality whose performances always seemed to include a certain measure of human frailty, which earned her the allegiance of fans who faced challenges in their own lives. She was revered by members of the nascent GBLTQ community in the 1960s, and was among the first performers to acknowledge and appreciate her many gay fans. Judy Garland was surely one of a kind, and she will be long remembered for her incredible talents and the body of wonderful work she left behind. 

Track 25
Mighty Lunch Hour with the WBCN Chipmunks, Tom Sandman for WBCN Boston (1986) 

(L to R): Shelton, Parenteau and Laquidara

I wrote several days ago about Billy West and Tom Sandman, who created a variety of memorable  sketches, characters and promos for rock radio station WBCN-FM in Boston during the 1980s. This track was recorded to kick off one of the thousand or more "Mighty Lunch Hours" hosted by legendary Boston DJ Ken Shelton during his 10+ years at WBCN. Shelton's show ran each weekday from 10:00 am until 2:00 pm between Charles Laquidara's "Big Mattress" program (6:00 to 10:00 am) and Mark Parenteau's afternoon show (2:00 to 6:00 pm). As I recall, this line-up was in place for most of the 1980s.

Shortly before 12 noon each weekday, Ken would play a short intro piece featuring a reworked version of a well-known song altered to emphasize some lunch-related theme. For example, the Temptations' classic "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" was reworked as "Papa Ate a Chicken Bone"; David Bowie's "This Is Not America" became "This Is Not a Hamburger"; and "I'm on Fire" by Bruce Springsteen became "Lunch on Fire." Sandman and West created hundreds of similar parodies, and they helped to make the "Mighty Lunch Hour" a daily Boston tradition. 

This track, of course, was a take-off of the 1958 novelty record "The Chipmunks Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)", which I posted about last year. This Tom Sandman creation features DJs Laquidara, Shelton and Parentau as chipmunks bickering about who works the hardest and clamoring for something good for lunch. I didn't include the entire promo in my mix, but here's the full version of the song as it appeared on Shelton's "Mighty Lunch Hour":

I have to say that Shelton is one of my favorite radio personalities of all time. I first started listening to him on WBZ-FM in Boston when I was in junior high school. He and Clark Schmidt were the only two on-air personalities at that station in those days, and I especially enjoyed listening to their weekly countdowns every Thursday after school. 

Shelton got his start as the floor manager for WBZ-TV's children's show "Boomtown," with Rex Trailer. From there he migrated to WBZ-FM, where he got the nickname "Captain Ken," by which many fans still think of him today. After WBZ-FM became fully automated in 1975, Shelton worked for WCOZ-FM, WEEI-FM, and finally WBCN, where he replaced Matt Siegel in 1980. Shelton had a friendly, relatively mature style at WBCN. He always impressed me as a true student of rock who could both recognize new talent and play the very best stuff from the past. 

"Captain" Ken Shelton

In addition to the Mighty Lunch Hour, Shelton's show also included a daily "Coffee Break" at 10:30 each morning, which featured listener requests phoned in from workplaces throughout Greater Boston. You can hear his regular "Coffee Break" jingle HERE. 

Things at WBCN started to go south in the 1990s. Shelton left in 1993 to assume morning drivetime duties for WZLX-FM, which became a classic rock station after it was purchased by Infinity Broadcasting. Laquidara left three years later when his morning slot was turned over to Howard Stern's syndicated program out of New York. By the 2000s, the station was a mere shadow of its former self, and in 2009 it was taken off the air entirely. Boston's 104 FM is now a sports station.

I don't listen to radio much anymore. Most stations have limited playlists of comprised of unobjectionable dreck selected by corporate functionaries and played by unctuous automatons amidst seemingly endless stretches of idiotic ads. Stations had distinct personalities in the 20th century, individual DJs played terrific tunes based on their particular tastes and the music was authentic and imaginative. You kids don't have any idea how good it really was.

Hear More Themes from WBCN's "Mighty Lunch Hour," with "Captain" Ken Shelton

Hear Still More "Mighty Lunch Hour" Themes from WBCN-FM

Hear a Bunch of Classic WBCN Radio Airchecks Via The Internet Archive

Read More About Ken Shelton from the One Music Museum of New England

We've got 15 tracks yet to discuss from this year's compilation and 15 days to go before Christmas, not counting today. I'll be back with more someday soon.