Happy New Year!

One of the neat things about living in Los Angeles is that most things start a little later out here. By the time we ring in each new year, most of the world has already gone to bed. Actually, the majority of the planet's population is already awake and well into the next day. I guess that's why New Year's Eve doesn't seem to be quite so much of a big deal on the Left Coast. We also get to watch everyone else's celebrations before our parties begin, and from the videos I've seen (below), it looks like many places did it up right this year. Wherever you were and however you chose to welcome the new year, I hope it's a happy, healthy and peaceful one for all!

It's New Year's Eve!

I'd like to join the Animaniacs, who appear below performing the song that kicks off my latest New Year's mix, in wishing you a fun but safe New Year's Eve and a wonderful new year:




And should you require musical accompaniment:

Here's A Brand New New Year's Mix to Help Usher in 2015

In addition to my annual holiday mixes, I've put together several special bonus mixes over the years that are built around a particular theme or style. Two of these special mixes focus on New Year's Eve — Happy New Year (2008) and Ringin' In a Brand New Year (2012) — and this morning, I added a third, We Know What You Did Last New Year's Eve. Like its predecessors, my latest New Year's mix celebrates the fun and frolic of New Year's Eve with a number of upbeat party tracks. But the overall tone of this latest mix is a bit more contemplative and thoughtful. We Know What You Did Last New Year's Eve features music from Bing Crosby, Judy Garland and Peggy Lee, as well as songs by Graham Parker, First Aid Kit, The Go Find and David Gray. I'll be posting this mix shortly on my holiday website, along with a track list, printable jewel case inserts and disc labels. In the meantime, you can hear it right now (along with all of my other mixes) by way of the links below or by visiting my new Mixcloud profile page. I hope you enjoy these various New Year's mixes and that the new year brings all good things.

Listen to We Know What You Did Last New Year's Eve on Mixcloud

Listen to Happy New Year (2007) on Mixcloud

Listen to Ringin' In a Brand New Year (2012) on Mixcloud

Check Out My Other Special Bonus Mixes

Patti Smith Welcomes the New Year in Boston

I spent part of New Year's Eve Day at the Sheraton Boston before flying back to Los Angeles shortly before the new year dawned. Had I realized that Patti Smith was playing next door at the Hynes Convention Center that evening as part of Boston's annual First Night celebration, I would have gladly delayed my departure – after all, one can walk from the Sheraton to the Hynes without even going outdoors! Patti Smith is an amazingly talented artist who puts on a truly inspiring show, but she usually performs in Lower Manhattan on New Year's Eve and I didn't realize she was playing in Boston until I read about it on New Year's Day. This year, it seems she scheduled her annual New York shows on December 30 and January 1 to be in Boston for New Year's Eve. Well, if we had been at the Hynes for the countdown that night, here's what we would have seen as 2013 gave way to the new year:


The setlist for this and most of her band's other shows is available HERE. 

The following clip features the opening number from this week's Boston show, a relatively subdued version of my very favorite Patti Smith song, "Dancing Barefoot":


Incidentally, Patti recorded a rather stunning version of the classic carol "We Three Kings" for the album A Very Special Christmas 3, which benefits the Special Olympics. I've never found the right spot for it on any of my previous mixes, but it deserves a place in any respectable Christmas music collection.

UPDATE (1/20/14):  This morning, I happened upon this beautiful version of Patti Smith performing "O Holy Night." I don't read Italian very well, but I believe the video was recorded at a benefit concert at Dall'Auditorium della Conciliazione in Rome.

Happy New Year, 2014

Well, here it is 2014, and, as in previous years, people saw the new year in around the globe in many colorful and festive ways. Highlights from the celebrations held in several different cities are featured below. I spent a good portion of the day in Boston for the first time in many years, which was nice, although I spent the actual countdown moment in a jet over Minneapolis. Wherever you were and whatever you were doing, I hope it was a blast, and that the new year brings you many blessings and much happiness.

Happy New Year!

People throughout the world celebrated the start of another new year this evening in myriad different ways, several of which are reflected below. However you marked the occasion, I hope it was meaningful, and that 2013 brings peace and joy to you and yours.

Here Comes Santa Claus, Part 13

We're now in the home stretch of my look at the 38 tracks on my latest holiday mix CD, Here Comes Santa Claus. We've already covered the first 33 tracks, and today we look at Tracks 34-36, each of which celebrates the life of a popular entertainer who passed away during 2012. That will leave just two final tracks to consider after today's post, and I'm looking to tackle them over the next several days – assuming our luck holds out and the world survives the predicted Mayan apocalypse.

Track 36

Happy New Year from Dick Clark (2000)

Dick Clark in Times Square on New Year's Eve

When radio and television personality Dick Clark died this past April at the age of 82, he left behind a rich legacy of cultural achievement. But during the holiday season, the contribution that stands out most is New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, the program Clark created and hosted for nearly 40 years. This track is made up of two parts – an excerpt from an interview in which Clark discusses the launch of the program in 1972, and an excerpt from his New Year’s Eve countdown from Times Square on December 31, 1999. ABC is scheduled to air a tribute to Clark on December 31 this year, and its New Year’s show will be called “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest.” But it won’t be quite the same without him.

Track 35

I’ll Be Home for Christmas, by Donna Summer (1994)

Donna Summer

It’s not for nothing that the late Donna Summer was known as the “Queen of Disco.” While her career had its roots in gospel and musical theater and she ultimately explored a variety of different genres, she was one of the first recording artists to achieve commercial success with electronic dance music and she remains the only artist in history to top the Billboard album charts with three consecutive double album releases – the disco classics Live and More (1978), Bad Girls (1979) and On the Radio (1980). During the period from 1978-80, she had nine Top 5 singles, four of which (“MacArthur Park,” “Hot Stuff,” “Bad Girls,” and “No More Tears (Enough is Enough)”) made it all the way to #1. Summer died this past May at the age of 63, and her death brought tributes from a wide range of people within and outside of the music industry. This track is from her 1994 album Christmas Spirit, which includes a variety of traditional and popular holiday songs. (My original track list and the list inside this year’s CD list the date of this track as 2005, but that is incorrect. Although "Christmas Spirit" was reissued in 2005 as part of Universal’s 20th Century Masters line under the title "The Best of Donna Summer: The Christmas Collection," it was originally released in 1994.) The song was written by Kim Gannon and Walter Kent and originally recorded by Bing Crosby in 1943. It’s written from the point of view of an American serviceman writing home from overseas during World War II, and has subsequently been recorded by scores of other artists.

If you'd like to appreciate Donna Summer's version of the song that much more, listen to this alternate version that will make you wish the world was ending tonight:  I'll Be Home for Christmas (Mayan Apocalypse Version).

Track 34

George Plays Santa, from the Cast of “The Jeffersons,” featuring Sherman Hemsley (1981)



Hemsley (left) and Sean Garrett McFrazier
 in "All I Want for Christmas"

Best known for his portrayal of dry cleaning magnate George Jefferson in the long-running CBS sitcom The Jeffersons, Sherman Hemsley passed away this past July at the age of 74. An intensely private man, Hemsley rarely gave interviews or spoke about his experiences. However, in 2003, he confided in a rare interview for the Archive of American Television that playing George Jefferson was difficult for him. I’ve only seen a limited number of reruns from the show myself, but I get the sense that Hemsley is closer in temperament to the George Jefferson who appears in the 1981 episode “All I Want for Christmas” than the brash and cocky character he typically portrayed in the series. This track was taken from that episode, in which George Jefferson reluctantly agrees to play Santa for a group of orphans at the Help Center where his wife Weezie volunteers. One of the children, Mark, wants nothing to do with Santa, as he’s never received the one thing he’s asked for from Santa in the past – a family of his own. Unsure of how to respond, George notices that many of the younger orphans look up to Mark and depend on him for guidance and support. Isn’t that what a family’s really all about, asks George? The entire episode appears below, in two parts:

The Jeffersons was on the air for 11 years, which makes it one of the longest-running non-animated sitcoms in television history. Hemsley later starred in the NBC sitcom Amen, which ran for five seasons from 1986-91. It's worth noting that one of the three Christmas episodes that series produced, "The Twelve Songs of Christmas," includes a performance of Mary's Boy Child, a Christmas carol written in 1956 by one of the show's stars, Jester Hairston. The full episode is available on YouTube in three parts:

Part 1 of 3

Part 2 of 3

Part 3 of 3

Sherman Hemsley brought a lot of laughter into this world, and the characters he created helped emphasize a variety of lessons about how to treat others and value what's most important. He'll be missed.

Happy New Year!

It's now 2012 . . . and Happy New Year to all! I'm hoping you saw the new year begin in a way that was special to you, but I'm willing to guess that your celebration wasn't quite as -- ah, "bombastic" -- as this one from the world's tallest building in Dubai:



Not to worry, folks. I understand the building's largely empty and its owners are effectively bankrupt. Let's make 2012 the year in which substance becomes more important than meaningless style and overindulgent bravado. (But it sure looks neat, don't it?)

Here's how things looked in London:


Here's the celebration from Times Square in New York City:

Ring Out the Old, Ring in the New

Preparing the New Year's Ball in Times Square

Hard to believe, but in just a matter of hours we'll bring the curtain down on 2011 and begin a bright, fresh new year. I'm ready for it, and I hope it brings some much-needed change. What a wonderful device the new year is -- an opportunity for a clean slate and a fresh start once each year. And it's a testament to the resilience of the human spirit that even those of us who have been through this exercise more than a few times can still view each new year as an opportunity to do better and begin anew. In late 2007, I put together a handful of CDs featuring a collection of offbeat New Year's tunes and gave them to a few close friends with hopes for a better new year. Unfortunately, 2008 started poorly and quickly grew worse, although I'm pretty sure my little CD had little to do with it. So I've posted that CD on my website where it's now available for download HERE. I've been working to put together an updated New Year's collection, but I'm afraid it won't ready in time to share this year. In the meantime, here are three of my favorite New Year's tunes, which I hope you'll enjoy:

Happy New Year, by Charley Weaver

Happy New Year, by Spike Jones and His City Slickers

Happy New Year, by the Glad Singers