My latest New Year's CD will be available
for download on November 1.
Sometime toward the end of 2007, I put together a CD of New Year's themed music that I gave to a small handful of friends in anticipation of the upcoming new year. The previous few months had been challenging ones for me and several other folks I know, and I was sort of hoping a fun collection of New Year's songs might help us to kick-off 2008 on a more upbeat note. Unfortunately, the new year had other ideas, and, for me anyway, things quickly went from bad to worse. Now, I realize that my little CD mix had nothing to do with the spate of bad luck that ushered in that particular new year. In fact, a couple of tracks from that collection helped keep me going during some especially dark days, and I'm pretty sure the disc remained in my car's CD player until sometime in May that year. Nevertheless, I've felt slightly gun shy about doing a follow-up these past several years, even as I put together a critical mass of suitable tunes. Several weeks ago, however, I found myself with a little too much extra time on my hands and decided to throw caution to the wind. The result is my second collection of New Year's tunes, titled Ringin' in a Brand New Year, which I'll be posting on myholiday music website on Thursday, November 1.
This mix lasts just under 70 minutes and features 30 tracks ranging from a 1912 recording by the Prince's Orchestra to more recent tunes from Death Cab for Cutie and The Dismemberment Plan. You'll also hear features on the origins of the New Year's resolution and how to find someone hot to kiss at midnight, as well as a couple of phone calls placed by President Nixon as he worked alone in the Oval Office one long-ago New Year's Eve. It's the perfect collection to play as you drive from one mall to another to return your unwanted gifts or take advantage of the post-Christmas sales this December. Watch for more details on November 1, and, in the meantime, feel free to download and enjoy a copy of my 2007 CD, "Happy New Year!" It's available now on the "Extras" page of my website.
Santa's not ready to leave the beach just yet. Can you blame him?
It's been exactly eight months since this blog began its post-holiday hiatus, and with just 112 days left until Christmas, this last unofficial weekend of summer seems like a good time to check in and say "hi." Although I've now been out of school for more than a couple of years, Labor Day continues to stir-up that same curious mix of melancholy, dread and resolve that it did for me as a child, and now that Jerry Lewis is off the air I'm not sure I can fairly blame it on the Labor Day Telethon at this point. There's something poignant about the end of summer somehow, and those feelings persist regardless of how one spent any particular season or whether it was a boom or bust. Happily, I've always been one of those people whose processed memories are rose-colored, and I'm grateful for my ability to find great joy in the simplest of things -- for example, holiday music! And, yes, I'm happy to report that I've already put together around 25 tracks for this year's CD, including a couple of honest-to-goodness monstrosities that will destroy whatever visions of sugarplums might otherwise dance in your heads this season. More on all that, of course, sometime in December.
Before rejoining Santa on hiatus, however, I do want to share several video clips. First, among the many talented entertainers we've lost so far in 2012 is Andy Griffith, who has always been a favorite of mine. Although his wonderful series "The Andy Griffith Show" was on television for eight years, the first season was the only one to include a Christmas-themed episode. However, that one episode was a classic, and it's worth watching anytime of year. So with the Democrats gathering for their Convention this week just down the road apiece from Mayberry, here's a chance to honor Andy and celebrate some true Democratic values with the episode titled "Christmas Story" (in two parts, below):
Finally, one of this summer's biggest concert draws has been Bruce Springsteen, who's been touring throughout the United States and Europe with the remarkable E Street Band in support of his latest album, Wrecking Ball. I've been watching Bruce play live for 34 years now, and he and the band have never sounded better. With his 63rd birthday just three weeks away, he's routinely doing shows that last three and a half hours or more, and his August show at Helsinki's Olympiastadion clocked in at four hours and six minutes — the longest show he's ever done. As mentioned here last December, longtime E Street Band member Clarence "Big Man" Clemons died last June, and there was some question about whether the band would be able to go on without the Big Man. Of course, they have continued, with Clarence's nephew, Jake Clemons, and a five-piece horn section filling the void. But at each show on the current tour, Springsteen honors Clarence's memory, along with the late E Street band organist Danny Federici, in a most touching fashion. YouTube is loaded with clips from every stop on Springsteen's "Wrecking Ball" tour, but here are two especially awesome numbers to keep you going 'til our next appearance. The first is from the second night of a two-night stand last month at Boston's historic Fenway Park — "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out," which includes a tribute to the Big Man starting at 3:40:
The second clip features the rarely played but beautiful "Drive All Night," performed in Gothenburg, Sweden.
What do the Springsteen clips have to do with Christmas? Not so much, really. But they both make me happy, and I wish the same for you, too. See you in a few weeks, and Happy Labor Day, everybody!
With another holiday season now safely behind us, and a very important presidential election season beginning tomorrow night in Iowa, this blog will now begin a long winter's nap. I may post an occasional item now and then over the next ten or eleven months, but I don't plan to add very much until sometime in November, by which time my 2012 holiday CD should be at least partially completed. I want to thank those other holiday music enthusiasts whose websites and blogs have introduced me to music and artists that were unfamiliar to me, and whose enthusiasm and holiday spirit have proven to be extremely contagious. I've listed some of my favorite holiday music blogs in the right-hand column, and there are dozens of similar blogs that I've also enjoyed over the past several years. They can serve as a good antidote to the contentiousness and rancor that seem to have infected our politics and public debate. Best wishes to all for a happy and healthy 2012, and let's hope we can restore some measure of goodwill, honesty and civility to our political system during this upcoming campaign. As Bruce Springsteen reminds us, "Nobody wins unless everybody wins." So long, for now!
I've never been a big one for making New Year's Resolutions, although I've made them in the past and actually stuck with a few for awhile. Resolutions for positive change are noble initiatives whenever they're made, and I remain optimistic about our ability as human beings to adopt new and better ways of behavior. I've heard somewhere that once you manage to do or stop doing something for at least 21 days, it's likely that the change will stick. In that spirit, here's a list of resolutions from someone I've long admired, author, songwriter and populist gadfly Woody Guthrie. Feel free to adopt whichever ones you consider to be most appropriate for you:
And then there's that very different (and, frankly, horrifying) set of resolutions from the late Mae West, available for your New Year's Day enjoyment HERE.
I'm not sure when this started, but for at least the past dozen years the Science Fiction cable channel has broadcast a two-day marathon featuring episodes of the classic TV program The Twilight Zone beginning on the morning of December 31 and continuing through New Year's Day. I've always liked The Twilight Zone, and I'm pretty sure I've managed to catch at least a couple of episodes every year since I first learned about these marathons. It's the only time I ever watch the Science Fiction channel, and one of the few times I watch anything on live television anymore. Created by writer Rod Serling, The Twilight Zone tends to feature stories with an underlying message or moral. Most of the these messages are humanistic in nature and champion "the little guy" against oppressive government or societal institutions. I think that's why I like the show so much -- that, and the unexpected and sometimes terrifying plot twists that typically leave the viewer with an awful lot to ponder. Not a bad way to start the new year.
I've only seen two episodes so far this year, but I'm posting a third episode -- perhaps my favorite one ever -- below. It's called "Night of the Meek," starring Art Carney as a department store Santa who, after being fired for reporting to work drunk, manages to find a much better gig. Now presented, for your consideration:
Incidentally, this isn't the only time Art Carney played Santa Claus. He put on a slightly better beard and Santa suit to reprise the role in The Night They Saved Christmas, a 1984 movie featuring the late great Mason Adams as a determined executive whose plan to drill for oil at the North Pole threatens Santa's workshop. Carney is also responsible for a tune I've been hoping to use on my last few holiday CDs and may well use next time. It's a spoken word record in which Carney recites the classic poem "Twas the Night Before Christmas," in syncopation against the jazzy backdrop of a single drummer's beat. You can hear it HERE.
