Another Holiday Season Ends

Hard to believe, but another holiday season has come to an end. I hope it was a great one for you, and that you'll carry at least a little bit of holiday spirit with you throughout the new year. This blog now begins its traditional post-season hiatus, which will probably last until sometime in November or thereabouts. I'm looking forward to putting together another holiday mix this Fall, and to sharing details about it right here. Feel free to stop back anytime, and be sure to visit my holiday website at www.marksholidaymixcds.net. Have a great year, and thanks for stopping by.

Classic British Animation: The Snowman

The holidays may be over, but the holiday spirit needn't fade so quickly. Here's a wonderful British animated film called The Snowman that first aired in 1982. Based on the children's book by Raymond Briggs, the movie is introduced by David Bowie. It features the beautiful song Walking in the Air, which I included on my 2009 holiday mix, I Just Can't Wait for Christmas, in a version by the San Francisco band The Hundred Days. The song starts around 15:45, and the accompanying animation is stunning. Enjoy another taste of holiday magic, whatever time of year it is.

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.

David Wild's Huffington Post Playlists Offer a Little Fun Amidst the Daily News

I've been a rock music fan for as long as I can remember – well, rock, soul, R&B, even disco and country to some extent. I love popular music, and I especially enjoy finding out the kinds of music other people like best. With this as background, allow me to share one of the many simple pleasures I've enjoyed during 2012. Last Christmas, I noticed a playlist of holiday songs on the front page of The Huffington Post by a fellow named David Wild, a television writer and contributing editor at Rolling Stone. It was a great list, and I had some fun poring over the diverse group of selections that were included. Later I learned that David's holiday playlist was but one in a series of event-specific collections he's posted. The man's no one-trick pony when it comes to making playlists. During the past year, he's published playlists in honor of everything from the First Presidential Debate to the TVLand Awards. Today, of course, there's a playlist for New Year's Eve, and, as usual, it's a smart and far-ranging collection of songs – some obvious, some esoteric, but all of them spirited and thought-provoking. The posting of David's playlist is only the first step of the fun, however, for he encourages readers to add suggestions of their own. This launches a lively dialogue with fans of various persuasions nominating their favorites, commenting on the suggestions of others and, frequently, sharing memories about what a particular song means to them. David himself remains actively involved, and he seems to have something nice to say about nearly every reader's contribution. In a world that seems to become more impersonal every day, this little feature offers perfect strangers a chance to connect with others, if only for a moment, by sharing their thoughts about songs and occasions that mean something to them. Thanks, David, for creating a little piece of happiness amidst the daily news.

This Just In . . . The Latest Holiday Music Charts from Billboard

It's been nearly a month since I've looked at the holiday song charts from Billboard magazine, and since the nation's radio stations are always on the lookout for exciting new material to feature, there's bound to have been an awful lot of movement since then, right? Guess again.  Here are the latest Holiday Airplay and Top Holiday Song charts from Billboard:

There's no need to compare these latest charts with the charts from last month, last year or even five years ago because they've pretty much stayed the same. The only real question is why does Billboard even compile these things at all? It's not as though there isn't lots of good new holiday music out there. I can't even begin to keep up with the volume, but a quick look at Stubby's House of Christmas or Mistletunes, two terrific blogs that focus on new holiday music, establish pretty convincingly that there's no shortage of great new material. I suppose there's something reassuring about hearing the same classic holiday songs year after year, and God knows I'd rather hear Burl Ives and Bing Crosby than anything from Justin Bieber or Nicki Minaj. (Can anyone explain to me why either of these two "artists" is appealing on any level whatsoever?) But with the abundance of beautiful, moving, funny, provocative, old and new holiday songs available, why is it that we hear little more than the same dusty relics over and over again during each new holiday season?