Various artists. The Best of Christmas. Capitol STBB 2979, 1968(?). (on vinyl, from a thrift store)

I couldn’t resist the boldness of the title. The best of Christmas? And I thought Christmas as I knew it was already wonderful! … Heavy sigh. This album is probably the worst Christmas music I have ever heard outside of a department store. It’s an impressive slew of famous musicians, sucking. It’s not all crap – two or three out of the twenty tracks are listenable, and there’s a Nat King Cole track – but most of it is. Just bad, half-assed musicianship. 3/10 (Bad).

I’m pretty excited about Sunday Spin at Benetti’s Coffee Experience this weekend, as my father-in-law, Jim Gutwein, has chosen all the music.  Katy’s parents are in town for Thanksgiving, and I asked Jim to share some records before they leave.  (Most of the records are culled from his personal collection, and Jim is proud to gloat that all are original pressings thereof.)  He has decided to play Christmas music Sunday evening, so grab a cup of coffee or hot chocolate and wind down from the hectic holiday weekend, looking forward to the Christmas season.

1. Nat King Cole Trio – “The Christmas Song” (original 45 from 1946, not the version made popular in the the early 1960s)
2. Bing Crosby – excerpt of a radio broadcast from A Christmas Sing with Bing (1956)
3. Joan Baez – side 1 of Noel (1966)
4. The Ramsey Lewis Trio – Sound of Christmas (1961)
5. Tony Bennett – Snowfall: The Tony Bennett Christmas Album (1968)
6. The Miracles – side 2 of The Season for Miracles (1970)
7. The Temptations – side 1 of The Temptations Christmas Card (1970)
8. Various Artists – side 2 of A Christmas Gift for You (1963)
9. Charles Brown – side 1 of Charles Brown Sings Christmas Songs (1960)
10. James Brown – side 2 of James Brown Sings Christmas Songs (1966)

We’ll augment your own research on these record with handout Sunday evening.  See you there from 6:00-9:00.

The Ethical Dilemma in Your Holiday Stocking

Friday 27 November 2009

by: Thomas Mucha  |  GlobalPost

Peppermint Mochas are BACK!

I woke up full this morning, my stomach is hanging out over my pajama pants and I have 24 emails in my inbox advertising Black Friday deals at various online stores.

Yup, it’s officially Holiday Season!

While Halloween is my all-time favorite holiday of the year, there is something about the time from Thanksgiving to New Year’s that makes me blissfully happy. Sure, it could be the sheer amount of sugar that is pumping through my bloodstream right now (I ate pumpkin pie and brownies and cookies and apple crisp for dessert last night), but everything about this time of year makes me wanna run and dance and sing… and shop. Seriously, the people making those commercials should get a raise because they work on me every. single. time.

I know I’m not the only one out there who ate until they wanted to barf last night is head-over-heels in love with the holiday season, so this week I asked the CollegeCandy writers to share their favorite things about this time of year.

What do you love most about the holidays (and yes, “getting presents” is a totally acceptable answer).

Ricki – University of Michigan: The holiday music.  It is impossible to get in my car without becoming cheerful.

Ness – Sheridan: My favorite thing about the holiday season is sleeping until (after) noon, and not feeling guilty for missing class. Ah, how I love you Christmas break.

Nina – Michigan State University: I actually really love buying presents for other people. I don’t care that I’m spending inordinate amounts of money when it comes to people I love!

Teresa – UCSD: Hearing cheesy holiday music at the mall. It never gets old!

Kendra  – University of Pittsburgh: My favorite thing about the holiday season is having marathon movie binges with my older sister. There’s nothing better than being rooted to the couch and watching Disney classics, several seasons of Weeds, and every Zac Efron movie ever made while my parents bustle around getting the house ready for guests.

Elizabeth – UC Berkeley: My favorite thing about the holidays is listening to Bing Crosby’s “A White Christmas” without people thinking I’m crazy.

Sarabeth – University of Texas: My favorite thing is the amazing desserts that come out around this time. Eggnog milkshake? Peppermint brownies? Yes please!

Jackelyn – San Francisco State University: Honestly? My favorite thing is knowing that we get ridiculously long and deserving breaks off from school. Oh, that and all the gorgeous lights that everyone puts up!

Thu – USC: Knowing that I will soon wipe everything that I have learned (if anything) over the past few months from my mind and not have to think about school for a while.

Alex K – Lakehead University: My favorite thing about the holidays are holiday movies! Elf, The Santa Clause, even those claymation specials from like 100 years ago! I love it all!

Zahra – Northwestern University: I love that holiday season, for me, is the best of both worlds since I’m from Miami: presents, Christmas music, holiday food, etc. AND an uninterrupted month of lying on the beach.

Carly – Grinnell: I love being with my family around the holidays! Call me old-fashioned, but that warm, fuzzy feeling of being near them makes me so happy.

Lauren – University of Michigan: Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is you” on replay. For 6 weeks straight.

Brithny – Duke: Shopping for clothes that won’t fit until February, but OK with it because dinner feasts provide a legit excuse to pull out the elastic-banded sweatpants for now.

Leah – Ryerson University: Seeing my family for the first time in four months is definitely the highlight for me!

Erica – Kent State University:  Eggnog, hands down.

Katie – Michigan State University:  Sleep. I’m dead serious. I could care less about the food and presents – sleep is what makes my holidays so precious.

Maddie – Tufts: Cranberry bliss bars from Starbucks… sooo good. And being home to devour all my moms cooking. Better whip out the spandex…

Rosie – Duke: My favorite thing is going home to a real mall where I can go shopping all I want on my parents’ expense… and  then run back to school before they get the bill.

Kari – Florida State: I love the Christmas-Carol-only radio stations! It severely diminishes my road rage. Also, all the fun charities and parties that come with the holiday season. Getting to see adorable little kids play with fraternity boy- Santas, then later doing shots with said Santas? Sign me up!

Elise – Stanford: Red cups from Starbucks! Cinnamon flavored everything! Christmas music blasting. No classes!

Desiree – Columbia: Christmas carols are a big, big part of the season for me. As soon as Thanksgiving is over, I put on my “Merry Christmas, Baby” playlist. It’s an eclectic mix of about 120 songs, with selections from everyone from the Jackson 5 to a group playing traditional Turkish instruments. My top picks? Christmas with the Rat Pack and Little Drummer Boy by Jimi Hendrix. I crank up the jams, put on the same Santa hat I’ve had since the 4th grade, and deck the halls.

Önskar alla en riktigt god Torsdag. Ska fortsätta med julpyntningen här hemma. Det finns mycket att göra. Damma klart, juldukar ska på plats överallt. Julpyntet ska vara klart idag. Sedan under helgen ska här bakas…

Ta hand om er och varandra.
Önskar få se snöflingor falla ner. En vit jul vore mysigt! Nu har det mest varit regn på sistone. Fast konstigt nog skiner solen just nu.

Jag har julkänslor. Har ni det?

I just recently added a Natural Maui aStore to my Natural Maui site/blog because I wanted to offer my viewers books, movies, and other things they can use to further their research on any of the products I have to offer at Natural Maui.

An astore is a store hosted by Amazon.com and is free to use after you sign up. It’s awesome because if you have a niche, such as I have, you can do this, offer your viewers books, movies, audio cd’s, apparel, the list is endless as to what you can offer your viewers. Then, on top of that…Amazon.com will pay you a commission and that’s really another main reason I joined. It is another way to make some extra money for all of us stay at home, work at home moms.

There are loads and loads of items you can add to your aStore with different categories and sub-categories you can add to your pages.

I’ve added these categories:

Sea Glass

Hawaiian Print Aloha Shirts

and

Hawaii
with the islands as subcategories.

Of particular interest to me is the movie “Blue Hawaii” filmed in 1961 starring the King!…Elvis Presley. I remember watching this movie when I was little and being so in Love with Elvis Presley and Ann Margaret and Annette Funicello.

This among many other factors, but this is one I’m sure was a major factor in helping along the popularity of the Hawaiian print Aloha shirt. His popularity was unsurpassed in those days. I don’t only give him the credit, there were many many more before him, good looking guys, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, all those heavy hitters that gave the Hawaiian print Aloha shirt it’s popularity so enjoyed today by many of the artists who create prints for material and many of the many makers of Hawaiian print Aloha shirts.

The offshoots of all of this popularity are us little guys, the stay at home moms and work at home moms that take these specialty items and resell, used or new condition, on places like eBay or on places like a wordpress.com site/blog using PayPal as the only way to pay.

For this I am very grateful and am sure to express this gratefulness in humble prayer to Ke Akua for allowing me many different ways to make a living while staying home to raise my children instead of working my butt off for a company making just enough to pay for child care anyway!

I just recently added a Natural Maui aStore to my Natural Maui site/blog because I wanted to offer my viewers books, movies, and other things they can use to further their research on any of the products I have to offer at Natural Maui.

An astore is a store hosted by Amazon.com and is free to use after you sign up. It’s awesome because if you have a niche, such as I have, you can do this, offer your viewers books, movies, audio cd’s, apparel, the list is endless as to what you can offer your viewers. Then, on top of that…Amazon.com will pay you a commission and that’s really another main reason I joined. It is another way to make some extra money for all of us stay at home, work at home moms.

There are loads and loads of items you can add to your aStore with different categories and sub-categories you can add to your pages.

I’ve added these categories:

Sea Glass

Hawaiian Print Aloha Shirts

and

Hawaii
with the islands as subcategories.

Of particular interest to me is the movie “Blue Hawaii” filmed in 1961 starring the King!…Elvis Presley. I remember watching this movie when I was little and being so in Love with Elvis Presley and Ann Margaret and Annette Funicello.

This among many other factors, but this is one I’m sure was a major factor in helping along the popularity of the Hawaiian print Aloha shirt. His popularity was unsurpassed in those days. I don’t only give him the credit, there were many many more before him, good looking guys, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, all those heavy hitters that gave the Hawaiian print Aloha shirt it’s popularity so enjoyed today by many of the artists who create prints for material and many of the many makers of Hawaiian print Aloha shirts.

The offshoots of all of this popularity are us little guys, the stay at home moms and work at home moms that take these specialty items and resell, used or new condition, on places like eBay or on places like a wordpress.com site/blog using PayPal as the only way to pay.

For this I am very grateful and am sure to express this gratefulness in humble prayer to Ke Akua for allowing me many different ways to make a living while staying home to raise my children instead of working my butt off for a company making just enough to pay for child care anyway!

This hauntingly beautiful song had French origins, but was adapted to English by American Johnny Mercer. Uploaded by mukurahat.us.

We would share this wonderful classic with Great French Things, were there such a thing, because its melody was written by a French songwriter, Joseph Kosma. American Johnny Mercer gave it English lyrics in 1947.

Johnny Mercer. Uploaded by broadwayworld.com.

Johnny Mercer founded and co-owned Capitol Records. Jo Stafford was under contract to Capitol Records. Therefore, Jo Stafford was the first to record Kosma and Mercer’s beautiful song.

Even though such popular artists as Bing Crosby and Artie Shaw did their own versions, “Autumn Leaves” didn’t really catch on for almost a decade. Then pianist Roger Williams took it to number one – the only piano instrumental ever to reach the top of the charts. From then on it became a jazz standard, brought to life by Duke Ellington, Bill Evans, Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, and Cannonball Adderley.

Most of the jazz versions are, understandably, instrumentals. Until recently, the essential vocal version was performed by Nat King Cole for a movie called – surprise! – Autumn Leaves. But once you’ve heard Eva Cassidy’s unbelievable version, you’ll realize that she now owns this song. OWNS it.

“Les feuilles mortes” (literally “The Dead Leaves”)

Jon-Erik Kellso already has a deep repertoire of songs, as listeners know.  I was especially delighted when he decided to add Ralph Rainger’s PLEASE to his list, which he did last Sunday night (November 22, 2009) at the Ear Inn.  The EarRegulars were an especially compatible quartet: Jon-Erik on trumpet, Matt Munisteri on guitar, Scott Robinson on tenor sax, and Pat O’Leary on bass. 

In the darkness, occasional clamor, and pedestrian traffic of the Ear, I managed to capture the first set.  I’ll save the medium and uptempo improvisations for a future post. 

But I want to share two beauties with my readers.  One is Jon-Erik’s tender reading of PLEASE, first muted, then open – singing pretty songs!  And listen to Matt and Pat, particularly eloquent at this tempo.   

Then, coincidentally, Scott had brought a lead sheet for another Rainger song associated with Bing Crosby: WITH EVERY BREATH I TAKE, which he performed in a trio setting.  (Later, Scott reminded me that the version he was awed by was not Bing’s, but Ben Webster’s — on THE WARM MOODS Reprise recording, where Ben is surrounded by a small, perfectly attuned and limber string ensemble.)

It takes splendid technique and endurance to play many choruses at a fast tempo.  However, it takes a rare emotional and artistic maturity to play just a chorus or two of a lovely ballad.  As Lester Young is supposed to have said to Sonny Stitt, parading every lick he knew at a dazzling tempo, “That’s very nice, Lady Stitt.  But can you sing me a song?”

Hats off to Jon-Erik, Scott, Matt, and Pat – players who sing!

(Jon said that he and Matt envision a Bing-inspired evening in the future, including such rarities as SUSIANNA.  I’ll be there!)

Postscript: Here’s the link to an impressive video of Jon-Erik performing Henry “Red” Allen’s composition SINGING PRETTY SONGS with Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz3BYzzy7HE

OK, so I know there might be a few songs missing that are considered classics, but these are my favorites:

1. The Christmas Song (Nat King Cole)
Plain & Simple – The Gold Standard of Holiday songs by the Gold Standard of vocalists.
2. White Christmas (Bing Crosby)
Bing’s Merry Christmas album with the Andrews Sisters is the best.
3. Merry Christmas Darling (The Carpenters)
A contemporary standard, of which there are few.
4. Christmastime is Here (Vince Guaraldi)
The music from Charlie Brown’s Christmas is classic and not just for kids. Scores of jazz musicians were influenced by Guaraldi, and this tune captures the mood and spirit perfectly.
5. Do You Hear What I Hear (Whitney Houston)
Despite the turmoil in her personal life, Whitney has perhaps the most incredible pipes of any pop singer of her era. Her version of the Star Spangled Banner at the Super Bowl with the Marine Band backing her brings chills down the spine (and like these other pop start wannabees, she did it live).
6. It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year (Andy Williams)
Not a huge fan of Williams in general, but I love his Holiday music. This is the most quintessential of his many Yuletide tunes.
7. You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch (Thurl Ravenscroft)
I learned something researching this one. I thought it was sung by Boris Karloff who narrated the cartoon. Turns out he was given credit by mistake.
8. Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy (Bing Crosby & David Bowie)
I remember watching this live on Bing’s Christmas special back in the 70’s as I recall. Seemed like an odd pairing at the time, but it turned out to be a wonderful collaboration.
9. Silent Night (Barbara Streisand)
Many versions to choose from, but I like this one. Barbara’s A Christmas Album ranks among the best.
10. Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow! (Steve Lawrence & Edie Gorme)
OK, so Saturday Night Live and others have taken their shots at Steve & Edie, but I’m telling you this version really swings.
11. O Tannenbaum (Oh Christmas Tree) (Vince Guaraldi)
Charlie Brown part 2.
12. William the Angel (Rob Mathes)
Better known in the music business as a producer and songwriter, Rob Mathes performed this song in his PBS concert Christmas is Coming: Rob Mathes & Friends with Vanessa Williams and Michael McDonald. An instant classic.
13. Some Children See Him (Sixpense None the Richer)
I remembered George Winston’s instrumental version from his December album, but the lyrics are so beautiful and I found this version that’s mostly acoustic guitar and vocals. Singer Leigh Nash has a childlike quality to her voice (You may remember the group’s hit single Kiss Me) that seems appropriate.
14. Winter Wonderland (Dean Martin)
Dean does the fun holiday with that twinkle in his eye and playful vocal quality that we love. There are two arrangements of this one, but there’s one I listened to as a kid that’s really great. Believe it or not, it came from a compilation album that Texaco gas stations used to give away will a fill-up back in the dark ages, as I tell my son.
15. Away in a Manger (Mahalia Jackson)
Really brings you back to the spirit of Christmas.
16. Mele Kelikimaka (Bing Crosby & the Andrews Sisters)
Fun tune and a nice departure from snow and fireplaces.
17. Feliz Navidad (Jose Feliciano)
Adds a nice international flavor to the list. This one also has stood the test of time.
18. Frosty the Snowman (Jimmy Durante)
From the television special – with Durante, like Louis Armstrong, Louis Prima, and Dean Martin, there’s an audible smile in every note he sings.
19. Sleigh Ride (Johnny Mathis)
Again, many versions, but I like the way Mathis interpreted this one.
20. Oh Holy Night (Nat King Cole)
Another one that just sounds better by Nat.
21. Silver Bells (Bing Crosby & Carol Richards)
From the Bing Crosby album previously referenced.
22. I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm (Dean Martin)
Great tune not as widely known or recognized as a holiday tune until Rod Stewart butchered it on his standards album.
23. Baby It’s Cold Outside (Blossom Dearie & Bob Dorough)
This song is a classic that has been recorded by hundreds of artists. This version is somewhat obscure – by two eclectic pianists/songwriters and jazz club performers also known for their work in the Schoolhouse Rock series.
24. The 12 Yats of Christmas (Benny Grunch & the Bunch)
This one is essentially for New Orleanians by the king of colloquial musical references, Benny Grunch.
25. Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me) (Elvis Presley)
This one rocks and it just makes me chuckle. It almost sounds like someone doing a bad Presley impersonation.

While I’m a sucker for Disney musicals, after four straight years of Beauty and the Beast as the annual Christmas musical at the Arts Club, it was time for a change.  This year’s holiday production at the Stanley is White Christmas, the 2004 nostalgia-laden stage adaptation of the 1954 Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye film.

The show’s book, by David Ives and Paul Blake, although only five years old, doesn’t stray too far from the original, nor does it attempt to insert any sort of modern sensibilities.  If you’re searching for any overarching larger themes or social messages here, don’t bother.  White Christmas is a throwback to a simpler time when pretty much any problem could be solved by simply mounting a Broadway-style revue.  Is war getting you down? Facing foreclosure and financial ruin?  Put on a show!

Monique Lund and Sara-Jeanne Hosie in the Arts Club Theatre Company’s production of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas: The Musical. Photo by David Cooper.

In this instance, retired army buddies turned musical stars Phil Davis and Bob Wallace, played by Todd Talbot (Annie, TUTS) and Jeffrey Victor (Les Misérables, Arts Club), decide to help out their former commanding officer General Waverly.  Waverly, as played by Réjean Cournoyer (Les Misérables, Arts Club), has sunk all of his money into a Vermont inn and is about to lose his shirt due to unseasonably warm weather and a lack of snow to placate the tourists.

Arts Club veterans Monique Lund (Beauty and the Beast, Arts Club) and Sara-Jeanne Hosie (Les Misérables, Arts Club) are sister act Judy and Betty Haynes who join forces, professionally and romantically, with song-and-dance duo Davis and Wallace.

Talbot and Victor have better onstage chemistry together than they do with Lund and Hosie respectively, which is perhaps a more unintentionally faithful following of the buddy-musical film genre than intended.

After playing Mrs. Potts for the past four Christmases in Beauty and the Beast, Susan Anderson easily breaks into her new role as busybody Martha Watson.  Anderson takes the opportunity to show off her vocal and dance skills in “Let Me Sing and I’m Happy” and exceeds all expectations, in what should be a supporting role.

In an already markedly strong chorus, Jak Barradell, Jeremy Lowe and Laura McNaught stand out from the pack with their energy and charisma.

This show’s strength comes shining through in the big group dance numbers including “Let Yourself Go” and “I Love a Piano.”  Valerie Easton’s choreography is a loving tribute to the old movie musicals that have long since fallen out of fashion, where dancers once hoofed and tapped energetically for the cameras, broad smiles not wavering for a single beat.

White Christmas is as warm and familiar as an old friend and seems destined to become another Arts Club holiday tradition.

Arts Club Theatre Company presents Irving Berlin’s White Christmas: The Musical until December 27, 2009 at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage, 2750 Granville St.  Tickets are available online or by phone at 604-687-1644.

Oh, how convenient that Bing Crosby’s “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” just started playing on my Pandora Radio Christmas list. Boooo. No, I wont be home for Christmas, and yes, this is my first time ever being away from my family and home for Christmas. I can deal with this no problems, but every time this song plays I get a little bit sad, just a teeny weeny bit because…

• I have no Christmas tree to set up and no stocking to hang.
• There will be no Cookie glaring up at the shiny Christmas ornaments with his little brain ticking away and wanting nothing more than to jump into the tree and attack the ornaments.
• There will be none of Mum’s amazing roast pork and Nana’s delicious turkey.
• There will be no big family gathering over Christmas Day lunch while Bing Crosby’s Christmas CD is playing in the background.
• And the biggest disappointment of them all, (not that I’m materialistic or anything) is that I will have no Christmas presents waiting under the tree for me when I wake up on Christmas morning <insert sad face here>.

A typical Christmas at my home back in Australia

The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights @ Hollywood Studios

So, feeling a bit down about this, a few Cirque mates (who are also spending their first Christmas away from their families) and I were feeling rather Christmasy on Monday night. We decided to head down to Disney’s Hollywood Studios and check out the ‘Spectacle of Dancing Lights’. I’d heard about this from other Disney Cast Members and the hype surrounding it, so I was extremely excited to get down there and check it out,  especially since Australia doesn’t really go all out with the Christmas lights… and besides, I’m a sucker for Christmas!

OH. MY. GOD. is all that comes to mind. I could not believe my eyes! The set up was INSANE! Sooooo pretty. I don’t think I’d ever seen anything so amazing before in my life! Not one single wall went to waste, there were lights absolutely every where. I stood there kind of dumbfounded for the first few minutes. I’m pretty sure Mike has a video of me running around with my mouth wide open and all you can hear me saying is “Woahhhh!” I was like a five year old let loose in a candy store. I felt so happy at that exact moment in time… until “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” started playing over the sound system haha.

You’re probably wondering where the ‘dancing’ part comes into all of this, right? Right. Well, every 10 to 15 minutes, a Christmas carol comes blasting over the sound system and the lights start dancing to the beat of the song. As if the non-dancing lights weren’t already good enough, the dancing lights come along and kick the non-dancing lights right in the butt! Ouch. This is just all too much for me. I must look like the biggest tool ever to grace this planet as I walk around in awe with my mouth hanging open. Again, I feel like a six year old allowed to stay up all night and watch TV instead of going to bed at 8pm. So, so pretty. Nothing tops this. I start to feel a little bit OK about missing Christmas in Australia; just a little bit.

I could post a plethora of photos and videos from this event, but not a single one will do this spectacle justice. Do yourself a favour and get your butt down to Hollywood Studios from now until July 4, 2010 to check this out. You will not be disappointed!

Hollywood Studios closed at 8pm so we had to get moving. We were all still in a very Christmasy mood so we headed over to the AMC at Downtown Disney and went to see Disney’s ‘A Christmas Carol‘ in 3D. Two thumbs up. Amazinggggg. I’m so glad we picked the 3D session and not the regular viewing because this movie just looked so phenomenal in 3D. I found it rather amusing how much they made Colin Firth’s character look like him and Jim Carrey did a sensational job voicing many of the characters. Although this may seem like a children’s movie, I think it was rather creepy at parts, enough to scare little kids!

What a great start to the holiday season

In honor of Ralph Rainger, Leo Robin, Bing Crosby, Adam Keller, John Gill, and Jon-Erik Kellso – here is the sheet music for PLEASE.  It’s my dream to hear world-class jazz musicians, deep in Swing Romanticism, make this song their own.  Unfortunately, the folio doesn’t have the lyrics — but perhaps that enabled the Famous Music Corporation to publish eleven songs and photographs from Bing’s then-current films: THE BIG BROADCAST, COLLEGE HUMOR, and TOO MUCH HARMONY – for fifty cents.

I’d also like more people to know about Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin, who wrote the music and lyrics for PLEASE and many other irreplaceable songs.  Rainger, especially, deserves his place in the collective memory alongside the more familiar names.  Here’s a photograph of Rainger from the Crosby folio:

And here’s the team at work:

If you play an instrument, sing, or even hum, why not try PLEASE?  And if you don’t, well, you could find a way to work the title into everyday conversation.  I believe it has a soothing effect . . .

I created these animated shorts  junior year at College of the Atlantic in an Animation class with Nancy Andrews.  I see all sorts of things I would do differently now (especially in the second one “A Journey Through Dementia Dimensions”…the beginning is WAY too long with the squirrel replaying over and over…stick with it though, there’s a plot twist). For the love of learning give ‘em a look as they are.

Miracle on 34th Street.

Mom, Dad and I watched this movie every Christmas along with the Home Alone 1 and 2.  Home Alone 2 Lost in New York was my favorite for music and tears.

home alone 2

Christmas Stories by Linda Randall on Squidoo (more stories to read)

I remember when I was a little girl, how I loved dancing at Christmas Time.

My favorite song was Rocking Around The Christmas Tree…

I would always go to my Aunt Margie’s place for a Christmas Party.

She would spike the egg nogg and have punch for us kids.

Dolly Parton and Elvis Presley would be singing Christmas Carols in the background.

All of us kids would go up to the spare bedroom where there was this big jewelry box and chest.

The girls would play dress up with jewels and old wedding gowns.

I think my Aunt must have been a brides maid many times.

They were all fancy bridal gowns of lavender, yellow, pink and pale blue.

Dinner was a treat.

My Aunt and Uncle used to cook up about 20 different dishes to choose from.

They were well off, so we had a feast.

Everything was homemade, including the pastries for dessert.

Those were the good old days.

I miss those days when Grandma and Grandpa were alive.

I pretty much stopped celebrating Christmas when I lost both of my parents within two years of each other.

This Christmas I don’t even feel like celebrating.

Instead of putting up a 6ft tree and decorating it for 2 hours like I used to, I bought this dinky little tree that’s already decorated.

It’s not even one foot tall.

But It’s Christmas to me.

Small and simple.

No frills, or big presents anymore.

I just have my tree, a few gifts and friends.

I never see my family anymore, most of my loved one’s have passed away.

The one’s that have survived, I never hear from and well I guess they’ve just forgotten about me.

But it’s okay.

I’ve found other families that are willing to adopt me at Christmas.

Parents that have loads of kids already but they always make room for two more little orphans.

That’s what we call ourselves, because both of us lost our parents.

They were our best friends and we spent every single day with them until they left this earth.

We miss them all the time.

Even after not seeing them for four years, (for him it’s ten years) we still cry about it at times.

Christmas is the hardest because we used to sit around a big table and have a turkey dinner and we’d be laughing and poking fun at each other.

This week I found out that my friend who is 43 had a heart attack.

She died and came back to life.

I was one of thousands of people praying for her to come back to us and she did.

I don’t know how long she’ll be staying but it makes me think about how short life is.

We can be gone within seconds.

Some will live a long life, while others will leave at any time.

It’s important to say hello to your loved ones.

I think it’s time that I do that myself.

I’ll let them all know I’m still kicking around.

And I’ll hug them, tell them I love them and that I miss them too.

At least I’ll feel better, that I set things right.

I won’t feel so alone anymore, because family is important.

You need to remember that, settle your differences, ask for forgiveness and let the love of the season shine through your souls.

A Christmas Tribute to the one’s I love and miss…

animated christmas tree

Blue Christmas Without You Mom! - Elvis Presley

My Parents - Larry and Linda Randall

One of the legendary Carl Stalling/Raymond Scott collaborations appeared in this wartime classic…instilled in our youthful sub-conscious, our eyes & ears fixated by Saturday morning television, circa early 60’s. We were introduced to many great works of classical, jazz and pop music this way, the music videos of my childhood, along with the subliminal message noting how music “affects the chicks”, the political message of doing one’s war duty, and the dependence on war profits by corporations at “Flockheed”…the Porky Pig final scene seems strange in that context…maybe his eggs were the corporate taxes, or exemptions, or eggs to lobbyists. I doubt we noticed.

Purchase the legendary composition “Powerhouse”, by the Raymond Scott Quintet, from our 78 RPM catalog.

This post is dedicated to my sister, who is currently visiting the States with her husband and baby. Only she can fully understand the many emotions that are awakened upon watching White Christmas. Isn’t that the best thing about siblings? There is so much only they understand. Too bad it usually involves angsty family dramas and long-buried feelings of resentment. The same person you once held down and whose face you slowly let your spit drip on  is now your only ally against the aging horror that is your family. So the rest of you can tune back in next week.

This movie, and Christmas in general, has pushed its way into my consciousness a little earlier than usual this year. This is because my family will be having a very early Christmas to coincide with my sister’s visit. Well, just the immediate family- we don’t really “do” extended family now that the jelling forces of the grandparents are no longer there to bind us to one another, and only with my mother since when I brought up the possibility with my father of celebrating Christmas when the whole family is together, it was like I suggested he had abandoned his liberal ideals and moved to the Chicago suburbs and got two golden retrievers and a white plastic picket fence. Wait a minute….

White Christmas plot summary (cribbed from IMDb): A successful song-and-dance team (Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye) become romantically involved with a sister act (Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen, she of the wasp waist and prematurely aging neck due to anorexia) and team up to save the failing Vermont inn of their former commanding general. It is a classic musical, with lots of dancing and singing, with a post-modern twist of having the characters staging a musical. The big finish involves fluffy snow, children in tutus, kissing, and an old man finally coming to terms with his age and irrelevancy.

I am not necessarily recommending anyone watch this movie on purpose, but if it’s on while while you’re baking cookies (or just baked) watch it for a little and think about traditions and the warm fuzzies they give us. Why, as a people, do we like repitition so much? Why watch a movie I’ve seen at least 2o times? Why do I make fun of my father so much for strictly adhering to the past, when it makes me feel so good? Unless it involves hot buttered rum- then it just makes me gag.

Before recordings and sound film changed the world, music didn’t travel well.  Myth says that you could hear Buddy Bolden’s horn miles away, but trumpet players know that is unlikely.  You certainly couldn’t have the complete Jelly Roll Morton Library of Congress recordings on a little box in your shirt pocket. 

Recordings, then sound film, made it possible for music to be portable, reproduced, and represented far away in time and space from its origins.  Preservation is an extraordinary gift, letting us visit the dead and cherish them whenever we want.  When the Ellington band played RING DEM BELLS on a Victor record or in a 1930 film, thousands who would never see that band live could experience it. 

But “representation” is never flawless, because all individual perspectives are necessarily subjective.  A recording engineer or cameraman captures one version of what listeners experience.  Most recordings and films seem, at best, to compress the exuberance of the artists.  Jazz anecdotal history is full of the names of great performers who, we are told, never “came though whole” in the recording studio.  And films  — even contemporary performance films — have their own, sometimes intrusive, conventions that must be obeyed.     

Our texts for today are two representations of Bing Crosby singing PLEASE.  The music is by the sadly short-lived Ralph Rainger, the lyrics by Leo Robin, and Bing first performed in the 1932 film THE BIG BROADCAST, one of Paramount’s efforts to get all the musical stars it could assemble into one film, to lure people away from their radios and back into the movie theatres.  The plot of this film is exceedingly foolish, but it’s only an excuse for a now irreplaceable variety show.     

And here’s the performance itself — all too brief:

I love the flimsy fictions that this clip requires a viewer to accept.  I think, just before it begins, Bing says to his pal, guitarist Eddie Lang, “Well, let’s run it through again,” suggesting that they are rehearsing a new number.  He holds the sheet music, but casually.  And Lang is not paying much attention to the music on top of the piano.  (He was a wonderfully subtle player, never equalled.)  Do you hear a piano?  Who’s playing it?  The invisible but entirely sympathetic pianist is Lennie Hayton, which suggests that Bing and Eddie were adeptly (and not in close-up) miming to an already-recorded track, which was common practice.

Because it is a rehearsal in someone’s home (is it Eddie’s?), Bing has his vest, suit jacket, and hat off.  Our eyes are drawn to his natty two-tone shoes as he keeps the beat.  Then, after the first sixteen bars, a delightfully fictive moment occurs when Bing grins like a boy who has gotten away with three cookies instead of two and tells Eddie, “Well, I think I know it.”  (The record of PLEASE was released to coincide with the movie’s premiere, so Bing’s fans in the audience might have already had the Brunswick record while onscreen their hero was pretending he was learning the song.  But in the darkness of the movie theatre, such facts might be brushed aside.) 

Confident now, Bing launches into his own version of romantic scat singing, flicking his eyes to the ceiling, and begins getting dressed.  

Frank Tuttle, the director of THE BIG BROADCAST, wrote in an unpublished memoir (which I found in Gary Giddins’s wonderful Crosby biography), “Bing didn’t seem to know what to do with his hands. . . . [he] was extremely cooperative and his sense of comedy was first-rate from the opening shot.  His approach was casual and he liked to move around.  We worked out interesting pieces of business so that he wouldn’t have to just stand there and deliver a number.” 

Thus, the striptease in reverse — bolstering the illusion that Bing was only a regular fellow who just happens to burst into song with such art.  We know this isn’t true, but watching Bing sing while getting dressed is rather like watching him sing while changing a flat tire — a splendid feat.  I don’t know if it was intentional, for comedy, or not, but Bing has some small difficulty getting his other arm into his vest, and he goes through a good deal of straightening and smoothing — while singing – before beginning to button it.  Once the vest is on, he is clearly loosening up the rhythm, and gently swinging PLEASE, confidently and cheerfully, wooing the imaginary girl right out of her reluctance, and perhaps out of her vest.  What man ever buttoned his vest with such swing, using each button as a visual accent?  Bing emphasizes the beat, bobbing his head.  It’s comic but understated.  It’s jazz made visual.  

Next comes the jacket — and Bing has more trouble finding the armhole while he makes the dramatic musical transition from ”a gloomy Romeo” to “Oh, please . . . ” most endearing.  In fact, his fumbling with his right arm behind his back seems to go on and on, although he is whistling prettily, unfazed by the burden of getting dressed.  Then, there’s no need to pretend that this has been a ”rehearsal,” as Bing and Eddie perform the closing phrase together, and Bing, hat cocked jauntily, tells Eddie, “Well, I’ll see you tonight,” and Eddie answers, “OK.”  Hardly Lubitsch, but entrancing in its pretend-casualness. 

And he sings so beautifully to Lang’s fetching accompaniment, their work mixing romanticism and swing, the effect both earnest and funny.  I found myself listening to the clip for the music — both casual and deliciously light, then watching the two men act (Lang, serious, plays the musical sidekick, never taking the spotlight away from Bing).

Bing’s performance of the song in the film and on the hit record spurred Paramount to make a short film (rather like the Mack Sennett shorts Bing had starred in).  I found a copy of the poster on eBay, and a wonderful piece of Art Deco foolishness it is, with a pretty blonde’s disembodied head grinning from the C in CROSBY; Bing playing the guitar (which he couldn’t) wearing something like a bathrobe, the lower half of his body swallowed up by the background.

PLEASE stars Bing, Mary Kornman (who was “Mary” in OUR GANG silents and worked with Bing in other movies), with Vernon Dent (who worked with Sennett, Harry Langdon, and in numberless two-reel films with The Three Stooges) as her huffy, pudgy suitor.  Giddins writes that it was presumed lost until the 1990s and unearthed by film preservationist Bob DeFlores.

The plot is paper-thin: my summary comes from the Mary Kornman website (www.marykornman.com) which proves that everything is indeed online:

This movie, filmed on location at Yosemite National Park, was not discovered until 1960.  In it, Mary plays a voice teacher, Beth Sawyer, on whom Bing has set his affections.  Playing himself, Bing hides his identity as to finagle lessons out of Beth in order to get close to her. Mary then enters him in a singing contest only to find out Bing’s true identity.  Humiliated by this, Mary rejects Bing but is soon won over as he croons a chorus of “Please” through her parlor window.

Fictions abound here as well.  As the sequence begins, a beautifully dressed “Beth,” with matching hat, turns on her radio — and out comes the sound of a dance orchestra playing the song for which the movie is named.  Coincidentally, Bing, wearing a pristine straw boater and neat dark suit, lurks outside her house, dramatizing his exasperation by some gesturing with a small object he discards.  The camera cuts to a momentary shot of a huge man in soiled white painter’s overalls, momentarily transfixed by the music, who takes off his hat and puts it back on again.  Director Gillstrom had trained in silent films, for you can see the idea balloon form above Bing’s head, “Hey!  That’s my song!  I could sing it to her!  Through this open window!  Wow!  What an idea!  Gee!” 

“Beth” at first doesn’t even register that a man is nearly climbing through her open window, singing along with the radio (something that would make many women call 911).  It’s as if Mary Kornman has forgotten her cue, although she does remember to sulk while Bing sings.  He sings beautifully, but without Tuttle to remind him how to understate, his gestures are at war with the song’s wooing intimacy.  Using a clenched fist to signify “I could hold you tight in my arms” is unromantic, even though it is perhaps the only gesture possible for a man still holding his hat).  And Mary Kornman may have been a delectable little girl in silent comedies, but her acting is petulantly limited.  Bing emotes and ”Beth” pouts, until his repetition of “Please!” win her over.  The lovers kiss, after a fashion; her dog turns its head away, and we are left hoping that they are going to be happy forevermore, even if she has to climb out of the window to be with Bing. 

But all this overacting doesn’t obscure the beauty of Bing’s voice, his phrasing, although I prefer the sound of the more casual version with Eddie Lang.     

Back to the song itself, one I’ve loved since adolescence.  When Bing was most popular as a romantic crooner, jazzmen, inspired by his recordings, took his repertoire for their own.  Think of I SURRENDER, DEAR and WRAP YOUR TROUBLES IN DREAMS!  Louis, Billie, and Hawkins (who memorably recorded I’VE GOT TO SING A TORCH SONG, WITH EVERY BREATH I TAKE, and JUST ONE MORE CHANCE).  Later on, Ruby Braff continued the tradition, including PLEASE and a whole album devoted to Bing.  But no one except John Gill has taken up the song, a pity.  I asked my Expert, Jon-Erik Kellso, about it, and he told me the melody line wasn’t easy for musicians who didn’t know the song to pick up on the spot.  If any musicians are reading this blog, would you please consider playing this song?  I’ll put more money in the tip jar when I hear it, I promise.

However, while researching this post, I also found a bouncy version of the song by Ambrose and his Orchestra.  This performance, however, deflates my theory about the song’s qualities.  Did it need Bing, John Gill, and Ruby to let its light shine through?  What you’ll hear is a fine 1932 dance record, but the yearning quality so essential to PLEASE is obliterated at this tempo.         

These clips remind me of truths that should be self-evident.  The young Crosby wasn’t an infallible actor; he needed a fine director to make sure that naturalness or “naturalness” prevailed.  But how he could sing!  And how splendidly Eddie Lang could play!  And they live in these filmed moments.   

So if someone asks you, reprovingly, ”WHAT’S the magic word?” (if anyone uses that phrase today), you must respond, “It’s Bing Crosby singing PLEASE, of course.” (Thanks to Peter Karl for that witticism, again.)

I’ve always been pretty hardcore about holiday excellence. Sign me up for anything involving gingerbread or latkas (yum!). Despite not being the most religious person in the world (I make cafeteria Catholics looks like the Pope), I have to admit that some of my favorite tracks have come from seasonal fervor. So here are the songs rocking my holiday playlist this year:

1. “The Little Drummer Boy” performed by David Bowie and Bing Crosby – I know a lot of people come down on this song for being overplayed, but honestly I could just put this song on repeat for the next month and be perfectly content. Bowie’s silky voice along with Crosby’s bassy bliss is just holiday perfection for me.
2. “Frosty the Snowman” performed by Fiona Apple – I just love the simple jazz guitar and vocal arrangement on this song, somehow transforming one of the hokiest ditties known to the Western world into a song that is both playful and interesting.
3. “Fairytale of New York” by the Pogues - A folky indie rock classic that I can’t go a year without.
4. “O Come O Come Emmanuel” performed by Sufjan Stevens – This has always been a favorite Christmas song of mine, somehow transcending my aversion to the sometimes sickening hymns of my Catholic upbringing. One of the most gorgeous classical hymns ever written, this song is given a sweet intimacy in Stevens’ stripped-down rendition.
5. “Rock of Ages” performed by Ben Kweller – Another sweet rendition of a classic, this time a Hanukkah song. Also gets bonus points for its affiliations with a certain TV show that was a high school not-so-guilty pleasure.
6. “Nutmeg” by Stephen Colbert and John Legend – Aside from being hilarious, this is a pretty rad song. I would argue it was one of my favorite R&B tracks from last year.
7. “Another Christmas Song” by Stephen Colbert – Yep, another Colbert song. Mocking the velvety jazz Christmas standards every American grew up with, Colbert actually created a catchy and ridiculously funny tune.
8. “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” performed by Mariah Carey – Remember when Mariah was awesome? Listen to this and you will.
9. “Come On Santa” by the Raveonettes – I have nothing insightful to say about this track. It just makes me feel cool enough to pull off Kanye glasses and not look like a jerk.
10. “Christmastime is Here” performed by Au Revoir Simone - See above item regarding cool factor.

Expect more obnoxiously holiday-themed  posts in the coming weeks!

On the surface, John Calvin and Bing Crosby do not have a great deal in common. Calvin, on one hand, was a haughty and intolerant 16^th reformed theologian who wantonly slaughtered people with whom he did not theologically concur, while Crosby, on the other, was a 20^th century purveyor of pleasant Christmas ditties who savagely beat his children to bloody little pulps. Even worse, Crosby was a Jesuit educated Roman Catholic (!)

Certainly, their occupational roles would seem to indicate that they did not, indeed, share much in the way of mutual commonality. However, one striking trait these two share is the manner in which they are remembered today. The reason I frame my post with the proviso ‘on the surface’ is because the collective societal memories of both men is profoundly negative – and erroneous.  The brief (and sarcastic) summaries I wrote above, which I think quite accurately capture the way these two men are remembered, are crude caricatures bordering on the mythical. Both are inaccurate portrayals that exclusively focus on the dark sides of both men. Calvin was a deep and sensitive theologian of profound learning and erudition, who bequeathed the magisterial Institutio christianae religionis to the Christian church, one of the grandest summations of Christianity ever written. His dealings with Servetus were much more complex and nuanced. In short, he did not murder Servetus.  Crosby, in his favour, was a fresh and inventive jazz musician who revolutionized the music world during his stint as the music industry’s largest seller of records, an unparalleled run of 20 years from 1934 to 1954. Crosby’s family has dismissed the accusations of his eldest son, Gary Crosby, that Bing was abusive.

For various reasons, these are two people we should not ignore. On Crosby’s influence, Bing’s biographer wrote:

Harry Lillis Crosby was the most influential and successful popular performer of the first half of the twentieth century. His was the voice of the nation, the cannily informal personification of hometown decency – friendly, unassuming, melodious, irrefutably American. In his looser and wilder years, when the magnitude of his stardom was without precedent or equal, he had been reckoned the epitome of cool. But universal acceptance demanded of him a wilful blandness that obscured the full weight of his achievement. Of the few musicians who had synthesized modernism in popular music and jazz, Crosby received the least serious attention from biographers and critics after 1950. What Edmund Wilson wrote of Charles Dickens’s standing in the 1930s describes Bing Crosby’s at the time of his death: he had become so much a “familiar joke, a favourite dish, a Christmas ritual” that pundits no longer saw “in him the great artists and social critic that he was” (Gary Giddins, A Pocketful of Dreams: The Early Years 1903-1940, p. 4 – 5 ).

On Calvin, the eminent Scottish theologian T.F. Torrance writes:[1]

All Calvin’s teaching and preaching have to do with salvation through union with Christ in His death and resurrection. That is very clear in the Institutes in which the central message is worked out more and more clearly and fully from book to book, and is given most magnificent form in book four. In the history of theology Calvin represents the movement to bring the doctrine of the Person of Christ into the centre. In that he stood consciously in the tradition of Augustine and Bernard (the two fathers he cites more frequently than any others) in their emphasis upon personal Christological truth, but in Calvin it is more biblical, more dynamic and eschatological, than mystical – and certainly much less individualistic that it was in Bernard.

My advice: with Christmas approaching, there is no better time to rediscover these two much maligned giants. So, light a crackling fire, put on a Crosby record on (though not a Christmas one – please,  an Irving Berlin song would be much better) and open up Calvin’s superlative Institutes of the Christian Religion (especially if it’s to his chapter on Justification by Faith or something).

In spite of the claim of their debunkers, these two men were not the monsters that they are so often made out to be. That being the case, I think it is high time we revivified their reputations, both of which never deserved to be sullied in the first place. How odd that a Reformered Theolgian  and a Catholic Troubadour would ever find cover ground. Talk about ecumenicism!