It is time once again for Turntable Talk, our monthly feature hosted by Dave at A Sound Day. This is round #44 and with it being December, his topic is “That’s What Christmas Means to Me”. Our instructions this month: This time, just think about Yule time and pick a song – Christmas-themed or not – that sums up your feelings for the day and season. Happy, loving, hopeful, stressful, over-commercialized, religious reflection… you pick it and give it a mini-soundtrack!
I had a hand full of songs that I thought about choosing. Ultimately, I always felt that there was something in the lyric that really didn’t fit the theme. At one point, I almost went through and picked a set of lyrics from one song and more lyrics from another thinking I could piecemeal something together. So I went back through my hard drive of Christmas songs….
Christmas has always been my favorite holiday. If you go back over the many blogs I have written for my page, I think you will find the majority of them are Christmas related. There is something magical about Christmas especially if you are a child. That’s why I almost picked 364 Days To Go from Brad Paisley who sang:
Don’t you get the sense tonight That for now the world is right And as another Christmas ends My mind drifts and once again I’m thinking like a six year old Only 364 days to go
Another song I almost chose is one that I wrote about a couple of years ago. At that time, Frank Sinatra’s Christmas Memories really hit home for me. As he ends the song with the line, “Funny, but comes December, And I remember every Christmas I’ve known.” It hits home. As the Nostalgic Italian, I find myself looking back at pictures of Christmases gone by and can remember bits and pieces about each one.
Instead, I chose another Sinatra song to explain part of what Christmas means to me. Before I go into the details, let me be clear that Christmas remains a very special day for me. I enjoy watching the kids ripping open their presents and shouting with excitement. I love our tradition of having homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast. There is an energy and feeling like no other on Christmas morning.
But all too often, I will find myself drifting off in memories of what Christmas used to be like for me. Those old feelings that I attempt to capture, but cannot because the “cast” has changed or disappeared. That is where Frank Sinatra’s “Whatever Happened to Christmas?” comes in.
Whatever Happened to Christmas can be found on the 1968 album, “The Sinatra Family Wish You a Merry Christmas.” The song was actually released as a single and became a Top 10 record, peaking at number 7 on the Hot 100 Chart.
I must say that the song is deep and reflective. It is far from the “jolliness” of Jingle Bells or Let It Snow. But there is a sort of lesson there. I’ll post the song in a paragraph or so, but for now, look at the lyrics:
Whatever happened to Christmas? It’s gone and left no traces, Whatever happened to the faces or the glow, Whatever happened to Christmas, to Christmas way of living? Whatever happened to the giving, the magic in the snow?
Remember the sight and the smell and the sound, And remember hearing the call, Remember how love was all around, whatever happened to it all? Whatever happened to Christmas, bells in the streets were ringing,
Whatever happened to the singing, the songs we used to know. Whatever happened to this Christmas, and when did it disappeared from view, Where was I, and whatever happened to you? Whatever happened to Christmas and you?
The song is about loss. It is also about change as we get older. “The Christmas way of living” from our youth is very different from it today. The snow was magical then, but a pain to shovel now. Just walking around town or in a store, there was the happiness and love that was felt by every one. When did the bells stop ringing? When did the singing stop? Where is the Christmas that was “just like the ones I used to know” (to quote Bing Crosby)?
This song connects to a reflective time long after Christmas morning is over and I get a moment to myself. There is a sense of sadness as I think back to my childhood and the innocence of it. I think about the possibilities and creativity that new toys brought my way. I think about the people who were key players in those special Christmas memories who are no longer here. And yet, while there is sadness, there is the lesson.
The lesson can be summed up in a quote attributed to Dr. Seuss: “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.”
So let me try to take this “downer” and bring it up a bit. When it comes to Christmas, there was (in the past) and is (in the present) a wonder to it all. That wonder, that magic, and that feeling is something that was worth celebrating then, and is worth celebrating now. When you celebrate, remember the past, but don’t let it control the present.
Thanks again to Dave for asking me to participate. I hope that this contribution doesn’t stop him from asking me to take part in next month’s topic.
To those of you who celebrate Christmas, I wish you and yours a very Merry and Blessed Christmas. For those who do not celebrate, I wish you a very happy holiday season. I thank you for reading and hope to see you next year!
Today is the 110th birthday of “The Chairman of the Board!” Happy Heavenly Birthday to Frank Sinatra. He lives on through the music he left behind.
I got to interview a lot of famous people when I worked on the radio, but I wish I could have had the chance to interview him. He was a legend and set the bar extremely high for everyone who followed him.
When I figured out how to goof around with AI, I said “Imagine me having a spaghetti dinner with Frank Sinatra.” I thought this came out pretty good!
That’s not the photo flashback, though. That takes me back to my birthday in 2019. My wife is the queen of gift giving. She hears little things I say in passing and always comes up with a great gift.
I’m not sure what would have made me talk about music on vinyl to her, but obviously I did. For my birthday, she bought me a record player and the perfect album to spin on it.
I still pull it out and listen to it on vinyl. The sound is simply amazing, especially when you listen in headphones. There is something special about hearing music on a record. Sure digital music sounds pristine, but the analog record is “fuller.” I wish I had kept all my old albums.
This post just reminds me that I need to head out to some of the used record stores to do some shopping….
I always love when I can write about a book that I really enjoyed. That is the case for Kill For Me Kill For You by Steve Cavanagh.
When I saw the title of the book, my thoughts immediately went to Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train. Come to find out, that film inspired the book and plays a small role in the story itself. I’ll tell you my thoughts after you read the Goodreads synopsis:
For fans of The Silent Patient and Gone Girl, a razor-sharp and Hitchcock-inspired psychological thriller about two ordinary women who make a dangerous pact to take revenge for each other after being pushed to the brink.
One dark evening on New York City’s Upper West Side, two strangers meet by chance. Over drinks, Amanda and Wendy realize they have much in common, especially loneliness and an intense desire for revenge against the men who destroyed their families. As they talk into the night, they come up with the perfect plan: if you kill for me, I’ll kill for you.
In another part of the city, Ruth is home alone when the beautiful brownstone she shares with her husband, Scott, is invaded. She’s attacked by a man with piercing blue eyes, who disappears into the night. Will she ever be able to feel safe again while the blue-eyed stranger is out there?
Intricate, heart-racing, and from an author who “is the real deal” (Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author), Kill for Me, Kill for You will keep you breathless until the final page.
The synopsis mentions The Silent Patient and Gone Girl, both of which I haven’t read. So I don’t necessarily know how it compares to them. What I can tell you is that I really hoped that this would not be a literal copy of Strangers on a Train. I am glad to say that it wasn’t. There were similarities, but I suppose that’s where the inspiration comes from.
I could not put this book down. There was always a sort of “what happens next?” at the end of each chapter. There were times I was surprised, times that I was suspicious, and times that left me questioning what had just happened.
This was another one of those books where everything and everyone comes together in the final chapters. No spoilers from me, but I can tell you the ending was one I never saw coming.
51 years ago on this day, December 10, 1974, my all time favorite Christmas special aired for the first time. Long time readers of this blog are familiar with it for sure – The Year Without a Santa Claus. Back in 2019, I wrote an entire piece on the special for a blog-a-thon. Here it is updated a bit:
Rankin and Bass Productions produced many holiday television specials. Many of these were based on songs (1964’s Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, 1968’s Little Drummer Boy, 1969’s Frosty the Snowman, and 1970’s Santa Claus is Coming to Town). Along with How the Grinch Stole Christmas and A Charlie Brown Christmas, these holiday specials were something that I (and many children) looked forward to watching every year.
So what makes these specials so special? Here are my thoughts: First of all, many of them were produced using a stop-motion animation process called “Animagic”. Animagic was used on shows like Puppetoons, Gumby, and Davey and Goliath. Compared to the advances we see in animation today, these specials shot with this primitive process still hold up and are entertaining.
Second, many are based on familiar Christmas songs. We know the songs and the stories, but the specials elaborate on them. We know the story of Frosty – but the song doesn’t mention Professor Hinkle (and we know we need his magic hat). We know the story of Rudolph – but there is no mention of Yukon Cornelius, Hermie, or Bumbles in the song (and we know Yukon saved Rudolph’s life). We know the story of Santa Claus – but the song doesn’t mention the Burgermeister Meisterburger (who is responsible for him going down chimneys) or the Winter Warlock (who gives Santa his magic snowball so he can see if you’ve been bad or good).
Next, you have the wonderful musical score and additional songs throughout the specials. Maury Laws, who sadly passed away in March of 2019 at age 95, was the music director for almost every Rankin and Bass production. He conducted and arranged so much of the wonderful music heard in these specials. Along with the title songs, who can forget “Holly Jolly Christmas”, “We Are Santa’s Elves”, “Silver and Gold”, “There’s Always Tomorrow”, “Put One Foot in Front of the Other”, “No More Toymakers to the King” and so many others?!
Finally, and maybe most importantly, the voice work of some very talented actors and actresses make the Rankin and Bass specials so very entertaining. I read somewhere that they really tried to find unique voices for their characters. They did have their own company of actors (Paul Soles, Larry Mann, Billie Richards, Paul Klingman, and Paul Frees), but they were able to get some “star power” for narrators and other characters. Think about the voices of Jimmy Durante, Jackie Vernon (who was known for his blue comedy work), Buddy Hackett, Shirley Booth, Mickey Rooney, Fred Astaire, and Burl Ives. They all had very unique voices that were perfect for these characters!
The Year Without A Santa Claus
The Year Without a Santa Claus originally aired on the ABC TV Network on December 10, 1974. The story is not based on a song, but is based on a poem/book. In 1956, Good Housekeeping magazine published the poem “The Year Without a Santa Claus” which was written by Phyllis McGinley. It was so popular that it was turned into a picture book the following year with illustrations by Kurt Werth.
In 1968, 6 years before the Rankin and Bass special, just a few months before he passed Boris Karloff (who narrated How The Grinch Stole Christmas) narrated an LP record version of the story/poem that was available on Capitol Records.
The poem tells of a year where Santa decides to take a vacation because he is feeling old and worn out. As the children of the world hear of this, they become very sad and cannot imagine a Christmas without Santa. There is one boy, Ignatius Thistlewhite, who takes a stand and explains that even Santa needs a vacation. He explains that Christmas is not only about receiving, but about giving. The children of the world launch a big campaign to give back to Santa and send him gifts to show him how much they love him. He is so moved by this gesture that he decides not to take the vacation and goes out on his annual flight like every other year.
Rankin and Bass Version
(Note: Spoilers) For the most part, the special follows the poem/book, with some minor and major changes. Shirley Booth plays Mrs. Claus, who tells us the story. This would be Shirley’s last acting role, as she retired after her part was completed. Santa is played by Mickey Rooney, who also played Santa in the Rankin/Bass special Santa Claus is Coming to Town.
In the special, Santa is sick. He is advised by his overly honest and grumpy doctor to stay home. The doctor also tells him nobody care about Christmas, and that no one believes in him anymore! Santa, feeling that his doctor may be right, decides to cancel Christmas for the first time ever.
Mrs. Claus, however, feels that it wouldn’t be fair to the children, and has a plan. She sends two Christmas elves, Jingle and Jangle, along with reindeer Vixen into the world to prove that there is still Christmas Spirit and that children still believe in Santa. Jingle and Jangle provide some comic relief (I always sensed a Laurel and Hardy vibe with them). Bob McFadden voices Jingle, while Bradley Bolke (best known as Chumley in the Tennessee Tuxedo cartoons) voices Jangle.
Santa knows his wife is up to something and gets her to explain just what she’s got going on. He is aghast to learn that the elves and Vixen are heading into the world. In a bit of foreshadowing, he mentioned that they’ll be lucky to make it past the Miser Brothers. The Miser Brothers are easily two of the most memorable characters ever created by Rankin and Bass, more on them shortly. As the elves fly directly into their path, the are shot down by Heat Miser (who calls them members of “the Santa Claus Gang”). Vixen and the elves narrowly escape and wind up landing in a place called Southtown USA.
While in Southtown, they find a lack of Christmas Spirit, and children (one of them Ignatius “Iggy” Thistlewhite, mentioned earlier) skeptical that Santa even exists. Things go from bad to worse in Southtown, as the elves receive a ticket and then Vixen is taken to the pound by the dog catcher (who thinks she is a dog). The elves are told by the policeman to see the mayor if they want to free Vixen.
Santa, who is now on a mission to save Vixen and the elves, has also flown down (on Dasher) to Southtown in search of them. He seems to be a step or two behind them. He runs into Iggy as he is coming home, introduces himself as “Mr. Clowze” and asks if he has seen his friends. Iggy replies that he has, but when Santa sneezes, Iggy’s mom invites him in for tea to help his cold.
While at the table, he learns that the elves were asking if he believed in Santa Claus. Iggy asks the old gent if HE believes in Santa Claus. He admits that he does in song, and we learn that Iggy’s dad actually saw Santa as boy, and he still believes. Iggy then tells Santa about the mess that the elves were in and that the dog catcher has their “dog”. Santa, worried about Vixen, jumps on his reindeer and flies away, not caring that he is in plain sight of the family. Iggy now realizes who Mr. Clowze really is and decides he is going to help Jingle and Jangle.
Santa pays a fine to the dog catcher and decides it is best to take Vixen home. Meanwhile, Iggy and the elves tell the mayor their story and the mayor laughs in disbelief. He does not believe that they are Christmas Elves, or any bit of their story!
He does, however, agree to free Vixen (and give Santa a holiday) if they can PROVE they are elves (who he says can do magic) and make it snow in Southtown, where it hasn’t snowed in over 100 years! Knowing that they are in a spot, they call Mrs. Claus to help. When she arrives, they go to see Snow Miser.
The Miser Brothers, Snow Miser and Heat Miser, are the offspring of Mother nature. Snow Miser controls all of the cold weather on the earth, while Heat Miser controls all the warm weather. There is no doubt that these two characters are the stand outs in this holiday special. The characters are larger than life. They are two step brothers, who obviously dislike and despise each other. We got a glimpse of them both early on, but now we get their official “introductions”.
Each Miser Brother has his own introductory song, with choreography and dancing minions. Each song is a boost to their egos as they admit that they are both “too much”!
Snow Miser is voiced by the amazing Dick Shawn, while Heat Miser is voiced by George S. Irving. Both were very well known character actors and each play their roles to the utmost. Shawn’s Snow Miser is a friendly guy who is full of puns and energy, while Irving’s Heat Miser is a miserable grouch!
It would just be wrong for me NOT to post a link to their songs – which are truly the highlights of the special!
Mrs. Claus arrives and asks Snow Miser for a snow storm. He will gladly oblige! However, when he hears where they need it to snow, he tells them he cannot help because the South is under Heat Miser’s control, and they must get his permission. Upon arriving at Heat Miser’s volcano, and listening to his song, he is obviously miffed at his visitors. He even accuses Santa of going out “doing commercials” for his brother. When the ask to let it snow in Southtown, he refuses at first, but then says he will allow it to snow there if he can provide a nice sunny day at the North Pole. The two brothers bicker on the phone and Mrs. Claus stops them and says that she is going over their heads. She is taking this to their mother – Mother Nature!
Despite the fact that the brothers, the elves, and Mrs. Claus are all a bit scared of Mother nature, she is a pleasant lady. She summons her boys with thunder and lightening (very reminiscent of the old Chiffon margarine ads that featured Mother Nature). With some initial bickering, she eventually gets the boys to agree. Snow Miser will allow a nice warm day at the North Pole and Heat Miser will let it snow in the south.
Once the snow hits Southtown, the mayor finally believes Jingle and Jangle and gets on the phone with all the mayors around the world. They officially declare a national holiday for Santa. The newspapers proclaim this “Day Off For Santa!” and the word spreads from pole to pole! With this news, all of the children begin to send letters and presents to Santa to show their appreciation for him and wish him a happy holiday. Santa receives one letter from a little girl who says she’ll have a Blue Christmas without him (and the song accompanies this)…
Santa is very moved by this letter, and the outpouring of gifts and love by the children of the world. He decides that it is ridiculous for him to take the night off! Christmas is back on again! He tells the elves to load up the sleigh and his ride begins by going down “Santa Claus Lane” in Southtown, USA.
At the end of the special, Mrs. Claus reminds us that somehow, “yearly, newly, faithfully, and truly” Santa ALWAYS comes!
Final Thoughts
In 2006, NBC remade this classic into a live-action special that was a huge disappointment. In 2008, ABC Family aired “A Miser Brothers’ Christmas” which, despite having a few of the original voice actors, was also something that never achieves the magic of the original.
Had The Year Without a Santa Claus simply told the story of the poem or book, it would easily be classified as a typical and standard Christmas special. However, Rankin and Bass take it above and beyond that. They make it a truly wonderful story with great characters, wonderful voice actors, well known and original music that brings a smile to my face each and every year! When I listen to the radio and hear “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”, “Frosty the Snowman” and “Holly Jolly Christmas” from other TV specials, I find myself wondering why stations don’t take a chance and play the Miser Brothers songs? Every time I mention this special to someone – they IMMEDIATELY know them and their songs!! It’s a missed opportunity!
I can still remember the first time my brother and I sat in front of the TV to watch this. I remember over the years checking the TV guide to see if and when it would air again. When it was available on home video/DVD, I made sure I had a copy. It was one of the first specials I shared with my sons. I still tear up when Santa is reading about the little girl’s Blue Christmas. I sing along with the Miser Brothers. My heart doubles in size when Santa declares that Christmas isn’t cancelled. And every time I watch it, I am laying on the floor in front of the TV with my younger brother next to me … and I am 6 years old all over again.
Every year around November 1st, the “Defrosting of Mariah Carey” memes start to post on social media. It’s become quite the joke. Back in the day, Bing Crosby was the “King of Christmas.” I suppose that title today would go to Michael Buble’. However, the undisputed “Queen of Christmas” has got to be Mariah Carey.
Say what you want about her Christmas music, but the numbers don’t lie. Mariah hit a milestone record this week. According to Billboard Mariah’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a record-tying 19th total week atop the chart. It matches the reigns of two hits that led over one release cycle each — Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” in 2024, and Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, in 2019 — for the longest command over the chart’s 67-year history.
The song was originally released in 1994 on her “Merry Christmas” album. It hit the Top Ten in 2017, went Top Five in 2018 and since 2019 it has hit number one every year. It was number one for for three weeks, two weeks in 2020, three weeks in 2021, four weeks in 2022, two weeks in 2023 and four weeks in 2024. This week it hit number one again which makes Carey the first artist to have ranked at No. 1 on the chart in four distinct decades (1990s, 2000s, ‘10s and ‘20s)!
In 2021, Mariah said, “When I wrote [it], I had absolutely no idea the impact the song would eventually have worldwide. I’m so full of gratitude that so many people enjoy it with me every year.”
Now up to 19 weeks, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” extends its mark as the holiday song with the most time logged atop the Hot 100, among three Yuletide No. 1s. “The Chipmunk Song,” by the Chipmunks with David Seville, led for four weeks beginning in December 1958, followed by Brenda Lee’s three weeks in the 2023 holiday season with “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.”
Who knows, maybe she’ll achieve a new record next week …
Today, we shine the light on another hometown hero. Donaldson Toussaint L’Ouverture Byrd II, better known to the music world as Donald Byrd, was born on this day in 1932.
He was born in Detroit, Michigan. His mother introduced him to jazz music, and his uncle gave him his first trumpet. He attended Cass technical high school. Byrd played in a military band while in the US air force, took a music degree at Wayne State University in Michigan and then studied music education at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. He joined the Jazz Messengers in the mid-1950s. Byrd’s trumpet predecessors in Blakey’s company had already included the graceful, glossy-toned Clifford Brown and the Dizzy Gillespie-influenced Kenny Dorham, but the newcomer with his polished phrasing and luxurious tone was recognised as a technical master equal to both. He was even heralded as the new guiding light in jazz trumpet.
He was prolifically active in the late 1950s, in demand for sessions on the Savoy, Riverside, Fortune, and Blue Note labels. At the end of the decade he was also leading or co-leading his own ensembles. He was mostly operating in the laconically pyrotechnical, blues-inflected hard-bop style.
He formed the Blackbyrds, a soul and funk band, from a pool of his Howard University student. In the early 70’s his music ventured into dancefloor jazz and fusion. In 1973, his album Black Byrd was a million seller and brought Blue Note label more income than it had ever generated from any release before.
In 1975, he released the album Places and Spaces. Allmusic awarded the album with 4 stars and its review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine states: “Boasting sweeping string arrangements, sultry rhythm guitars, rubbery bass, murmuring flügelhorns, and punchy horn charts, the music falls halfway between the cinematic neo-funk of Street Lady and the proto-disco soul of Earth, Wind & Fire.”
In the late 80’s, when I worked at WKSG, Kiss-FM, we had a regular listener who would call and ask for Donald Byrd, even though we were an oldies station. He called every station in town and it wasn’t odd to be listening to another station and hearing him on the air. His name was Joe. He always asked for the same song, “Wind Parade.”
On one occasion, my pal Johnny Molson and I were talking with Joe, and he has some funky jazz playing in the background. We asked him what he was listening to and found out it was Byrd. So we did to him what he did to us, we requested he play Wind Parade. Neither of us had ever heard the song before. I think we were both genuinely interested to hear it.
As the song begins, there is a piano and syncopated cymbal beat. The a guitar riff plays along with the established beat. What Johnny and I did not expect was Joe belting out the words and singing along to the song. I cannot even describe what it sounded like, but John and I immediately collapsed in laughter.
As we laughed at this unexpected solo, the music continued. At some point he stopped singing and asked, “How do you like it, Johnny?” He had barely caught his breath long enough to say, “That’s great, Joe” only to continue laughing more.
And that is how I discovered Donald Byrd. One day, while shopping at a local record store, I couldn’t believe it when I found his greatest hits CD. I picked it up without hesitation and gave it a listen. There is no doubt, he could play the trumpet well, and there were some neat tracks on the CD. It was “Wind Parade” that got the most play. Every time the vocal hit in the song, I could hear Joe singing along!
He passed away in 2013. One obituary said, “Byrd’s real legacy is his contribution to music education in a culture that spawned jazz but then neglected it – a role he pursued from the unique vantage point of having been a leading player in the idiom. His work has been sampled by pop and hip-hop artists including Public Enemy and Ice Cube, and many young musicians at work today owe their education, and the widespread acceptance of their art, to his tireless pursuit of stature and respect for jazz.”
Happy 100th Birthday to the amazing Sammy Davis Jr.! There was really nothing that he could not do! He could play multiple instruments, he could dance, he could sing, he could act, he was an all around entertainer!
As a member of the Rat Pack, Sammy appeared on stage and in movies with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford. One of those movies was Ocean’s 11.
That’s right, the Rat Pack did the original version of Ocean’s 11. It was one of the first Rat Pack movies I ever watched. I loved it.
In the movie, a group of military buddies have a plan to rob the five major casinos in Las Vegas on New Year’s Eve. Their plan to do so is reminiscent of an episode of Mission: Impossible. It is one of the best of the Rat Pack films.
The song “Eee O Eleven” is performed three times in the film. It is the film’s theme song. The title is a reference to the craps phrase “Yo-11,” a bet on the dice coming up eleven, used to avoid confusion with a roll of “7”. The song was written by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen and performed by Sammy.
You can hear it over the opening and end credits of the film, but Sammy also performs it in the movie itself.
If my memory serves me correct, our high school band played three concerts a year. The first was the Fall concert, usually in early November, which featured both Concert Band and Marching Band songs. The Spring Concert happened in mid-May, and usually featured some of the more “fun” songs. In between those, we had a holiday concert in December.
This concert featured both the Concert Band and the various high school choir groups. The band almost always opened the concert and would play every 5th or 6th song. I think the band may have played a total of 4 or 5 songs during the entire concert. My grandparents, who were at every band concert, disliked the Christmas concert. They didn’t like having to wait so long to hear the band play.
It wasn’t easy for us band kids to sit on the stage throughout the entire concert either. I want to say that the area of the stage that the band was on was darkened while the choirs sang. It didn’t stop some of the goofing off in the brass and percussion sections. I can recall the drummers dropping things more than one time while the choirs were singing. They would get the “evil eye” from our band director which basically said, “Cut it out!”
The concert always ended with Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah. It was the finale, in a way. Our choir director would invite any choir alumni up to the stage to join in and sing. It was a perfect way to end the concert. The stage was already packed with the band and all the choir people, but we always made room for the various alumni singers.
Looking back, the holiday concert my senior year was pretty special for me. I can’t recall if it was the entire trumpet section, but it was most of us for sure. We all got to go up on the roof of the auditorium a half hour before the concert and play Christmas carols. They were arranged in 4 part harmony and it sounded so cool. I was lucky enough to direct the players. I can only imagine how cool it must have been for folks walking into the concert and hearing us from the roof.
As a kid, I stumbled on a Boston Pops Christmas album. It had many of the songs that would play over the PA system as you walked through K-Mart or Hudson’s during the holiday season. The first song on the album was an almost 9 minute medley of Christmas songs by Leroy Anderson called A Christmas Festival.
The song remains one of my favorites to this day. I used to grab a stick and crank this up in my headphones and “conduct” the orchestra in my room. For the holiday concert my senior year, we actually got to play it, which made it even cooler for me. I was so familiar with it already, but playing it was challenging. It was a tough piece. There were plenty of time signature changes and key changes, and some high notes. We also played the “band” version of it, which was a little different from the “orchestra” version. It was such a neat piece to play. One of the things I did after the concert was grab a copy of the conductor’s score so I could watch it as I listened to the record from home.
Give it a listen:
After we graduated, there were a few times that some of the alumni band got together to play Christmas carols in the lobby prior to the school’s holiday concert. I miss those days and miss playing my horn.
I have a few holiday traditions that I keep up with every year. Many of those include Christmas movies or TV specials. Watching those certainly help get me in the spirit. It was on this day in history that two of my “must watch” shows first debuted.
It was 61 years ago – December 6, 1964 – that NBC presented the classic Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer for the first time.
In the story, we follow Rudolph from his birth right up to the historic night when he led Santa’s sleigh. It is the classic story of a misfit who is bullied and made fun of until he becomes the hero that saves the day. Sadly, there are people who refuse to take it for what it is and try to make it something that it isn’t.
Cancel culture doesn’t care for shows like this. They don’t understand the lesson that is learned from the story. It’s like Mr. Rogers once said, “Every one is special in their own way.”
I love this one for the many great supporting characters. Who doesn’t love Sam the Snowman or Yukon Cornelius?!
Not to mention Hermie and Bumbles.
The special has continued to be a staple for 61 years and I hope it remains that way for years to come.
Just 16 years years ago – December 6, 2009 – An adaption of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol with Jim Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge was released to theaters.
There were quite a few people who really dissed on this version, but I truly enjoyed it. I think Carrey is fantastic as Scrooge (and a few other characters, too). This is just one of the many versions I watch each year. Every version/adaption takes some liberty with the story, which is why I still read it every year.
I remember seeing this one the first time and thinking that it got pretty dark in a few spots. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, but now I can say that it only helps to make the transition of Scrooge more joyous.
There are also some things that animation can do that weren’t so easy to make happen in the early adaptions. For example, in the book it says that when Jacob Marley undoes his head wrap, his jaw literally drops to his lap. With today’s special effects, I’m sure they could do that, but those early films couldn’t. In this animated version, it really comes across as scary, just as the book intended.
This is one that I plan on watching over the weekend.
What’s your favorite version of A Christmas Carol? What is your favorite holiday special?
I read this blog from my blogger friend Amanda today. It hit home. I remember all the feelings and know some of my followers are in the same situation this Christmas. I had to share.
Please make time for the tradition’s. I put my Christmas tree up just like every year and it’s just with my mom. I lost my mom this year. Seeing every personalized ornament from her brought tears to my eyes. You know, at the time of receiving them every year it doesn’t seem so important and decorating […]
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 