Anti-monarchists won’t like this
Good King Wenceslas: The Irish Rovers
Archive of entries posted on December 2010
Thirteen Republicans act like adults
Yes, that’s big news. It’s a sorry state of affairs when it has to be regarded as such, but that’s life in the US Congress circa 2010. What adult behavior did they exhibit? Why, they voted with Democrats to ratify New START, an arms control treaty with Russia which shouldn’t have been controversial at all. …
Back to the Sixties!
Sleigh Ride: The Ronettes According to Wikipedia the album this is on (“A Christmas Gift for You”) tanked after it was originally released on November 22, 1963. It has since gained some stature: Rolling Stone placed it at #142 of the magazine’s top 500 albums of all time. Well, maybe. It’s a good album.
In which I bang my head upon my desk
I’ve been paying an annual fee to McAfee for about ten years for anti-virus protection on this machine and its predecessors and feeling fairly safe because of that coverage. The subscription has gone up over time; I think it was about to go to $59.95 or close to that. That’s getting to be serious money. …
Judy Blue Eyes
Silver Bells: Judy Collins This is my favorite Christmas song sung by one of my favorite singers. I was buying Judy’s albums at the same time I was buying Beatles’ albums. She and Joan Baez had the clearest sopranos of the folk era. I saw her play at the University of Arizona Main Auditorium, probably …
No snow, but lots of rain here today
I wanted to find a YouTube video of Dave Frishberg and Rebecca Kilgore singing this, but couldn’t. You’ll just have to be satisfied with Margaret Whiting and Johnny Mercer singing “Baby It’s Cold Outside.” The song was written by Frank Loesser. Here’s the backstory behind it. Loesser wrote it specifically so that he and his …
In case you hadn’t realized it . . .
It’s Christmas Time: The Carpenters Here’s an interesting story from NPR about the origins of Christmas carols and the distinction between those and hymns.
Let the music begin!
Mannheim Steamroller starts off my Christmas music marathon with “Let It Snow.”
New Christmas Music 2010
Here’s Amazon’s list of Christmas CDs released this year. Artists include James Taylor, the cast of “Glee,” Annie Lennox, Susan Boyle, Straight No Chaser, Wilson Phillips and Katharine McPhee.
Another civil right gained
Headline: Senate Repeals “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” It didn’t go quietly, but it has gone away, despite pleas by the troglodyte wing of the Republican party. Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona and his party’s presidential candidate in 2008, led the opposition to the repeal and said the vote was a sad day in history. …