Favorite new holiday finds thanks to the internets!

A lot of beautiful and wonderful things happen on the internet. So, when the magic of the holidays can be accentuated by the sorcery of the world wide web, we can truly begin to experience the reason for the season. What? I have no idea. Anyway. Here are my favorite festive clips experienced thus far this year, ranging from the ridiculous to the sublime.

Calvin, Hobbs, Frosty and the Cocteau Twins.


Improv Everywhere helps out a Salvation Army bellringer.


The cast of Dr. Who sing zanily, look adorable and generally spread christmas cheer.


The Opera Company of Philadelphia performs Handel's Messiah in a Random Act of Culture.


Extreme Late Night Caroling.


The great (and very probably toasted) Martha Stewart concocting her terrifying eggnog with Jimmy Fallon. Wait til she starts throwing ornaments on the ground and then chastises the Roots for not playing a festive-enough tune during Xmas tree star placement. That woman. I wish I could install her in my home during the holidays.


And finally, Uncle Jeff Bridges and Cookie Monster sing a favorite christmas song. (Adorable.)


Those are all my special treats for you so far. Please enjoy and please throw around a lot of love and kindness in this wonderful time of the year.

The first Brand New (classic) Christmas album recommendation of 2010!

I have not been uncovering much of exciting value and delight in my very scientific vetting of my Pandora Xmas stations but I have JUST NOW found an incredible album: The 25th Day of December by The Staple Singers. This is a rich, soulful album from 1962 with some incredible covers like "The Virgin Mary Had One Son" and "Sweet Little Jesus Boy." Now, as I constantly emphasize, I am not a religious thinker and comfortably identify as atheist but I almost wholeheartedly embrace non-secular music during the holidays because I think singing is more fun than concerning myself with gods.

The song below is amazing and sadly, not on the album I recommended so it seems to me that one should probably track down ALL the Staple Singers music for good measure.



And this 1971 performance in Ghana is fantastic (though not holidayish!).

I was feeling like I hadn't discovered any new songs this year but...

I was wrong- I found a lot of stuff! Pardon the super stupid links. Some are decent but most are either abbreviated or are incorporated into very strange, inexplicably unrelated videos.

Jingle Bells/Sleigh Ride – Roy Rogers & Dale Evans

La Virgin Lava Panales – Placido Domingo

Or Nous Dites, Marie – Chris Norman

Burgundian Carol – Joan Baez

Do you hear what I hear – Mahalia Jackson

White Christmas – Otis Redding

The Christmas Song – Mel Torme

The Gifts they Gave – Johnny Cash

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day – Pedro the Lion

Christmas – Leona Naess

Merry Christmas – Judy Garland

Mary, What You Going To Name That Pretty Baby? – Mike, Peggy and Penny Seeger

The Merriest – June Christy

Wintersong – Sarah McLachlan

The Rebel Jesus – The Chieftains

Christmas Bells – Perry Como

Silent Night – The Everly Brothers

Its Christmastime Again – Peggy Lee

Someday at Christmas – Stevie Wonder

Winter Weather – Fats Waller

Mary Had a Baby – Paul Robeson

Little Jack Frost Get Lost – Bing Crosby and Peggy Lee

Christmas Dreaming – Frank Sinatra

All I want for Christmas is You – Carla Thomas

Happy New Year – Nat King Cole

A Change at Christmas– The Flaming Lips

O Christmas Candle – Doyle Lawson

Maybe this Christmas – Ron Sexsmith

The Friendly Beasts – Johnson Mountain Boys

Santa Will Find You – Mindy Smith

I fully endorse this playlist:

From indiemuse.com last year; a really good selection!

Belle and Sebastian – Christmas Time is Here

Rogue Wave – Christmas

Blitzen Trapper – Christmas is Coming Soon

Daniel Johnston – Rock Around the Christmas Tree

Sufjan Stevens – We Wish You A Merry Christmas

Rilo Kiley – Xmas Cake

Deerhoof – Little Drummer Boy

The Flaming Lips – A Change At Christmas (Say It Isn’t So)

The Walkmen – The Christmas Party

The Kinks – Father Christmas

MP3: My Morning Jacket – Xmas Curtain

MP3: Low – Just Like Christmas

The Flaming Lips' White Christmas

The majority

of americans do not share my feelings on christmas carols: Check out this Culture Monster article. Really? O Holy Night? It would be interesting to hear it in french, though.

Also, Pandora, stop playing Hanukkah songs for me. I feel anti-Semitic every time I thumb them down.

kicking it off

 I am a committed celebrator but, as I do with most aspects of my life, I must personalize. Therefore, I  began being crazy two full months before the holiday season. And by being crazy, I mean I'm auditing my christmas music stations on pandora so they're fully prepped for the season. I am actually deriving very little pleasure from this work- it really just feels analytical. Its just preparation. So, in this spirit of pre-holiday research, I share my list of vaguely holidayish, definitely seasonal songs that I have run across over the past year. These songs are all good and all by good artists. Enjoy!

Winter Songs:
Ruth: 87 Sundays
Claudine Longet: Snow
Nat King Cole: I wish you love
Mazzy Star: Flowers in December
Michael Cashmore: The Snow Abides
Animal Collective: Winter's Love
Mi & L'au: Christmas Soul
Bonnie Prince Billy: The Way
Zee Avi: No Christmas For Me
Peter Paul and Mary: Christmas Dinner
Chet Baker: Grey December
Bob Dylan: Girl of the North Country
Gordon Lightfoot: Song for a Winter's Night
Rolling Stones: Winter
The Dodos: Winter
Nico: Frozen Warnings
Simon and Garfunkel: Hazy Shade of Winter
Tori Amos: Winter
Elvis Presley: Snowbird
Leonard Cohen: Winter Lady
Buffy St. Marie: Winter Boy
Elliott Smith: Angel in the Snow
Nick Drake: Milk and Honey
Paul Simon; I am a Rock
Murder City Devils: 364 Days