I have gone back and forth trying to decide which song I wanted to post on Christmas Day, which is the next-to-last day of my Virtual Musical Advent Calendar. Continue reading “Virtual Musical Advent Calendar, December 25: The Rebel Jesus/Skyline Jig”
When I was growing up, we only went to church a handful of times; each of those times was Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. Continue reading “Virtual Musical Advent Calendar, December 24: Silent Night”
Our last entries of this Advent Calendar will be closing out over the next three days, as we celebrate Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and St. Stephen’s Day in quick succession. This is therefore our last “regular day.” As such I thought I’d post a few of my favorite carols from the hymnal of the Anglican and Episcopal church, which is the church my parents called home in years past, and the one my wife and younger son call home today. Continue reading “Virtual Musical Advent Calendar, December 23: It Came Upon a Midnight Clear”
Has there ever been a more ironically-titled Christmas song than Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas? So saccharine is the promise of the phrase “merry little Christmas,” and so jolly the majority of the song’s recordings, that it was not until I was an adult that it finally hit me how achingly sad its message truly is. Continue reading “Virtual Musical Calendar, December 22: Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”
Here’s a confession I am embarrassed to make: like most suburban white kids of my generation, the very first version I ever heard of Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) was the one by U2, featured on the classic compilation A Very Special Christmas. Continue reading “Virtual Musical Advent Calendar, December 20: Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”
One of the more modern wrinkles to the Holiday-canon effort is the “funny/novelty” Christmas song. Unfortunately — and probably predictably — funny/novelty Christmas songs are usually quite terrible. More than that, they’re often embarrassing, offensive, or both. But it has become such a pervasive sub-genre that I feel the need to at least acknowledge it in this Advent Calendar. Continue reading “Virtual Musical Advent Calendar, December 19: Another Christmas Song”
It’s one of those not so well known facts that Bing Crosby’s recording of White Christmas is the top single record of all time. Continue reading “Virtual Musical Advent Calendar, December 18: White Christmas”
The selection of Donde Esta Santa Claus? is unique to this Advent Calendar, because, save a single exception of just one recording, it is one the most annoying songs ever recorded. That single exception, however, is exceptional — and enough to secure it a spot on our Holiday playlist. Continue reading “Virtual Musical Advent Calendar, December 17: Donde Esta Santa Claus?”
[Note: As will become immediately apparent, a slightly different version of this article was originally published in 2013 in The League of Ordinary Gentlemen.] Continue reading “Sarah Palin, Clement Clarke Moore, and the Villainous Hordes of Thuggish Carolers: The Story of the Real War on Christmas”
R. Tod Kelly 