That SNL Holiday Clip with Two Hillarys and a Sarah Palin Once again this year I'll be posting a vintage holiday clip from NBC's Saturday Night Live every Saturday during the month of December. Our first clip of the season is from 2015 and features two different versions of Hillary Clinton: Amy Poehler as the 2008 version and Kate McKinnon as the "new and improved" 2015 version. The sad truth is that both versions lost, which was OK in 2008 but a very bitter pill eight years later. Tina Fey was also on hand as the 2015 version of Sarah Palin, who was every bit as awful as the earlier one ..read more

There was sad news from the world of music this week with the announcement on Thursday that Shane MacGowan, the longtime front man of the Celtic folk-punk group The Pogues, has died at the age of 65. The announcement was made in an Instagram post by this wife, Victoria Mary Clarke. Shane MacGowan "I don't know how to say this so I am just going to say it. Shane who will always be the light that I hold before me and the measure of my dreams and the love of my life and the most beautiful soul and beautiful angel and the sun and the moon and the start and end of everything that I ho ..read more

Each year in late November this blog rises from its slumber to present some basic information about the tracks on my annual holiday mix of songs and other ephemera. We do this over a period of about four weeks, typically covering several tracks each day. This year's holiday mix is called Christmas Cheer, and we've already discussed 13 of its 37 tracks, which leaves 24 more to go over the next 24 days. Today's post will examine Tracks 14 and 15. Let's get started! Track 14Christmas Messages from President Lyndon B. Johnson (1963) This track is perhaps one of the most fascinating and troubl ..read more

We're providing some background on the 37 tracks from my latest holiday mix, Christmas Cheer, and today we'll be looking at Tracks 11, 12 and 13, including a couple of reggae tunes and an invitation to a sleigh ride that is well-nigh indescribable. Let's get started: Track 11Bling Bling Christmas, by The Silvertones (2002) Our next track is a spirited reggae number I came across several years ago by a group called The Silvertones. I wasn’t familiar with the group at the time, and because I didn’t know of very many holiday reggae records I initially assumed this was some sort of novelty record ..read more

If you follow pop music at all today, you probably check out the Billboard charts from time to time to see which artists, albums and songs are moving up and down at the moment. Billboard's Hot 100 tracks the top 100 singles every week and its Hot 200 reflects the top albums or CDs. Most folks in the music interest will tell you that these are the definitive listings when it comes to the current music scene, and Billboard's other charts, including R&B, Dance, Country and Adult Contemporary are equally respected among industry professionals. Around the beginning of December each year, Billbo ..read more

Track 8Journey to Christmas Island, The Rosebuds (2012) I first mentioned this awesome group here 11 years ago in a short but rave review of their 2012 album Christmas Tree Island. I noted then that two of the album’s tracks — “Xmas in New York” and “Melt Our Way Out” — were already on my list of all-time holiday favorites, and that each of the 11 other tracks were “bona fide holiday treats.” I’m no less enthusiastic about the album today, which leaves me scratching my head as to why it’s taken me so long to include a second song by The Rosebuds on one of my compilations. (“Melt Our Way Out ..read more

We continue our look at the tracks on my latest holiday mix, Christmas Cheer, with background on Tracks 5, 6 and 7. Track 5Jingle Mint Twist, Sammy Marshall (1962) Today's first track is another song poem, and it’s from the TJB Brandes Records label. The artist is the prolific Sammy Marshall, a/k/a Marc Stewart Simpson, or as he’s known on this 45 “Singing Sammy Marshall.” I first ran across the track more than a decade ago in a posting by song-poem aficionado Bob Purse via a post on the wonderful WFMU “Beware of the Blog” site, which is sadly no longer active. As Bob notes, this one does ..read more

  One holiday tradition I don't respect is the annual promotion by Fox News of the so-called "war against Christmas." According to Fox, Democrats are trying to destroy Christmas by preventing people from celebrating or even acknowledging the holiday. As evidence, they cite the widespread use of the greeting "Happy Holidays," which they see as disparaging Christmas. They've repeatedly promoted Donald Trump's nonsensical thoughts on this topic, including Trump's repeated and thoroughly debunked assertions that Barack Obama never once wished anyone a "Merry Christmas" while he was president ..read more

My 2023 holiday mix is now complete and ready for you to review and/or download! It’s called My Christmas Dream, it includes 37 tracks and runs almost exactly one hour and 20 minutes. For more details and links to the mix itself visit the “Latest” page of my holiday music website. Now that the 2023 mix is available it’s time for this blog to turn its attention to what is, after all, its primary purpose — namely, providing a little background on each of the this year’s holiday tracks. We’ll cover anywhere between two and five tracks each day over the next four weeks, except on those days when I ..read more

My latest holiday mix is complete and now available on my holiday website for your listening and downloading pleasure. My 19th annual compilation is called Christmas Cheer, and it's stuffed to the brim with unheralded gems, seasonal greetings and unforgettable little nightmares just for you! There's nothing unusual about that, of course. It's pretty much the same formula I've been using for nearly two decades now. But this year it's ready not only before Black Friday but before you go shopping for your Thanksgiving turkey! Somehow I knew you're going to need your coping skills finely honed to ..read more