A digital commonplace for a Regular Guy called Charlie Pharis
Speaking of great Christmas music…
Today when I went into the office, I found a neat little gold gift bag in my door message-holder-thingy. Inside the gold gift bag was the Josh Groban Noel CD! Thanks to whoever you are, if you’re reading this post! A very cool surprise! And it is in the Thursday night unwind playlist as we speak! Thanks again!
A week of blur! is winding down! And one of my favorite ways to unwind this time of year is The John Rutter Christmas Album. It’s a very British, very traditional, very choir-y Christmas album. You may or may not like it. I’m especially fond of Jesus Child.
Puttering around the house, waiting for the DHL delivery (“between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m.,” she said on the phone), reading, thinking, great steady winter rain, wind chimes from the front porch, a little cool, and J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio by The Netherlands Bach Society.
Have Yourself a Jazzy Little Christmas is the soundtrack for tonight’s Unwind. Right at this very moment, the incomparable Oscar Peterson is playing A Child Is Born. Up next, Jimmy Smith’s Jingle Bells…you get the idea…great stuff!
I never thought I’d say this, but enough of the “holiday” music on the radio already!
A couple of radio stations here in Atlanta usually go “all Christmas, all the time” on Thanksgiving or the day after. This year is no exception. You’ve got B98.5, 104.7 The Fish, and this year, The Bull 94.9. Well, today while we were out and about, I flipped the radio over to B98.5 to listen to Christmas music. Let’s just say a little goes a long, long way!
Man! Enough already! 5 versions of “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” in less than 30 minutes, and none of them were worth listening to! And I think “Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time” is one of the worst excuses for a holiday song ever. Then there’s “So This Is Christmas (War Is Over)”…huh?!?!
And please…if Jessica Simpson and the ex-Mr. Simpson is the only rendition of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” you can find for your playlist…it would be better not to bother!
Call me Scrooge. Tell me I’m a mean one, Mr. Grinch. Whatever. But right now, I’ve got a great classical Christmas compilation CD going along with my green tea. Now that’s Christmas music!
OK, sorry…rant off!
Back in the Christmas mood tonight…Windham Hill’s Celtic Christmas and a cup of green tea, a good book, who could ask for anything more?
OK, I know most of you just don’t get the whole Christmas-music-after-Labor-Day thing. I understand your rolling your eyes and suggesting it’s too early for Christmas music, and all that stuff.
Get over it, already! (BTW, it would help you chill a bit if you’d put on some Christmas music of your choice, but that’s another matter altogether.)
Anyway, today’s current Christmas music is A Jazz Christmas: Hot Jazz for a Cool Night. And right now the late, great Kenny Davern is playing the most laid-back, cool version of “Jingle Bells” I’ve ever heard. (OK, OK, not really Christmas music, per se, but a winter holiday favorite nonetheless!)
…well, one among probably many…you have to put up with stuff like Jessica Simpson and the former Mr. Simpson butchering the classic “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”!
Almost makes you want to forget about it altogether!
(NOTE: I thought about including a link to a sample, but then I thought better of it. Whew!)
And the joyous sounds of Christmas music filling the air in my office! I wondered all night about what I would choose to start the holiday tunes this year, and I decided to let AccuRadio’s AccuHolidays channel work its internet magic. First out of the chute?
Linda Ronstadt’s Silent Night, from her Merry Little Christmas project.
Absolutely perfect for the official kickoff of Christmas Music 2007!
And all you loyal readers (both of you!) know what that means…
It’s beginning to
looksound a lot like Christmas;
Soon the bells will start,
And the thing that will make them ring is the carol that you sing
Right within your heart.
That’s right, boys and girls…Labor Day officially kicks off the start of Christmas music at the ol’ Just Charlie hacienda! And I’m chomping at the bit this year…
I may be rushing things, but deck the halls again now.
For we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute…