I Just Read About That…

 SOUNDTRACK: ULTRA LOUNGE: CHRISTMAS COCKTAILS Part Two: Another Sound of Cool Holiday Spirits (1997).

I enjoyed Christmas Cocktails so much, it seemed foolish to pass on Part Two.  It could never be as good as Part One (that’s where all the best stuff went), but it’s still pretty solid with some great renditions of old songs and new (to me) songs.  And yes, one or two that are even better than disc one.

CAIOLA & ORTALANI/JIMMY McGRIFF-“Sleigh Ride/Jingle Bells” A cool easy listening version with guitars swinging and then switching two smooth violins/organ solo Hammond.  LENA HORNE-“Jingle All The Way” I like that the bass is playing the “I like the sleigh ride” without it being sung.  It’s a fun version (also on Pier 1 Imports).  LOU RAWLS-“Merry Christmas Baby” I don’t typically like Lou Rawls, and I don’t really like this song, but this version fits in good with the rest of the disc.  JULIE LONDON-“Warm December” I don’t know this song, it’s pretty and sweet.  London must be the sweetheart of the Capitol Records stable.

EDDIE DUNSTEDTER-“Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!/Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer” An ice-rink keyboard version of the songs—cheesey and awesome!  JUNE CHRISTY-“The Merriest”  I didn’t know this song.  It’s a fun unusual song that I like quite a bit, the words are unexpected and full of wordplay.  NAT KING COLE TRIO-“All I Want For Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth)” Also on the Pier 1 disc, I didn’t notice the backing vocalists as much on the other version—they almost drown out Nat on this one.

NANCY WILSON “ The Christmas Waltz” I feel like Ive only become aware of this song this year. I like this version a lot. With strings and Wilson’s lovely voice.  LES BROWN AND HIS BAND OF RENOWN-/FRANK DEVOL WITH THE STARLIGHTERS-“I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm/Jing-A-Ling, Jing-A-Ling” This is a fun instrumental, big band version until the second half when the Starlighters sing–in great 40s era style–Jing-A Ling which I’ve never heard before.  JIMMY McGRIFF-“I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”  I don’t especially love this song, but this crazy Hammond organ version is awesome (is it different from the one on the first disc?)?

DEAN MARTIN-“Baby, It’s Cold Outside” A fast version of this with what sounds like a chorus of women responding to Deano.  GEORGE SHEARING/BILLY MAY-“Snowfall / Snowfall Cha-Cha” A pretty, string filled chill-out song that I’m unfamiliar with.   WAYNE NEWTON-“ Jingle Bell Rock” I don’t really like this song in general.  And this is a woman singing so I don’t quite get the Newton connection, but I am amused at how much this song does not rock.  THE VENTURES-“Frosty The Snowman” a fun surf version.  THE DINNING SISTERS & BOB ATCHER-“Christmas Island” I love this song and this version.  It’s always a treat to hear this at Christmastime.

MARTIN DENNY-“Exotic Night” I love Martin Denny and his weird “exotic” tracks. This is a wonderful version of “What Child is This” as done on vibes and possibly glasses? With a pretty piano.  PEGGY LEE-“Happy Holidays” Classic big band fun.  FERRANTE & TEICHER/LES BAXTER-“Sleigh Ride/Santa Claus’ Party”  Les Baxter is another great exotic music fan.  This is the great instrumental version with sleigh bells and cloppy sounds and all. The second half is a vocal rendition of a song I’ve never heard before (“a mountain of ice cream where everyone has his share!”).  Someday I’ll have to make a disc of “old” Christmas songs that are not part of the typical rounds

GUY LOMBARDO & HIS ROYAL CANADIANS-“ Auld Lang Syne” standard Auld Lang Syne fare, although a little slow.  STAN KENTON-“ What Is Santa Claus?” A sweet story about Santa Claus. It’s spoken word with the set up that children are always asking him what Santa Claus is.  Set over a backing chorus of “Silent Night,” it’s very sweet, although he says Santa has 7 reindeer—that’s odd.

[READ: December 22, 2014] Locke & Key 5

I’m trying so hard to pace myself with these stories, but I am so hooked.  I knew I would finish the series by the end of the year, even if I couldn’t post about them until January

This penultimate book opens with a flashback.  A very long ago flashback with a bunch of people who look a lot like the Locke family.  And indeed they are the Locke’s from 1776, when the parents of the family were killed by British soldiers for supporting the local militia.  The children watch the hanging and are told to go to the caves (where the militia is waiting).  When they get to the caves, they learn that the men hiding there have found a door.  The door is marked 11 and has all kinds of designs on it.  The men reveal that the children’s brother was killed fighting off whatever was in that door (so they lost three family members that day).

Behind the door is the creepy spirit dimension that Scout is trying to control.  After a staggering amount of bloodshed, we learn that if the spirits are incapable of taking over a body, they turn into a weird kind of metal.  Which the boy forges into the Omega key.  And, mind-blowingly, Ty and Kinsey are there as ghosts to watch the whole thing.  (And I have to laugh that during all the horror, the goat is just eating people’s hats and whatnot).

In the next chapter Scout has taken over Bode’s body and is doing awful things that look like “accidents.”  Like that he discovered Kinsey’s bottle of dead feelings and accidentally smashed it.  The creatures flee–right into Tyler’s head.  So now he has all of Kinsey’s weird emotions in his head too (and man are they fucked up).  The emotions convince Tyler to try to burn down their house.  And he almost succeeds.  Until they kids subdue him and look in his head.  This allows Kinsey to put her emotions back into her own head, but it also means that Scout now has the Omega key.

The next chapter flashes back to Tyler’s dad and his friends when they were in school.  They were the drama club and used the keys to put on the best play ever.  We learn about what happened to all of these people who we’ve seen as adults–we see what happened to Luke, and why Ellie is so messed up.  And we also see that it was Tyler’s dad who first talked about using the Omega key to let a demon through.  Gasp!

We see them go into the caves, we see Frank spray paint their names and we see that Tyler’s uncle Duncan was a little kid who followed them into the caves even though they told him not.  It was partly his fault that things went haywire.  There is much bloodshed again and the use of keys in very bad ways.

As the book ends we learn that the fishing lure which Ty has been carrying around on his hat was made of that same metal.

I didn’t really want to have all these flashbacks since things were moving along so intensely but they were excellent at filling in the gaps and introducing brand news horrors.  Hill has masterfully crafted these books and I am really pacing myself not to finish the final book right now.