SOUNDTRACK: PEARL JAM-“Don’t Believe in Christmas” (2002).
On December 2, Pearl Jam announced that their fan club holiday singles will be released to streaming services. Their first holiday single was released back in 1991. It was “Let Me Sleep (Christmas Time).” They are rolling out the songs one at a time under the banner 12 Days of Pearl Jam.
These releases are coming out as a daily surprise.
Although yesterday’s song was full of Christmas cheer, this one is a rocking raspberry for Christmas.
It’s a pretty standard blues riff with the verses being just drums and vocals. And it’s all about how last year’s Christmas was a real downer so he has given up on the holiday
I hung my stocking on a wall
I didn’t get a thing at all
It’s got the simple sing-along chorus:
I don’t believe in Christmas
I don’t believe in Christmas
I don’t believe in Christmas
’cause i didn’t get nothin’ last year
But as always, there’s a sly wink with all the bah humbug
Well i tried to get a little kiss
From a pretty little miss
She slapped me down and said “you jerk
Mistletoe doesn’t work”
There’s a nice guitar solo and then a surprising organ solo before the song wraps itself up in an tidy bow.
[READ: December 4, 2019] “The Unsupported Circle”
This year, S. ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar. This is my fourth time reading the Calendar. I didn’t know about the first one until it was long out of print (sigh), but each year since has been very enjoyable. Here’s what they say this year
The Short Story Advent Calendar is back! And to celebrate its fifth anniversary, we’ve decided to make the festivities even more festive, with five different coloured editions to help you ring in the holiday season.
No matter which colour you choose, the insides are the same: it’s another collection of expertly curated, individually bound short stories from some of the best writers in North America and beyond.
(This is a collection of literary, non-religious short stories for adults. For more information, visit our Frequently Asked Questions page.)
As always, each story is a surprise, so you won’t know what you’re getting until you crack the seal every morning starting December 1. Once you’ve read that day’s story, check back here to read an exclusive interview with the author.
Want a copy? Order one here.
I’m pairing music this year with some Christmas songs that I have come across this year.
This is the kind of story that I really like and J. Robert Lennon is an author I would like to read more from.
The story is a series of unrelated vignettes–each one a movie or video–described by a narrator who we don’t meet for a while.
The first one is of a corporate retreat situation–a trust fall of sorts.
Next is a boy rapping on the street. He has a humorous accident mid-video.
A night scene of people trying to scare each other.
A Grandma making crow noises.
Audio of a party.
A child reciting Patrick Henry’s speech when the camera pans over to a rooster mounting a hen. [As a chicken owner the description “the hen wears an expression of patient endurance on its face and has clutched in her beak a single large pancake” is spot ton and hilarious].
The next one begins “I remember watching this one with you.” It’s the first time a narrator appears. The clip is about a person startling the camera operator–they gasped every time they watched it.
A Senator being accosted by a citizen.
A bird.
A home movie of a child performing magic (with typically bad results).
A video of a comet taken from a moving car.
A proposal that goes horribly wrong.
An amusing scene with animals.
And finally a woman balancing teacups on saucers. She is performing and begins walking around a drawn circle on the floor. The video loops perfectly, “the illusion of infinity is complete.”
The last two short paragraphs indicate the reality behind at least one video. And the realty of the person watching them.
This story was so strangely enjoyable–these objective descriptions of presumably YouTube videos were light and fun and all kind of amusing. But the end makes you rethink everything.
Excellent story.
The calendar says, It’s December 4. J. Robert Lennon, author of Broken River, always gives appropriate credit when retweeting viral content.
I Just Read About That... 
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