I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: WEEZER-Christmas with Weezer (2008).

I heard a Weezer Christmas song this weekend when WRFF in Philadelphia was playing a Christmas takeover weekend–rock bands playing Christmas songs.

When I looked up the song, I found out that Weezer released this EP in 2008.  It had originally been released for a video game called Christmas with Weezer (?!).  Evidently the game was Tap Tap which featured 18 band-specific versions!

This EP has six songs in under 13 minutes.  Each one of the tracks is pretty straight-ahead Weezer guitar rock.  They are bouncy and short, with nothing weird or crazy in them.

“We Wish You A Merry Christmas” starts out with a quiet guitar and then just rocks out when the lyrics come in.  The song is quick and to the point–no messing around.  There’s figgy pudding, there’s a short guitar solo, there’s a key change and its all done in a minute and a half.

“O Come All You Faithful” moves along at a nice clip.  This song is often done rather slowly and this is a fun change of pace.  The back half has a part where the guitars fade out and its a quiet verse before they all come back in to rock the finish.

“O Holy Night” is two times longer than anything else on the EP.  It’s a 4 minute, quiet version with a simple, picked electric guitar melody.  That is until the Weezer guitars kick in after about 40 seconds.  The song is still respectful and very catchy

“The First Noel” starts with an unexpected four note heavy guitar riff before the song resumes it faithful lyrics.

“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” has a rocking intro before a bass slide kicks the song into high gear.  This song romps through in 90 seconds.

“Silent Night” is a slower song with no drums, just tambourine.

This is a pretty ideal alternative collection of Christmas songs–nothing too crazy, but a nice change from the familiar.   Although it did not actually contain the song I was looking for.

[READ: December 21, 2019] “The Carnation Milk Palace”

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 story is set in 1964 and concerns fourteen-year-old Charlotte.  She and her family were invited to the Halden’s house for a New Year’s Eve party.

The Haldens were the richest people her parents knew.  They lived in a mansion that her father liked to call The Carnation Milk Palace.  Charlotte’s family couldn’t even afford new things. It was quite a disparity.  Her mother painted things to try to make them current (which meant avocado green).

Charlotte’s father had been friends with Glen Halden in college when he received an enormous inheritance (from the Carnation Condensed Milk fortune).  Charlotte’s family went to the New Year’s Eve party every year and for days afterwards Charlotte’s mother was angry about the injustice. It was especially galling because she had once resisted the advances of Glen Halden who was madly in love with her–oh what could have been.

It also turns out she only married Charlote’s father because she was pregnant with Charlotte’s sister.

But Charlotte had other plans for that night.  She was invited to Moira Duffy’s house.  Charlotte and Moira went to Convent of the Sacred Heart (even though Charlotte’s family were not Catholic–they were not anything).

When she asked if she could go to the Duffy’s party, she was told flatly, No.  Because of “boys” (“in that one word lay his daughter’s potential defilement, her ruin”).  This parental prohibition on boys had led to Charlotte’s older sister eloping as a freshman in college.

Charlotte only knew two boys.  Werner Leipzig was a valedictorian at the local boys’ school.  She had been on three chaperoned dates with him.  The second boy, Owen Harmon, was Werner’s best friend.  He was a left-leaning political animal with long unruly hair (while Werner was rather dull).  Charlotte and Moira doubled dated with these two boys and after the night, Charlotte had fallen in love with Owen, not with her date, Werner.

Charlotte’s family also did not like Moira Duffy.  She was a social nullity and would do nothing for Charlotte’s prospects.  Moira and her sister had full scholarships to the convert (charity cases). She was “a hippie. A flower child.  Gold only knew what.”  She had long hair, parted in the middle and offered a “dance class” in lieu of sports for physical education.  Her family has seven children and took in all kinds of stray animals. There was no way Charlotte was going.

The decision made, Charlotte was stuck going to the Halden’s party.

Charlotte hated everything about it.  She hated the way her parents acted.  She hated all of the fancy adults.  Although she found she didn’t hate the Haldens, and wished they could be her parents.

She was grabbed by her (drunk) father who wanted to show off his dancing skills.  But Charlotte only new Moira’s formless dancing and he quickly gave up on her, embarrassed to be seen with her.

Charlotte took some champagne and tried to find a library to hide in.

She opened a door and saw an older woman an young man clearly flirting with each other.  As her eyes adjusted she realized it was her mother, drunk and acting asinine.  The young man turned his attention to Charlotte, but Charlotte excused herself.

As she left the room the young man caught up to her and asked is she wanted to have fun,  He brought her up to a bedroom.  I love that the one thing her parents were most concerned about was actually lurking at the party they brought her to.  Obviously I did not appreciate the young man forcing himself onto her, but there is a surprise to this uncomfortable scene.

The drunken ride home was (Seriously) terrible and Charlotte imagined how she would tell Moira about what happened.

The final paragraph coda puts a tough dose of reality onto an already unhappy life for young Charlotte.

The calendar says, It’s December 21. Melissa Pritchard, author of Solemn Pleasure, teaches everyone at the party the latest dance craze.