SOUNDTRACK: BOB & DOUG McKENZIE-“The 12 Days of Christmas” (1981).
This is my preferred old school version of “The 12 Days of Christmas.” It was one of the first parodies of the song that I had heard (and I was big in parodies back in 1981).
I loved how stupid they were (on the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…a beer). I loved trying to figure out what a two-four was, and it cracked me up that they skipped a whole bunch of days.
I also enjoyed how they continued to snipe at each other throughout the song. Not comedy gold perhaps (that would be “Take Off” recorded with Geddy Lee, but a nice way to start, or end, the season on these “mystery days.”
Evidently, decades after SCTV went off the air, Bob & Doug got an animated TV show (without Rick Moranis). And they made a video of the song. Hosers.
Five Dials Number 29 was the first issue I had read in a while. (I read this before going back to 26-28). And it really reminded me of how great Five Dials is. I don’t know why this isn’t Part 2 after Number 28’s Part 1 (there was no 28b either), but that’s irrelevant. This is an independent collection of great writing. I was instantly surprised and delighted to see that César Aria was included in this issue (I didn’t even know he had made inroads in England).
CRAIG TAYLOR-Letter from the Editor: In Swedes and Open Letters
Taylor’s usually chipper introduction is saddened by the contents of this one. The discussion centers on Sweden and the city of Malmo, where integration is proving to be tougher than they’d hoped. Black skinned people are profiled pretty explicitly. Taylor talks about meeting the writer Jonas Hassen Khemiri (who they subsequently published in issue 21) who deals with issues of race. In March of 2013, Khemiri wrote an open letter to Swedish Minister for Justice Beatrice Ask after she brushed off concerns about racial profiling. The letter went viral including getting translated into 15 languages. So I guess there is some positivity after all. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: PHINEAS AND FERB-The Twelve Days of Christmas (2010).
While The Bird and the Bee has become my new favorite serious version of The Twelve Days of Christmas, this Phineas and Ferb version is my new favorite silly version of the song. Sure it’s especially funny for fans of the show but, as anyone who has seen the show knows, Dr. Doofenshmirtz is comedy gold and so his wishes for Christmas and his updates and concessions (and the fact that he is a traditionalist) absolutely make this worthy of repeat listens.
[READ: December 19, 2013] Five Dials Number 28
Five Dials #28 is vaguely thematic–about heroes. Some items are literal (the writers-as-heroines drawing), some are speculative (my favorite conceit–the stories of quickly killed side characters in movies), and some are unrelated at all–the guy who helped out Will Self. This issue was launched from Sydney, Australia.
CRAIG TAYLOR-A Letter from the Editor: On Heroes and Convicts
Taylor talks about everything mentioned above and then talks about Robert Hughes’ The Fatal Shore and his primer on modern art: The Shock of the New (which has an accompanying documentary series). (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: THE BIRD AND THE BEE-12 Days of Christmas (2008).
I first heard a bit of this song in a Sephora a few years ago. Then they played it on New Girl (in two separate Christmas episodes). But I never knew who the artist was. Then some kind soul pointed me to the band and lo, I found the track.
I don’t know much else about the Bird and the Bee, but this is hands down my favorite rendition of the 12 Days of Christmas. In addition to the great, groovy sound (which reminds me of the Cocteau Twins), I just loved how…different the song sounded. Turns out, according to their soundcloud page, “we changed the song so that every repeat is a completely different progression.” I love it.
The song never gets boring and her voice is simply gorgeous. I only wish it was available for sale or download or something.
[READ: December 16, 2013] Five Dials #27
I was a little harsh on Five Dials Number 26, but overall, it still kept up the greatness that has been Five Dials. And #27 keeps up the excellence. Since Five Dials likes globetrotting, this issue is based in and around Greece, the county that is in tumult.
This one also has letters from Our Glorious Readers. One of the readers sensibly comments that the Berlin issue would keep her busy throughout the winter. Wish I had doled mine out better. I feel that Toronto gets a little knock from the editors who seem to think it is not as cool as Berlin. I also enjoyed the reader’s description of Peter Stamm’s writing as being like skiing.
CRAIG TAYLOR-A Letter from the Editor: On Timelines and Greek Photographs
Taylor talks about the timelines that tend to appear in newspapers, most of which seem to talk about the collapse of something or other (like the Greek economy). After visiting Athens, Five Dials felt it was time to bring some Greek writing to English readers. The letter talks about the contents within and gives good context to Dimitris Tsoumblekas’ photos which are quite good but are even better when you know what they are doing–especially the one about his father. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: BOB DYLAN-Christmas in the Heart (2009).
I have been a dabbler in Dylan over the years. I like his hits, I like some of his albums, but I’ve never been a huge huge fan. So the biggest surprise to me was that Bob Dylan now sounds like Tom Waits. His voice is so crazily gravelly, it’s almost (almost) unrecognizable as Dylan.
That said, on some of the tracks it works very well–like he’s had too much to drink and is enjoying the revelry of these traditional songs. I imagine him as a benevolent uncle trying to get the family to sing along. And sing along they do. He has a group of backing singers who sound like they are straight out of the forties and fifties (on some songs the women sing incredibly high especially compared to Dylan’s growl). I’m not always sure it works, but when it does it’s quite something.
The first three songs are a lot of fun. However, when he gets to “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing,” it really sounds like he has hurt himself. He seems to really strain on some of those notes–note the way he pronounces “herald” (heeerald).
The more secular songs fare better with “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” sounding especially Waitsian and being all the better for it. Although I feel that perhaps he made up some lyrics–“presents on the tree?” It’s interesting that in “O Come, All Ye Faithful” he sings the first verse in Latin (I don’t know that I’ve heard any other pop singers do that) and it works quite well.
A less successful song is “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” in which the music just seems to be too slow for him. His verses end early and it seems like the backing singers are just out in the middle of nowhere. Perhaps the best song is “Must Be Santa.” I love this arrangement (by Brave Combo) and Dylan has a ton of fun with it (and the video is weirdly wonderful too).
“Christmas Blues” is a bit of a downer (as the title might suggest). I’d never heard this song before and Dylan is well suited to it. Dylan’s version of “The Little Drummer Boy” is also very good–he croons gently and his voice sounds really good. I was surprised to hear him do “Christmas Island,” a song I have come to love this year–his version is quite fun as well, with the backing singer doing Aloha-ays.
Finally, “O Little Town of Bethlehem” is pitched a wee bit high for him (and the Waits voice is more scary than avuncular here).
So overall it’s a weird collection (to say nothing of the artwork–both the cover and the inside cover), but I think it’s well suited to the day after the festivities.
[READ: December 15, 2013] Five Dials #26
I was shocked to realize who many Five Dials issued I had put off reading (and that this one came out over a year ago!). I knew 26 was a large issue, so I put it off. And then put it off. And then put it off, until Issue 29 came out. (I read 29 before this one, which got me to jump back and tackle this large one).
I have to admit I did not enjoy this one as much as previous Five Dials. The bulk of the issue was taken up with German short stories, and I don’t know if it was the choices of the editors, but (a few) of the stories just didn’t grab me at all. Having said that, there were one or two that I thought were very good. But with this being such a large issue, perhaps it deserved to be spaced out a little better–Weltanschauung fatigue, no doubt.
This issue starts with Letters from Our Glorious readers and other sources.
I feel like this is a new feature for Five Dials (although again, it has been a while). There is applause for the Bears (From Issue #24) and the acknowledgement of Zsuzsi Gartner’s first adoptees of her story ideas (Issue #25 Pt 1). There’s also the amusing story of a guy who got nailed at work for printing the color issue (something I used to do at my old job as well) and a refraining of answering spam.
CRAIG TAYLOR-On Ewen and German
Taylor doesn’t say much in this intro, since the “heavy lifting” is done by Anna Kelly. He does mention Paul Ewen (and his food writing) and the first Five Dials questionnaire (which I assume it is too late (and too far away) for me to submit for that free HH book).
ANNA KELLY
She explains about wanting to know secrets, and how when she was little, learning Pig Latin was a such a huge boon to her secretive life. Then her sister started studying German, and Anna herself was hooked. She says that reading German works in German is like flying. And she wants to share German language writers with us. Of course, we won’t be reading them in German, so there will be no flying. (more…)
There’s been plenty of press about this Bad Religion Christmas album. Greg and Brett have been interviewed on NPR’s Weekend Edition.
So what is a Bad Religion fan to make of this disc? Bad Religion has, as its name states, no tolerance for any religion, especially Christianity. So what the hell?
Well, as anyone who has grown up in America knows, these songs are ubiquitous. But more importantly, these songs are quite good. So why not give a try at punking them up. What I appreciate about his album is that the band plays these songs absolutely straight. Whatever their beliefs, they do not mess with the songs. (I have absolutely enjoyed mocking versions of these songs, and I have many many goofy versions of them, but Bad Religion has never been goofy, so they sound like real Bad Religions songs–lyrics aside).
And so we get fifteen minutes (seriously) of great respectful punk renditions of traditional religious and secular Christmas songs. In true Bad Religion form, the songs barely make it over 2 minutes long, but the lyrics are completely understandable and their harmonies are outstanding. (Bad Religion has always had great harmonies but they are used to wonderful effect here). Their version of “Hark, The Herald Angels Sing” is amazing (even if I find it unsettling that some of his rhymes are weird (like that he pronounces it BethleHAIM to rhyme with proclaim). The acapella opening is really impressive (Brett was in choir as a kid). When the band hits the line where the drums play a counterpoint (for just one line), it’s really fantastic. “O Come, All Ye Faithful” is just straight out punk. “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” features some great backing vocals. The Ramones-feel of “White Christmas” is a weird touch, but their delivery is spot on.
“The Little Drummer Boy” (a song I’m not terribly fond of in general) is quite good in this rendition–especially after hearing Brett say how complicated the measures are in this song. It’s hard to do a bad version of “Angels We Have Heard on High” when you can harmonize as well as this band does. And their version is great (I love the backing vocals on this as well). Theirs is certainly the most aggressive version of “O Come O Come Emmanuel” I’ve ever heard (and I rather like it). And “What Child is This?” has a solid riff to start with (it’s interesting to hear it on the guitar). And again, the chorus is stellar.
They finish off the album with a remix of “American Jesus” a very anti-religion song (and perhaps a palette cleanser). I didn’t notice how it is a remix, but it still sounds good.
Of course if you don’t like punk, you won’t like this, but I was really impressed with the care they put into these renditions.
[READ: December 24, 2013] Bad Santas
This book looks at the history of Christmas, but specifically at the creatures who caused mayhem and violence during the long winter holidays. Indeed, our “traditional” Christmas celebration is a relatively new construct (you will be shocked to see how new it actually is).
In Greece, during the twelves days of Christmas, goblins called Kallikantzaoi would steal things, destroy property and even abduct children. In Finland, an evil goat called Joulupukki would demand gifts and punish evil children (he has since been turned into basically Santa Claus.
And in parts of Italy and Germany, the witch Perchta would climb down the chimney. But instead of giving presents to children, she would rip out their intestines and replace them with straw and stone. (There’s a wonderful doll of Perchta here). And anyone who has recently since the Grimm Christmas episode now knows of Krampus who is not only a real Christmas creature, (meaning Grimm didn’t make him up), he is still active and you can get Krampus cards.
SOUNDTRACK: BOB ATCHER AND THE DINNING SISTERS-“Christmas Island” (1950).
There is something so charming and wonderful about white people co-opting Hawaiian music in the 50s. I know fully well that there is nothing ‘authentic” about the whole AH-LOH-HA-AY business and that they have made it smooth and “sexy” for “bachelor pads” and all of that. I know that I should be offended on everyone’s behalf. And yet I can’t be.
I find bachelor pad kitsch to be fun (Esquivel’s Christmas Album is a perennial favorite), and so I was delighted to be introduced to this song from the 2007 NPR Holiday show. I actually don’t know anything about Bob Atcher or the Dinning Sisters, but this song is a delightful trip through faux Hawaiian music–slide guitars and a very hula-feeling rhythm.
It even features Santa arriving on a canoe. Yup, the whole simplification of Hawaiian/island culture is in poor taste, but man, it’s such a swinging and trippy take on a Christmas song. And I’m sure no islanders were hurt in the making of the recording. Aloha-ay.
[READ: December 15, 2013] Kawaii!
I’m fascinated by manga and the whole, as the subtitle says, Japanese culture of “cute.” I don’t really get it. I mean, I get it, that cute things are cute, but the whole cultural love of cute is so peculiar to me–especially when reading this book and seeing that it is a cultural explosion of cuteness. This book was a great introduction to so many different aspects of this culture. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: GARFUNKEL AND OATES-“Year End Letter” (2010).
Garfunkel and Oates are a wonderful comedy team. I’ve enjoyed so many of their songs, but this was the first time I ‘ve heard this Christmastime ditty.
We always enjoy reading people’s year end letters with an eye towards the attitude in this song–slightly mocking and yet also thinking:
“You’re right, your family’s better than mine
And it seems you make a lot more money.”
But now with the advent of Facebook, people post their year end letter info every day. And I am very sad to see that we got virtually no year end letters this year. So even though we tease, now we miss what we once mocked. At least G&O can remind us what they all contained.
And since I cannot figure out how to embed a vimeo video, you’ll have to click this link to watch it.
[READ: December 20, 2013] Legends of the Guard
This book is a collection of short pieces written and illustrated by some of the greats in independent comic books (with a shocking number of them being from Michigan). Evidently many writers contacted Petersen and wanted to work with him. He didn’t want to mess up the arc of his story so he devised this idea. Set in June’s Ale House, all of the mice are tasked with telling a story. The one who tells the best will have his bar tab erased (for some that is quite a deal).
And so, these stories or legends are set at any time in the past and do not impact the chronology of our Mouse Guards. And man, are they good. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: HAVE YOURSELF A SULLEN LITTLE CHRISTMAS–NPR (December 19, 2013).
NPR Music’s Stephen Thompson and Travis Larchuk hop onto Morning Edition to talk about Christmas songs that are melancholy sad and downright sullen (which is quite a lot of them, if you really listen to the words).
They talk about some new(ish) songs that are depressing Like David Mead’s “The Smile of Rachael Ray” (which would be bad enough, but that’s just a lead in to the bummer within), Harvey Danger’s “Sometimes You Have to Work on Christmas (Sometimes),” Garfunkel & Oates’ “Year End Letter” (which is quite funny) and the song “Dead, Dead, Dead” from the South Park holiday album Mr. Hankey’s Christmas Classics.
Of course, dark Christmas songs are nothing new. There are plenty of dour holiday standards that originate in the 1940s “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” and “Blue Christmas” are major downers.
When I try to compile Christmas mixes I try to leave off the bummer songs, but it’s really hard.
Stephen Thompson gives an excellent summary of the season: “Christmas is the one day a year when we’re all supposed to be happy, and so you’re hyperaware when you’re not.” I hope everyone has a Happy Christmas this year.
[READ: December 10, 2013] Mouse Guard The Black Axe
This book features a preface by Terry Jones. It doesn’t say a lot, but it’s worth a mention.
The Black Axe begins after the events of Winter 1152 (it is set in Spring, 1153), but the bulk of the book is a flashback to the origin story of the Black Axe.
As the book opens we learn that Lieam, one of the Mouse Guards has been missing for the last three months. We also learn that even though the Winter was a dangerous time for the mice, the Spring proves to be equally treacherous as all of the predators are awaking from hibernation. But despite the current crises, Gwendolyn’s thoughts turn to Spring 1115 where the story of Celanawe begins.
We see Celanawe on an island building a house. Suddenly a crow approaches. On the crow is Em, a mouse who can communicate with the crows and who reveals that he she has been looking for him. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: THE FLAMING LIPS-“Silent Night/Lord Can You Hear Me” (2008).
The last Flaming Lips Christmas song I heard was their rendition of “White Christmas” which is creepy and just awful. For this one, they picked a much prettier song (“Silent Night”) and they don’t mess with it at all. They keep it very simple–echoed keyboards and some backing vocals with Wayne Coyne’s autotuned voice singing properly. It is certainly not the best version of the song I’ve heard, but it is at least pretty.
The song segues into “Lord, Can You Hear Me” which follows the same simple instrumentation as “Silent Night” and nearly keeps the same melody. It’s not so much a song as a coda to “Silent Night.”
This single came out around the time of Christmas on Mars and includes as the B-side “It’s Christmas Time Again.”
[READ: December 6, 2013] Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Speckled Band
Since I’m going to write about a few of these, I’ll keep up this little intro bit so I don’t have to re-write the general ideas/criticisms.
These are indeed the actual Arthur Conan Doyle stories just severely edited and truncated. In other words, a lot of the story is cut out and yet the original language is still in place (at least I hope it is, I hope contemporary writers didn’t write the dialogue), so for young kids I think the wording is a little confusing. The drawings are a little too simple for my liking as well. They do effectively convey the story, but I didn’t like the very basicness of them. I feel they make the stories seems a little more childlike than they actually are.
Having said all that however, I found the graphic novels to be a compelling introduction to Sherlock Holmes’ shorter stories (although not for my 8-year-old apparently).
This is the last book of the series that I have read–there are apparently 14 as of this writing. I don’t think I’ll be reading any more as I feel like I am getting such a small amount of the story that it would be more worthwhile to simply read the actual stories (which I had planned to do anyhow). Reading these feels like I’m getting the answer to the puzzle ahead of time. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: BOB AND ROBIN’S EXCELLENT HOLIDAY ADVENTURE, NPR, December 19, 2013 (2013).
Every year NPR airs a holiday music special (I’ve been posting from them for the last few days). Initially, they were like any of the episodes, with descriptions of the songs. Then they became a music only playlist (which was kind of nice). Then they added some guests. Last year they did a very enjoyable story of Bob and Robin together having a party that no one came to. This year, today, they have released the 2013 edition.
In this story, Bob and Robin are driving to Kansas in a huge snowstorm. They listen to some carols on the radio. And then when the snow gets too bad they pull over into a small hotel. Then Bob falls asleep and is visited in his dream by Annie Clark (St. Vincent), John Vanderslice, Wayne Coyne (Flaming Lips), Josh Ritter and Jess Wolf (Lucius) who tell some great memories of Christmas.
The songs they play are wonderfully diverse as usual (although there’s no Hanukkah songs this year, as Hanukkah was last month). They range from standard favorites (Burl Ives’ “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,” “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”) to very traditional songs (“Coventry Carol” an instrumental “sleigh Ride”) to funny songs (“Christmastime for the Jews”) to a brand new one: The Flaming Lips playing “Silent Night/Lord Can You Hear Me” (which completely makes up for their dreadful “White Christmas” from several years ago).
This is a wonderfully enjoyable story/holiday special. Listen and enjoy.
[READ: December 7, 2013] Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Dancing Men
Since I’m going to write about a few of these, I’ll keep up this little intro bit so I don’t have to re-write the general ideas/criticisms.
These are indeed the actual Arthur Conan Doyle stories just severely edited and truncated. In other words, a lot of the story is cut out and yet the original language is still in place (at least I hope it is, I hope contemporary writers didn’t write the dialogue), so for young kids I think the wording is a little confusing. The drawings are a little too simple for my liking as well. They do effectively convey the story, but I didn’t like the very basicness of them. I feel they make the stories seems a little more childlike than they actually are.
Having said all that however, I found the graphic novels to be a compelling introduction to Sherlock Holmes’ shorter stories (although not for my 8-year-old apparently).
This story features the fascinating name of Hilton Cubitt. He comes to Holmes with a confounding problem. He has discovered a slip of paper with stick figured men drawn on it. When he showed it to his wife, she absolutely freaked out. But she won’t tell him why. So he brings the paper to Holmes to figure out what the heck is going on.
Since I haven’t read the original of this story, I feel like the graphic novel is a better medium for this story because of the titular dancing men. Perhaps the original has drawings in it, but if not, the graphic novel’s version which contains the stick figures corresponding to letters is a very successful way of quickly showing the trick. (Even if, again, I don’t love the illustrations).
Holmes can’t do much with one slip of paper–he can’t even decode the pattern because there’s so little to go on. But then more dancing men appear, and Cubitt brings more evidence to Holmes. Holmes is able to crack the code (I couldn’t, but I wonder if there was more information given in the real story?). Anyhow, Holmes has cracked the code, but that still doesn’t really solve the problem, which is the message within the code.
This may have been another case where more information would have made the story a bit more compelling. It seems a little too easy that the “bad guy” is spotted, giving Holmes a pretty easy capture. Nevertheless, I do love a good puzzle and I’m curious to read how well the dancing men are described in the original.
SOUNDTRACK: BOB & DOUG McKENZIE-“The 12 Days of Christmas” (1981).
This is my preferred old school version of “The 12 Days of Christmas.” It was one of the first parodies of the song that I had heard (and I was big in parodies back in 1981).
I Just Read About That... 