SOUNDTRACK: KURSTIN x GROHL-“Hotline Bling” (The Hanukkah Sessions: Night Two” December 11, 2020).
Producer Greg Kurstin (who I have not heard of) and Dave Grohl (who I have) decided that, rather than releasing a Christmas song this year, they would record eight covers of songs by Jewish artists and release them one each night for Hanukkah.
“With all the mishegas of 2020, @GregKurstin and I were kibbitzing about how we could make Hannukah extra-special this year. Festival of Lights?! How about a festival of tasty LICKS! So hold on to your tuchuses… We’ve got something special coming for your shayna punims. L’chaim!!”
The second night is a grooving version of a Drake song.
You might be surprised to learn that this superstar is… Canadian. He’s never hidden the fact that he was M.O.T. … so a generation of Jewish parents could tell their kids “if Drake took the time to study for HIS Bar Mitzvah, you can too.” Ladies and gentlemen…challah at your boy….DRAKE!
I may be the only person in the world who has not heard the original of this song (or seen the video).
Kurstin plays synth and gets a nice full sound.
Grohl plays drums and sings. I can’t comment on if he’s trying to sing like Drake, but he is definitely singing in his crooning voice, not his screaming voice.
There’s no stick drops in this song (although there’s some nice variety in the drum sounds). The humor in this one comes from Grohl doing a dance with a menorah (this may be the “Hotline Bling” dance?). It’s slow motion and very amusing.
I can’t decide if I want to hear the original of this song or not, but I do rather like this version of it.
[READ: December 12, 2020] “A History of Heart Disease”
This year, S. ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar. This is my fifth 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
You know the drill by now. The 2020 Short Story Advent Calendar is a deluxe box set of individually bound short stories from some of the best writers in North America.
This year’s slipcase is a thing of beauty, too, with electric-yellow lining and spot-glossed lettering. It also comes wrapped in two rubber bands to keep those booklets snug in their beds.
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.
It’s December 12. Amber Sparks, author of I Do Not Forgive You, finds the drive-thru a little too impersonal. [Click the link to the H&O extras for the story].
This is a very short story (four pages in these little booklets).
It begins with Glen’s father dying in a Burger King when Glen was five.
The next paragraph jumps to Glen at thirty, married with a little girl and a job teaching. He and his wife are having problems. She has gained weight and he is scared of the way his body sinks into it.
Glen is wrapping the ankle of a student, Jenny, when his wife calls to say that his mother died. Heart attack. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 