Neotropic's Christmas greeting

Dunno if I'm going to post many of the "hard" cards from this year, but I did want to share this groovy digital greeting I received from Neotropic.

Christmas 1972

KEXP's Christmas Song of the Day

My colleagues at the KEXP blog always do an excellent job curating the Song of the Day podcast, bringing fresh new music to listeners' in boxes five days a week. But they outdid themselves this past week, offering five brand new Christmas recordings by up-and-coming artists. I was especially excited to see Black Keys associate Jessica Lee Mayfield putting her own stamp on Glen Campbell's "Little Toy Trains." You can download each of them—and learn more about the recording artists—by clicking on the links below. (And while you're at it, please consider making a year-end gift of support to KEXP.)

Diamond Rugs - Christmas In A Chinese Restaurant
The Barr Brothers - Dear Mrs. Claus
Breathe Owl Breathe - Snow Blow
Jessica Lea Mayfield - Little Toy Trains
Brite Futures - Last Christmas

KEXP blog master Jim Beckman also compiled a comprehensive list of recent seasonal favorites by KEXP anchor artists like Damien Jurado, Fitz and the Tantrums, the Raveonettes, and more, under the banner "A Sleighfull of Holiday Songs." Don't miss local heroes STAG tearing it up on the Kinks' "Father Christmas."

Speaking of KEXP, I'll be broadcasting my annual Christmas music spectacular live on-air from 9PM to noon Pacific Time tomorrow. You can tune in via 90.3 FM Seattle or on the Internet at kexp.org.

Shelby Earl's "This Christmas Is For Us"

Shelby Earl's full-length debut, Burn the Boats, was one of my favorite local albums of 2011, and she's also a delight to follow on Twitter. Her ascent in my pantheon continues with the release of "This Christmas Is For Us," an original song now available on her Soundcloud page and from better online music retailers. We asked Shelby to tell us a little more about this tune, and here's what she had to say.

First let me start by saying, I LOVE CHRISTMAS. The holiday was a huge deal in my family when I was young, and has remained so my entire life. To this day, no matter where my extended family members reside in the world, they will drop what they're doing, put work on hold, and travel to a chosen location (usually in Cali) to spend Christmas week together. It's SUCH an epic deal to me that in this, my 35th year, I've never missed a Christmas with my mom - not one. UNTIL NOW! It's been a wildly exciting year of music-making in Earl-land and in crafting my plans for end-of-year shows, tour, recording, etc. I realized that a week-long trip to California wasn't going to be viable (the list of reasons is long). Delivering the news to my family was tough, but everyone understood.

Then jump ahead to me sitting in my living room just a few short weeks ago, when first snowflakes were hitting the ground in Seattle. I was sipping a cup of tea, pondering how much I love my cozy apartment, how deeply I love and appreciate my community in Seattle, and it hit me: I AM ALREADY HOME. My parents and siblings might be in California for the week, but my PEOPLE are right here! I picked up my guitar and this song poured out of me. I'm not always lucky enough to write that way - other songs take a LOT longer to come around - but this one just flowed. It's because it came out of a genuine excitement to be with my Seattle friends and loved ones this year for Christmas. I wanted to tell them as much.

My bandmates were awesome about quickly rallying to learn and record the tune so we could get to sharing it. Then last weekend (the 2nd week of Dec.) a crew including: Barb Hunter (cello), Faustine Hudson (drums), Anna-Lisa Notter (vocals), Mike Notter (guitar), Ben Obee (bass), Fidelia Schoolcraft (vocals) and myself all got together for a few hours in Gabriel Mintz' living room to lay it down. We knew it would be a wee bit lo-fi, but it ended up having the EXACT right spirit about it. Gabe did a spectacular job recording and mixing it - and it gave him a giggle to be the "bad jew" who spent hours working on a Christmas tune. I told him he was lucky it wasn't all about wise men and angels and infant kings. :)

So here it is, my offering of love to my Seattle people this Christmas. It's my "thank you" for the AMAZING year you've given me.

Christmas with The Waitresses

The following interview, conducted by Keith Lyle, originally appeared in issue #2 of FESTIVE!, way back in 1997.

Christmas Wrapping with Chris Butler: A Tribute to Patty Donahue and the Waitresses
By Keith Lyle

"Do you know how this whole thing started?" So says Chris Butler, former guitarist and songwriter of the Waitresses, as he watches the brightly-lit faces of tourists streaming towards the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. It's December in New York City, sixteen years since the Waitresses first hit the radio with their unexpected holiday ditty, "Christmas Wrapping."

It's a weird December for Chris. He's just set the Guinness Book's record for "World's Longest Pop Song" with his "The Devil's Glitch" recording. He's working harder than ever, delving full-on into a wide array of musical projects, from a newly released solo album on his own Hoboken-based Future Fossil label, to a forthcoming collection of new songs recorded using rare, antique equipment. For the self-described "workaholic," it's pure pleasure. But it's also been just about a year since Patty Donahue, lead singer with the Waitresses, succumbed to cancer at age 40.

The din rises within the Au Croissant as shoppers on parade stop in for a moment of java-induced warmth. Paper shopping bags rustle and snap when colliding with legs and chairs. The scene isn't too far removed from the visions of holiday madness that Chris imagined—and Patty sang of—in "Christmas Wrapping."

And what is it about that song? Charlie Frick, who wrote the liner notes for the band's recently released King Biscuit live album, refers to the track as "a rock version of It's A Wonderful Life." More than anything else, "Christmas Wrapping" is a story. Patty sings in the role of a young woman who's all on her own this year. Still, the song's narrator cheerfully faces up to the pressures of the holiday, as she proclaims her intention to celebrate Christmas within the true Peace-on-Earth of solitude.

As much as the music of "Christmas Wrapping" still rings across the airwaves every year, it's the theme that truly resonates. And while Butler is a man who prefers to keep his eyes on the horizon, "Christmas Wrapping" continues to make him smile every time he hears it. And this year, he even performed the track at the venerable club Maxwell's with the 1997 incarnation of Hoboken's holiday tribute band, Tipsy McStagger (which also included members of Jersey's Gefkens and Whatnots).

More than play the song live, Chris in pleased by the opportunity to talk: about the band, Patty, and Christmas in general. The stories flow with ease, complement by some theatric recreations and the palm-on-the-forehead exclaim that accompanies the sudden opening of deeply-filed memories.

In a December issue of Entertainment Weekly, "Christmas Wrapping" is placed at #10 in a ranking of the top 50 Christmas songs of all-time. The Waitresses even beat out Nat King Cole and "The Christmas Song." Not bad for the new wave band of Ohio natives that recorded the theme to Square Pegs. But how did it all happen? "If I may be so bold…" continues Butler, who takes one more swig of coffee before beginning his tale.

Chris Butler: It's August 1981 and we're on the road. We're on a label called ZE Records. ZE Records has a very strange roster: Kid Creole and the Coconuts, August Darnell, Alan Vega from Suicide, a lot of these very strange French people doing kind of heroin-laced songs… very bent, twisted. Anyway, out of this bunch, ZE gets it in their head that they want to make a Christmas record. So everyone rolls their eyes. And our band, we're touring like crazy just trying to get over. We didn't have time for this shit. I had some licks lying around and about three minutes to write this thing. We went into Electric Lady and recorded it, humored [label boss] Michael Zilkha, went back out on the road and forgot about it… until November, when I called my wife and she said, "Man, you're all over the radio. It's that Christmas song!"

FESTIVE! So the song first appeared on that ZE holiday compilation album?
Chris Butler: And then it came out again on an EP [I Could Rule the World If Only I Could Get the Parts] the next year, when we had been bounced over to Polygram. And since then it has been comp-ed to death. I have a list of mechanical licenses at home that must be… it's on Virgin's Christmas compilation, and Polygram's, too. It's been all over. When I get my BMI sheet, I get plays in Uruguay and countries in Africa and the Far East. If anything, it's overexposed.

FESTIVE! What's your reaction when you hear the song in December?
Chris Butler: I have a T-shirt that says "Jump! George Bailey, Jump!" You know, in It's A Wonderful Life, when [George] is gonna commit suicide and he doesn't? My sentiment has always been jump… so I don't have to watch this movie again. Bah-humbug! I'm usually in a sour mood and the song, I swear, blindsides me. I'll be out slopping around with bags and trying to do an urban Christmas and generally being in a very foul mood. And the song pops up and I just have to stop. A lot of people seem to be affected by it the same way. The song plays to that frantic thing and then resolves in a kind of cornball but sweet way. I'm absolutely convinced that I subconsciously wrote it to guarantee that I would have a kind of Christmas spirit… in order to be able to face the relatives every year.

FESTIVE! So after the success of the song in 1981…
Chris Butler: Polygram asked us if we had anything in the can [before Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful?] and I said, in all honesty, "No." That's how much I dismissed this Christmas song. I wasn't trying to con them or anything. We completely forgot about it. Then Polygram was getting ready to release our first album and they give me a dirty look: "You've got a successful song that we don't even own." Needless to say, Polygram and Zilkha had to work something out so they could get the rights to do it. And from that time onward, "Christmas Wrapping" just kept cropping up every year. There's a line in there where [Patty] goes, "most of '81 passed along those lines...." If I had known it would be repeated, I would have written, "most of this year…." Who knew? I thought it was a one-shot.

FESTIVE! Was there ever a picture-sleeve 7-inch of "Christmas Wrapping?"
Chris Butler: They did an all-white single. The original 12-inch is on white vinyl, which is really pretty. I've got one or two, but they only made like a hundred or two hundred, strictly for radio stations.


FESTIVE! Writing for the Waitresses in general, it's interesting how you put yourself into this female character and could successfully relate stories from that point-of-view. Was that a big challenge?
Chris Butler: No. There are certain situations that are gender specific, but usually you try to talk about universals. It's not an impossible task and I'm not the first guy in the world to try and figure out women. It was a kind of interesting opportunity to ask a lot of questions and be more an observer under the guise of research. A lot of women were much more revealing about their personal thoughts because I was trying to do this stuff, than if I had been some bloke on the street. In a normal conversation in a social situation, there's a certain layer of distance that people like to keep. But because I was genuinely digging a little and they knew I wasn't hitting on them, women were a lot more open and genuine than in a normal guy-girl situation. I feel real privileged about that. And if I was able to turn that into some kind of song… great.

FESTIVE! What kind of woman were you imagining, as you wrote these songs?
Chris Butler: I wanted to come up with a female character… the coolest older sister that you maybe never had. Someone who would give you all the good stuff. I thought that it would be utterly irresistible to have a new type, someone who—for the time—told it like it is. I would have loved to cuss as much as Liz Phair and all these women today. I think Patty's character was a forerunner. I could have been blunter, if the times would have permitted and also, frankly, if Patty wasn't a nice Catholic girl. But when I hear Fiona Apple, I think "this is great." I see a thread going back to what we were trying to do. Maybe that's pretentious on my part.

FESTIVE! Not necessarily. Think back to a song like "I Know What Boys Like."
Chris Butler: Have you heard the new Jay-Z version? It's Jay-Z with, are you ready… I've got Lil' Kim saying "fuck" on "I Know What Boys Like." It is so raw, I cannot play it for my folks. That is so cool.

FESTIVE! What's the writing credit look like?
Chris Butler: Eighty-five people plus me. But it's Lil' Kim and let's just say, she's not advocating chastity. I think she's smart as hell.

FESTIVE! Didn't Shampoo cover that song as well?
Chris Butler: Yes, which I thought was going to be my retirement fund, but it stiffed so hard. In the history of British stiffs, [it was] a thud heard 'round the world. It wasn't a bad version, but it just died.

FESTIVE! And while we're talking about recent releases, there was also the King Biscuit live Waitresses album.
Chris Butler: I gotta say, that live version of "Christmas Wrapping" ain't bad. For a lower-to-middle level band that never got a chance to do what it was supposed to do… that song has pretty good staying power. It was just in an episode of Clueless.

FESTIVE! What is it that gets you into a sour mood at Christmastime?
Chris Butler: Where do I begin? I do a lot of work. The whole world shuts down… "Ah, get back to me after the first of the year," that's all they start saying the day after Thanksgiving. Nothing gets done. And that's usually the time when I'm most keyed-up and working really hard. I have a huge extended family. They're relatively well off. You can't get by on ironic New York gifts: a $10.00 deluxe edition video of Plan 9 From Outer Space would not do it for my in-laws. So it's the expense. It's the whole being-suckered-by-Christmas kind of thing. I always had lousy Christmases when I was little. We weren't a very wealthy family. It's not that I got charcoal or burnt toast, but it was quite obvious that I better be happy with underwear when everyone else in our neighborhood was getting mopeds or their second car.

FESTIVE! But there's something about the holidays you're able to get in touch with…
Chris Butler: Even in my old fart-itude, yeah.

FESTIVE! Thinking about Patty [Donahue], were you able to talk to her before she died?
Chris Butler: Yeah. We had bumped into each other off and on. I went back to Ohio and was going to a friend's wedding, a friend from Kent State. And he says to me, "Hey, Patty's really sick. Did you know that?" No, I didn't. She didn't let on. She was working for MCA music publishing, I think… which is ironic as hell, because she hated the whole music business with a passion. And we became phone buddies. I had been out of touch with all the band members for a long time. We all got together and tried to do something for her, but she was really sick. She had cancer of just about everything.

FESTIVE! So you were on good terms.
Chris Butler: I think so, yeah.


FESTIVE! What was it that made her such a special person and performer?
Chris Butler: She had a lot of spunk. I had written a lot of songs and was looking around for someone to sing them. I had been playing in this other band doing blues and R&B and experimental stuff, but I had these pop songs. I asked a number of people if they would be willing to do it, but she said yeah, thereby endearing her to me forever. Then I was in the group Tin Huey, and we got signed to Warner Bros. [and "stiffed majestically"]. That lasted a couple of years. In '79, I move to New York. I had some of the songs that she'd sung on and I spread them around to a bunch of DJs, who took them to A&R people. Then I called her and said, "Do you want to come to New York and be in a band?" She said yes, so I wired her my last fifty bucks; she got on a Greyhound bus, and we got to work. Patty was really good at this. She had a great sense of humor and sang a lot better than anybody gave her credit for. She was a natural. I think she fit that coolest big sister idea. I thought she was great.

There's a tape of us in England. We did Old Grey Whistle Test. A friend, who was one of the first people in England with a VCR, sent me this video. And we're at the end of the reel. There's everything from Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, and Teardrop Explodes. It's a cross-section of British rock at the time. And each one is better and prettier than the next. And I dreaded it. "Oh God, we're gonna look so provincial and American." And we come to our slot, and Patty looks like Diana Rigg from The Avengers. She's just so cool. And it was okay. I dragged that out the day after Patty died.

She was a handful, I gotta tell you. But she could really do this. I wish she had done more because I think if she had wanted to have a showbiz career, acting or whatever, she would have done it. I miss her. She was a good buddy. I will not say we were the best of friends. We were really different in personality. I wish I had more of a goof-odd nature. Maybe that's what I learned from her… fuck-off more. The down side? She had no experience being in bands, no experience in music, and was not a terribly hard worker. She was a party girl and didn't know the pitfalls. Yes, there are evil people in the world: "Hey baby, sign this." Music business scum. It was the era when they were semi-ascended in New York. She didn't have the antenna, the bullshit detector, because she was totally green about the music business. So we—our attorney, sometimes members of the band, myself—did a lot of shielding, which she sometimes rebelled against. She was street, but she wasn't streetwise.

FESTIVE! How did you end up leaving the band?
Chris Butler: It was a big fight, a big mess. This is, of course, my side. We went to England to record and it was really hard and took a lot time. There was a lot of pressure and she didn't like it, so she split. And then we kind of got back together and she had a couple of really bad people in tow, which kind of ruined it for everybody. I threw up my hands. I walked away.

FESTIVE! Didn't you have Holly Beth Vincent from Holly and the Italians join?
Chris Butler: For like four or five shows. And then one day we did a show at NYU, and she didn't show. And I just said, "That's it. Fuck that." It broke my heart. It took a long time to recover from that.

FESTIVE! You all went through a lot together.
Chris Butler: And who knows… if we had stuck together, I think we could have become a better-than-middle-level band. Comparing "Christmas Wrapping" to the way a lot of songs from that era [sound], it's interesting that it doesn't sound dated. There's no synth drums going bing-bing-bing. None of the production stuff is dated. It's a regular drum set, real brass, real bass, acoustic piano, and guitar. Also, it just sounds great on the radio. It just kicks. I got something right… maybe.

FESTIVE! Do you think the fact that the song is telling a story that a lot of people can relate to, and that's it's about a time of the year when everyone has a lot of intense personal things going on, is what gives it a timeless quality?
Chris Butler: Even if you're not a Christian, you feel it. Maybe that's a new universal [sentiment], the dread of Christmas. And Christmas is a time when people focus in on what's going on in their lives. "Can I go home for Christmas? Have I made peace with Mom and Pop?" Or whatever. The song has achieved, not a fame, but a usefulness. And listen to the way Patty tells the story of "Christmas Wrapping." I believe her. That's it. Now, thinking about Patty, when you hear "Christmas Wrapping" this time each year, it has that much more poignancy.

Idelsohn 2011 Hanukkah Mix!

Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah. And our friends at the Idelsohn Society for Musical Preservation ("who passionately believe Jewish history is best told by the music we have loved and lost") have all your musical needs covered with their easy-to-download 2011 Hanukkah Mix!, featuring Marlena Shaw, Ella Jenkins, Lionel Hampton, Woody Guthrie, and many more. And while you're listening, check out our 2008 FESTIVE! interview with Idelsohn co-founders Josh Kun and Roger Bennett. Mazel tov!

The Remix: "Christmas on Riverside Drive"

If this weekend's post about August Darnell's "Christmas on Riverside Drive" left you eager to hear more of this holiday gem, your prayers have been answered. Our pal Eugene Tambourine has just uploaded a fantastic new remix of the tune to his Soundcloud page. Go grab it while you can!

I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

As if being a huge Christmas music geek wasn't embarrassing enough, the past few years have brought the onset of this disturbing phenomenon where I obsess over a particular Christmas song sung by a child. That's pretty low. Last year it was Brenda Lee's "I'm Gonna Lasso Santa Claus," and before that it was "Santa Claus Is A Black Man." If this time next year I'm raving about "All I Want to Ask Santa Claus" by Ricky Segall & The Segalls, send out the men with butterfly nets. But for now, I'm stuck on "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas."


The original version of "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" was recorded by Gayla Peevey, a 10 year-old local TV celebrity from Oklahoma, back in 1953. The song got to #24 on the charts. And guess what else? Gayla got a hippopotamus for Christmas! Wisely, she turned "Matilda" over to the Oklahoma City Zoo, who'd spearheaded the campaign to get her the damn animal in the first place.

You'd think most children would've quit there—after all, she got the hippo and a hit record, too—but not Gayla. In subsequent years, she churned out "Angel in the Christmas Play" (1954) and "77 Santas" (1955), but neither achieved the success of her signature song.

I stumbled across this earworm via a new cover by contemporary artist Anya Marina (available as a free download here). I don't know much about Marina, but I suspect music supervisor supreme Alexandra Patsavas had a hand in this one; Marina is signed to Patsavas' Chop Shop imprint, and heaven knows Patsavas has consistently demonstrated the kind of mouth-breathing music geek knowledge that fan boys like me drool over.

Talking "Christmas on Riverside Drive" with August Darnell

Surely all FESTIVE! readers have deduced by now that A Christmas Record, originally issued by mutant disco/no wave purveyors Ze Records back in 1980, is the best Christmas album ever. Why else would I have gone to the trouble of interviewing most of its participants over the years? Was (Not Was), the Waitresses*, Cristina, James Chance... they've all chatted with FESTIVE!

This year I was lucky enough to interview August Darnell, aka Kid Creole, about his comeback album I Wake Up Screaming (you can read that article here). And you don't think I missed the opportunity to ask a question or two about his Ze holiday jam "Christmas on Riverside Drive," do you? Of course not.

FESTIVE! Tell me about writing "Christmas On Riverside Drive."

August Darnell: Interestingly enough, I don't like Christmas but I love Christmas songs. My two favorites of all time are Nat King Cole and Bing Crosby. Originally the song was called "Winter on Riverside Drive," not "Christmas on Riverside Drive." I was producing a group called Gichy Dan's Beechwood #9, this is back in the RCA/Victor days. And the singer of Gichy Dan was a Jehovah's Witness, and refused to sing the word "Christmas," so the song became "Winter on Riverside Drive." But then when I covered it, I said damn that, I'm going back to Christmas. It sounds better: "Christmas on Riverside Drive." And that's Cory Daye, of course, singing the bridge. I adore that song. And every time Christmas comes around, I think to myself, Someone, somewhere, is playing "Christmas on Riverside Drive." It was a big one for me, I love that one.

FESTIVE! So you were excited about the Ze Christmas album?

August Darnell: That was [Michael] Zilkha's idea, of course. Only Zilkha would've taken those artists and said "give me a Christmas song!" Everybody loved Zilkha, he was insane. But yes, I loved that notion. Of all those artists, I was the happiest one. The one who jumped up and went home and wrote a song that night. I love the songs of Christmas a lot better than actual Christmas. It's been warped, you know that. It's become something it shouldn't be. It's all about capitalism and materialism. And I'm not even going to go into how ugly that is. The love of Christmas should not even involve presents, and I'll leave it at that.

While we're on the subject, the revamped Ze Records is having its annual "buy one, get one free" Christmas sale right now, so you can pick up a classic like Cristina's Sleep It Off and get the Xmas disc gratis. Being a staunch purist, I'm have reservations about the "reloaded" edition they've been peddling since 2004, but you still get all the original tracks and that's what matters.



* Sorry, I still haven't converted this one to digital format. Soon, I promise...

The Real War on Christmas

My favorite evangelical, Jim Wallis, just posted an excellent editorial about Fox News' annual "War on Christmas" campaign on the God's Politics blog. Here's just a snippet:

Last year, Americans spent $450 billion on Christmas. Clean water for the whole world, including every poor person on the planet, would cost about $20 billion. Let’s just call that what it is: A material blasphemy of the Christmas season.

Regardless of your religious affiliation, I think you'll find that Wallis makes some very salient and thought-provoking points. Read the whole thing here.

Princess Superstar "Xmas Swagger" video

Nice to see Princess Superstar getting back to her East Village D.I.Y. roots in this charming new clip. It seemed like she was everywhere when I lived downtown in the first half of the 1990s, so this video brings back some pleasant memories for me.

Mary Gauthier's "Christmas In Paradise"

I've been a fan of Mary Gauthier since she released Mercy Now in 2005, and charmed the heck out of me during our interview for The Advocate (which can read here). Mary's former label, Lost Highway, put out a little holiday promo back then that included "Thanksgiving at the Prison" and "Christmas In Paradise" (the latter was originally included on her 2002 indie release Filth & Fire). This year, Mary is making the song available as a free download, and has also posted a video of a live performance from earlier this year.

A Christmas Gift To You, Zac Pennington

As we've reported in the past, Portland combo Parenthetical Girls—and, in particular, Zac Pennington—are as geeky for Christmas as I am. This year, in a pleasant twist, the Girls' buddy Sam Mickens of the Dead Science has released the pay-what-you-will A Christmas Gift To You, Zac Pennington, a seven-song EP of holiday favorites recorded in 2010. Sam's eerie voice has brought me joy for many years (read what I wrote about TDS back in 2004 here), and his Christmas set is a welcome addition to the canon.

We asked Sam to tell us a little more about the genesis of this nifty little record, and he's what he replied:

My friend Zac, one of my very best friends in fact, has been as long as I've known him a real intense Christmas Music-ophile. Being newly presented with a friend and means with which to record music I was taken with the spirit to record this EP as a personal gift to Zac. I recorded it and mixed it all in one long night, aided by red champagne & jazz cigarettes. I feel it is one of the best and truest things I have ever made. Hark!

What are you waiting for? Name your own price and download A Christmas Gift To You, Zac Pennington, here.

Happy St. Lucia Day

Next time one of your loved ones starts acting like a bloody Christian martyr because of holiday stress, tell them that post has already been filled.

Every December 13, folks in Sweden celebrate the life of St Lucia as the kickoff of the Christmas season. Lucia was a fourth century Sicilian girl who gave away her generous dowry to impoverished Christians. Her fiancee was duly pissed, renounced her as a Jesus-lover and turned her in to the authorities, who ordered her burned. (In some versions of the story, the bad guys gouge out her eyes first; St. Lucia is the patron saint of the blind.) Nuts. Since Dec. 13 was the Winter Solstice on the Julian calendar, the pagan festival of lights celebrated on that date eventually morphed into St. Lucia Day.

According to legend, Lucia would go about distributing her belongings to the poor illuminated by a wreath of candles in her hair, thus leaving both her hands free to carry—and give away—more. On St. Lucia Day, pretty girls in Sweden dress up in white robes and blazing headdresses (sadly, most are now battery-powered), and awaken the locals by distributing hot coffee and fragrant saffron buns known as Lussekatter (or Lucia Cats).

Toni Stante, "¿Mamacita, Dónde Está Santa Claus?"

Today's holiday earworm, accompanied by a groovy homemade video full of vintage entertaining magazines. Bravo, SquirrelsDigIt!

Take a picture, it'll last longer

One of the more creative Christmas trees I spied during my (fruitless) expedition yesterday to find the Shannon and the Clams' "Ruin Christmas" 7-inch. Seen in the window of Rare Medium, a Seattle art gallery and vintage camera store.

Collide-O-Scope Christmas Miracle Spectacular!

Alas, I will have to miss this year's Collide-O-Scope holiday blowout—I'll be spinning holiday tunes over at Echo Party on Monday night—but if you're sick of seeing the same holiday TV specials dragged out year after year on ABC Family and the Hallmark channel, I cannot recommend this event highly enough.

Shannon and the Clams "Ruin Christmas"

Oh dear lord... how did I not know until just a few moments ago that there was a Shannon and the Clams Christmas 45? And what are the odds I'll be able to find a copy in Seattle, rather than ordering one over the Internet? (As record geek friends will attest, buying individual 7-inches by mail order is vexing, since you usually end up paying as much—or more—for shipping & handling as the actual cost of the item itself.) Please enjoy this teaser below while I start making some frantic phone calls.

The Bandana Splits' "Wonderful Christmas Time"

Despite my love of all things girl group-related, and a perverse affection for the white bread pop music of the 1940s and '50s, I've not completely embraced the Bandana Splits. Why the reluctance? For one thing, I hate their punning band name.* And the concept isn't quite working for me either. What, exactly, are they offering that hasn't been done better by the Pipettes and/or the Puppini Sisters?

Well, here's something they've done quite nicely: updating Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmas Time." I've never been a big fan of the original, though with the passing of years I've softened a wee bit. The ladies had the good sense to ditch the annoying synthesizer that dates McCartney's version, and abbreviate the song significantly, so its scant charms don't wear thin. If you enjoy the video below, you can download the track here for a short time.

* Besides, Bananarama already nicked their moniker from the Banana Splits, and they're the zenith of modern girl groups, so as far as I'm concerned, the topic has been exhausted.

Just like the ones I used to know

My parents are getting ready to die move into a retirement community. Consequently, my mother has been purging the basement of all kinds of family mementos. The last carton of precious keepsakes she sent contained a big manilla envelope of old photographs, including a couple with Santa. The first is from 1970, when we still lived in Arcadia, California. I'm not sure when the second one was taken. Since I'm posed with my little brother, I'm guessing 1971 or 1972. I'm including the presentation folios cuz I think the graphics are pretty cool, especially the rather mod one from the latter snap. Enjoy!

"Pianist Recommends Using Christmas Music as Drug"

This is an actual press release I received this morning. I can't make this s**t up, people. I can only add bold face type to highlight the bit that made coffee stream out my nose.

Research shows mellow piano music triggers soothing emotions and counters road rage

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- With the holidays approaching, and as short-tempered shoppers and drivers start amassing in numbers, the addition of talk radio, heated political debates, and more bad news of unemployment, the economy and sex scandals can take a toll on even the most light-hearted.

For many, a responsible alternative to "alcohol consumption," and holiday depression, is Christmas music.

Research has shown music to have a great impact on us, with the ability to change and enhance an individual's mood. Major lawsuits against bands and record companies have "proven" through the legal system that music and lyrics can be responsible for all sorts of behaviors. Other studies have shown that music may even raise an individual's IQ.

But much of the Christmas music can sound the same. A walk through the mall reveals a typical sampling of pumped-up, pounding pop covers of Christmas Carols, designed to generate more frenzy, more shopping and more sales.

A refreshing alternative can be found in the solo acoustic piano album "Christmas Time At The Piano," available on iTunes. Pianist/composer Sam Sorensen has created an intimate, live performance, using state-of-the-art equipment. His interpretations of Mannheim Steamroller and Vince Guaraldi Christmas arrangements have been refined to perfection. In these tender renditions he captures a euphoric vibe similar to artists such as Enya and Loreena McKennitt. His pianistic skills are honed to impart the simple beauty of the arrangements, and lead one to transcend the mundane. A real remedy to the rush of Christmas traffic and easier on the nerves than inflammatory talk radio.

Enjoy the talents of Sam Sorensen, a world-class pianist, while driving in your car, or in the privacy of your home - a little ambience for your holiday festivities.

Share the gift of Christmas cheer. Pass along an antidote to "mellow out" holiday stress.

Slow down and smell the mistletoe.

Look, Ma... I'm an A&R guy!

Some of you may recall that last year FESTIVE! showcased a Christmas original ("It Never Snows") by Seattle locals Exohxo, featuring my friend Michele K on vocals. This year she was invited to record another Yuletide selection with them, and turned to me for ideas. I recommended a few tunes I thought would suit her jazzy intonation—Jimmy Webb's "Whatever Happened To Christmas," Julie London's "I'd Like You For Christmas"—and she ultimately went with one of those suggestions: "Snow" by Randy Newman. You can check it out below, and download the new EP Exohxmas III: The Wreath of Khan here.

When Damien Met Santa

John Roderick and John Vanderslice aren't the only indie rockers who like to dress up as Santa. Check out this great snapshot of Damien Jurado in his $7 Santa suit from Wal-Mart (submitted by esteemed shutterbug Sarah Jurado). Damien's holiday spirit doesn't end there. Earlier today, the folks at HitFix posted his recording of "Christmas Time Is Here," which you can download here. If, like me, you're a fan of Damien's earlier work, when he used his upper register more, you'll really dig his rendition of the Vince Guaraldi holiday classic.

Pa-rum-pum-pum-pum

Oh goody! My beloved Gail Collins of The New York Times despises the song "Little Drummer Boy" as much as I do!*

* Yes, even the Bing/Bowie version. If I must hear "Little Drummer Boy," Marlene Dietrich and Joan Jett are my preferred renditions.

Open up and say "ho!"

Golly I love my twisted co-workers at Pony.

Rolling Stone "Greatest Christmas Songs" list

The most recent issue of Rolling Stone, featuring yet another 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time list, got my friends and I joking about how editorial departments pander shamelessly to the public's perceived affection for lists-as-features. Cue "100 Greatest Lists of Greatest Lists" gag now.

Lo and behold, what to my wondering eyes should appear when I click on RollingStone.com today to stream Jónsi's new soundtrack for "We Bought A Zoo" but—you guessed it—"The Greatest Rock & Roll Christmas Songs." *sigh* Most of it is as predictable as you'd expect from a magazine that only ranked two women among the Greatest Guitarists (Maybelle Carter who? The Duchess? Never heard of her...), but there are a couple surprises after you dig past the opening no-brainers.

Out of the WOODS

Okay, I admit it: I've been having a lot of trouble mustering my usual holiday cheer this year (as evidenced by the paucity of posts). Like many folks, my family is faced with finance and health woes, the 24-7 news cycle seems hellbent on crushing whatever fleeing happiness I can muster, and two of my least favorite artists — Justin Bieber and Michael Bublé — are flogging Christmas albums.


But then, lo and behold, this mp3 shows up on the Internet today, and I feel a glimmer of hope. Please give a listen to this understated rendition of Vince Guaraldi's classic "Christmas Time Is Here" by the lo-fi dudes in Woods, and see if your spirits don't lift just a tiny bit, too.

Woods also put out a great new album this year, Sun and Shade. You might have heard me playing their song "Pushing Onlys" on KEXP. You can download that excellent tune here.