As I said before, I've been buying Christmas music like a madman lately. I love the stuff.
Over the weekend, I got the Bath & Body Works collection, The Perfect Christmas. It's a great, eclectic collection (I'm halfway through it, it's a 2-CD set). Also worth getting is Jolly Jazzy Holiday at Old Navy. It's already on sale. (sorry no link!)
This one I ordered on eBay, still in the mail. The Best of Cool Yule, from Rhino Records.
OK, this one I didn't buy, but it got on my list. Christmas Regrooved.
For an article on the Christmas remix craze, look here.
OK, I'm done.
-Zube.
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Monday, November 22, 2004
Billy Graham Crusade
We went over the weekend to Pasadena for the Billy Graham Crusade at the Rose Bowl.
Originally it was just about seeing a group performing that my daughter loves, Jump5. She had never seen them live, so we decided to give that to her as a sort of present for her 14th birthday. Plus, we got to see one of my favorite bands, Third Day, and a couple others that were very good.
But it was also a treat to see Billy Graham. Had never heard him preach before, and I may never get the chance live again ... he's getting up there in years. I was expecting to hear some powerhouse message from a powerhouse man, but it wasn't that way. Maybe age has tempered him and his message, but I get the feeling he's always been like he was Saturday. Simple, understated, just telling the truth about the gospel. He's really making outreach into youth culture with music and messages. He talked about young people needing respect and to be listened to and to be trusted. I was chastened by a couple things he said. And my kids sat listening and I think absorbing what he was saying.
Graham issued an altar call, asking people to come up and accept Christ, as he usually does. Thousands walked down there, it was amazing. I'm not naive enough to believe that everybody who walked down to the field really became believers Saturday. I know people can get swept up in the emotion and "me-too"ness of the moment. But if only one person meant it, that was a big decision.
-Zube.
Originally it was just about seeing a group performing that my daughter loves, Jump5. She had never seen them live, so we decided to give that to her as a sort of present for her 14th birthday. Plus, we got to see one of my favorite bands, Third Day, and a couple others that were very good.
But it was also a treat to see Billy Graham. Had never heard him preach before, and I may never get the chance live again ... he's getting up there in years. I was expecting to hear some powerhouse message from a powerhouse man, but it wasn't that way. Maybe age has tempered him and his message, but I get the feeling he's always been like he was Saturday. Simple, understated, just telling the truth about the gospel. He's really making outreach into youth culture with music and messages. He talked about young people needing respect and to be listened to and to be trusted. I was chastened by a couple things he said. And my kids sat listening and I think absorbing what he was saying.
Graham issued an altar call, asking people to come up and accept Christ, as he usually does. Thousands walked down there, it was amazing. I'm not naive enough to believe that everybody who walked down to the field really became believers Saturday. I know people can get swept up in the emotion and "me-too"ness of the moment. But if only one person meant it, that was a big decision.
-Zube.
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
A Christmas sucker
OK, I admit it, I'm a sucker for Christmas. Especially Christmas music.
I've spent the past couple of weeks on eBay tracking down Christmas music I missed in the stores the first time around, and other things I just found on a LONG search. Among the gems: It's Finally Christmas, an out-of-print CD with indie artists covering standards and others; Blue Yule, a great Rhino Records collection of blues and R&B; and Deck the Halls, Bruise Your Hand, from Relient K, a smart-aleck punk band who released this Christmas CD in limited quantities last year. I have more I'm bidding on ... and I probably will continue to get more through eBay and in stores. On my wish list from this year: Chris Isaak's Christmas, the various artists CD Maybe This Christmas Tree, the Ultimate Christmas Cocktails collection which has one CD I don't already have, and Christmas Remixed, which has classic tracks remixed in different club styles ... it came out last year but it's still on my list.
Got to talking the other day about Christmas and what it means to me ... I'm talking about the secular aspect of it, not the religious. I'm a Christian, so obviously it's very important religiously, also. But I always loved the family and decorations and music of it. I have warm memories of Christmas as a kid. We almost always had a fake tree (which I loved!) that my mom would labor over to fill with lights and ornaments ... and I would lie underneath the tree and look up at the colors and lights and motion as it spun around (we had an early tree turntable). I would watch Charlie Brown and Rudolph and The Little Drummer Boy (my favorite at the time), and I even remember watching The Littlest Angel the first time it was broadcast. My parents would get the newest Christmas LPs that they sold at gas stations or department stores, compilations put together for them, just like Pottery Barn and Cost Plus have their own special CDs now. My favorite Christmas movies are still Miracle on 34th Street and the original It's A Wonderful Life (I remember my poor wife tracking down a black-and-white copy of the VCR for me one year because I refused to watch the colorized version!)
All this came up because we were in a Suncoast video store looking at the new stuff out, and noticed toys and stuff from A Christmas Story, that movie that's all about a kid in the 40s wanting a BB gun for Christmas. It's a favorite of a lot of people around here, but I can't stand it. And I think I finally understand why. It's a very cynical look at Christmas as the holiday of toy-giving. And that's probably why a lot of journalists love it: it's cynical. And that's why I don't. I still love the redemptive stories, the hopeful, the warm-hearted.
I'm a big softie, I know. I'm comfortable with that!
-Zube.
I've spent the past couple of weeks on eBay tracking down Christmas music I missed in the stores the first time around, and other things I just found on a LONG search. Among the gems: It's Finally Christmas, an out-of-print CD with indie artists covering standards and others; Blue Yule, a great Rhino Records collection of blues and R&B; and Deck the Halls, Bruise Your Hand, from Relient K, a smart-aleck punk band who released this Christmas CD in limited quantities last year. I have more I'm bidding on ... and I probably will continue to get more through eBay and in stores. On my wish list from this year: Chris Isaak's Christmas, the various artists CD Maybe This Christmas Tree, the Ultimate Christmas Cocktails collection which has one CD I don't already have, and Christmas Remixed, which has classic tracks remixed in different club styles ... it came out last year but it's still on my list.
Got to talking the other day about Christmas and what it means to me ... I'm talking about the secular aspect of it, not the religious. I'm a Christian, so obviously it's very important religiously, also. But I always loved the family and decorations and music of it. I have warm memories of Christmas as a kid. We almost always had a fake tree (which I loved!) that my mom would labor over to fill with lights and ornaments ... and I would lie underneath the tree and look up at the colors and lights and motion as it spun around (we had an early tree turntable). I would watch Charlie Brown and Rudolph and The Little Drummer Boy (my favorite at the time), and I even remember watching The Littlest Angel the first time it was broadcast. My parents would get the newest Christmas LPs that they sold at gas stations or department stores, compilations put together for them, just like Pottery Barn and Cost Plus have their own special CDs now. My favorite Christmas movies are still Miracle on 34th Street and the original It's A Wonderful Life (I remember my poor wife tracking down a black-and-white copy of the VCR for me one year because I refused to watch the colorized version!)
All this came up because we were in a Suncoast video store looking at the new stuff out, and noticed toys and stuff from A Christmas Story, that movie that's all about a kid in the 40s wanting a BB gun for Christmas. It's a favorite of a lot of people around here, but I can't stand it. And I think I finally understand why. It's a very cynical look at Christmas as the holiday of toy-giving. And that's probably why a lot of journalists love it: it's cynical. And that's why I don't. I still love the redemptive stories, the hopeful, the warm-hearted.
I'm a big softie, I know. I'm comfortable with that!
-Zube.
Monday, November 08, 2004
After the fire
What a week.
Not only elections. I had a bad head/chest cold from Tuesday on. Still have remnants of it in my chest. The upshot was that I couldn't get to work on Wednesday and Thursday, and so missed many of the repercussions from the election. I was supposed to work on an "extra" edition on Wednesday when a winner was declared, but I was in no shape to work. Only rarely do I miss big news days like that!
Well, Bush won, despite what Air America says, and a lot of people in my newsroom were chagrined. Let's see if the Dem party figures out how to swing to the center to grab more votes next time. I can't imagine that Hillary Clinton could win the presidency now under the current climate, unless she moderates big-time.
I was going to blog before the vote, but sickness was winning. My main point was going to be to not vote out of hatred. Many people were saying they were going to vote the way they were going to because they hated the "other" guy ... either of 'em. I think that's a bad way to do business. Either trust and believe in your guy, or don't vote. Don't go to the polls motivated by hatred. That always gets manipulated and abused. I hope you voted your conscience. I know I did.
-Zube.
Not only elections. I had a bad head/chest cold from Tuesday on. Still have remnants of it in my chest. The upshot was that I couldn't get to work on Wednesday and Thursday, and so missed many of the repercussions from the election. I was supposed to work on an "extra" edition on Wednesday when a winner was declared, but I was in no shape to work. Only rarely do I miss big news days like that!
Well, Bush won, despite what Air America says, and a lot of people in my newsroom were chagrined. Let's see if the Dem party figures out how to swing to the center to grab more votes next time. I can't imagine that Hillary Clinton could win the presidency now under the current climate, unless she moderates big-time.
I was going to blog before the vote, but sickness was winning. My main point was going to be to not vote out of hatred. Many people were saying they were going to vote the way they were going to because they hated the "other" guy ... either of 'em. I think that's a bad way to do business. Either trust and believe in your guy, or don't vote. Don't go to the polls motivated by hatred. That always gets manipulated and abused. I hope you voted your conscience. I know I did.
-Zube.
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