Ahhhh...yes, nicely done. I love the past. We can relive it, it can't hurt us and we can make it be what is needed when the present isn't doing its best. I miss NYC. Often call on old friends to chat about 'Those Days." then I get on with realizing I don't have the energy anymore to do what I did then...Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for the past thoughts. Doc
My first memories of listening to the radio was WLS in Chicago. In northwest Iowa where I grew up that’s what I could get after 7 or so. But I cut my teeth on the Chicago groups of the 60s. The Shadows of Knight, Ides of March, Buckinghams,Cryan Shames, New Colony 6 were standard fare while watching my uncle Don work on his cars.
My first Christmas music were the carols at church but Mom was a fan of Andy Williams and Lawrence Welk. My folks were fans of 40s swing so I got a lot of that. They had a stereo
system like the one you showed but also had an old crank driven Victrola. I wish I had that today.
As I mentioned before I love The Nutcracker. Interestingly enough it wasn’t at all popular when he wrote it. If alive today he could live well on earnings from it as it’s turned into quite a phenomenon. One of the still unfulfilled items on my bucket list is to see it performed in Moscow at the Bolshoi Theater.
I try to listen to all kinds of Christmas music. I’m part of a group who play different functions. There are a number of us so we can rotate in and out as schedules permit. I enjoy performing Christmas songs and this year was asked by my granddaughter to perform with her group as they go to retirement centers and The Mall. I figure that’s quite an honor that a 12 year old wants to even be seen with her grandfather so will move heaven and earth to do that. We had our first performance on Thanksgiving.
I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with in future sections. This is a very enjoyable transition from politics and the general pathetic state of the world.
The Ides of March – criminally underrated, and underappreciated.
You're right in re: The Nutcracker – if my memory of history serves, Tchaikovsky's mentor was very dismissive of it, almost to the point of ridicule in his notes to the composer.
I do hope you get to realize that dream – the Bolshoi in Moscow would be the height of high-culture entertainment. It is likely I'll never make it back, so I'll have to be content with seeing it performed by the Bolshoi Ballet at the Kirov in St. Petersburg (Leningrad, at the time).
"...that’s quite an honor that a 12 year old wants to even be seen with her grandfather so will move heaven and earth to do that."
I nearly missed this as I took a break from my computer over the holiday weekend. You surely know your Christmas music! I love the classics, but when newer artists jazz them up I tend not to love them so much. Hallmark mostly does a decent job, but theirs is usually background music anyway, so if it's jazzed up I don't notice so much. But regardless of where I hear it, I will get offended when there's a cover of a "sacred" song and they change the lyrics so as not to refer to the birth of our Savior. As I've told you in the past, I'm a Hallmark movie fan, and they seldom do that, but gosh it gets done a lot elsewhere. It is Christmas, after all. His Name is in the name of the Holiday. Without Him we wouldn't have the holiday.
On a lighter note, I have to disagree with the Hallmark 10 best Christmas movies clip. Only their #2 would qualify as one of the top 10 IMHO. But at least that one was there.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. I love your writing!
Ahhhh...yes, nicely done. I love the past. We can relive it, it can't hurt us and we can make it be what is needed when the present isn't doing its best. I miss NYC. Often call on old friends to chat about 'Those Days." then I get on with realizing I don't have the energy anymore to do what I did then...Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for the past thoughts. Doc
Thank you!
I too, miss the NYC I would visit once annually as a buyer for a regional department store company – eons ago, now.
I may have to pay a bit more attention to Christmas music and expand my horizons beyond the Mannheim Steamrollers and Straight No Chaser.
My first memories of listening to the radio was WLS in Chicago. In northwest Iowa where I grew up that’s what I could get after 7 or so. But I cut my teeth on the Chicago groups of the 60s. The Shadows of Knight, Ides of March, Buckinghams,Cryan Shames, New Colony 6 were standard fare while watching my uncle Don work on his cars.
My first Christmas music were the carols at church but Mom was a fan of Andy Williams and Lawrence Welk. My folks were fans of 40s swing so I got a lot of that. They had a stereo
system like the one you showed but also had an old crank driven Victrola. I wish I had that today.
As I mentioned before I love The Nutcracker. Interestingly enough it wasn’t at all popular when he wrote it. If alive today he could live well on earnings from it as it’s turned into quite a phenomenon. One of the still unfulfilled items on my bucket list is to see it performed in Moscow at the Bolshoi Theater.
I try to listen to all kinds of Christmas music. I’m part of a group who play different functions. There are a number of us so we can rotate in and out as schedules permit. I enjoy performing Christmas songs and this year was asked by my granddaughter to perform with her group as they go to retirement centers and The Mall. I figure that’s quite an honor that a 12 year old wants to even be seen with her grandfather so will move heaven and earth to do that. We had our first performance on Thanksgiving.
I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with in future sections. This is a very enjoyable transition from politics and the general pathetic state of the world.
Thank you, Daniel!!
The Ides of March – criminally underrated, and underappreciated.
You're right in re: The Nutcracker – if my memory of history serves, Tchaikovsky's mentor was very dismissive of it, almost to the point of ridicule in his notes to the composer.
I do hope you get to realize that dream – the Bolshoi in Moscow would be the height of high-culture entertainment. It is likely I'll never make it back, so I'll have to be content with seeing it performed by the Bolshoi Ballet at the Kirov in St. Petersburg (Leningrad, at the time).
"...that’s quite an honor that a 12 year old wants to even be seen with her grandfather so will move heaven and earth to do that."
Indeed – you're a good grandfather!!
I nearly missed this as I took a break from my computer over the holiday weekend. You surely know your Christmas music! I love the classics, but when newer artists jazz them up I tend not to love them so much. Hallmark mostly does a decent job, but theirs is usually background music anyway, so if it's jazzed up I don't notice so much. But regardless of where I hear it, I will get offended when there's a cover of a "sacred" song and they change the lyrics so as not to refer to the birth of our Savior. As I've told you in the past, I'm a Hallmark movie fan, and they seldom do that, but gosh it gets done a lot elsewhere. It is Christmas, after all. His Name is in the name of the Holiday. Without Him we wouldn't have the holiday.
On a lighter note, I have to disagree with the Hallmark 10 best Christmas movies clip. Only their #2 would qualify as one of the top 10 IMHO. But at least that one was there.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. I love your writing!
Thank you!
Glad you enjoy it!