Do You Hear What I Hear?
I've finally started to listen selectively to Christmas music on the radio. I've refused to listen to the 24-hour-a-day holiday rotation WASH-FM (97.1) has been doing for the last few years -- and which now starts a full week before Thanksgiving -- until December 1. That's my personal, somewhat arbitrary date at which I consider the season to begin. But I don't like most of what 97.1 plays this time of year anyway.
I'm not a fan of the sacred-hymn-as-power-ballad, for one thing. How many "interpretations" of "O Holy Night" or "Away in a Manger" do we need? In the more secular realm, I'd much rather listen to a new, original Christmas song (of which 97.1 plays relatively few) than yet another "Silver Bells" by Faith Hill or Mariah Carey or, yes, even Neil Diamond (see yesterday's post). But mostly I'm a traditionalist -- because traditional carols are what I grew up with. WGMS (103.5 FM) has been playing some very nice stuff.
Right now I'm listening to a CD that has the Vienna Boys Choir, Placido Domingo, and Mario Lanza (!), among others. Now, that's Christmas to me -- "Adeste Fideles," "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming." The Latin hymn "Panis Angelicus" is one I didn't discover until I was in my twenties, when someone in the family gave my mother a Luciano Pavarotti album that included it. For the most part, Christmas music I came to know in my childhood has the most emotional resonance for me, but this is one song that's now in my top ten or so. Placido and the Vienna boys do it on my CD. So lovely.
By the way, as of this morning the full beard is gone, and I'm back to Goateeville. Who knows, I might end up back in Soul Patch Town, but for now I'm happy with my decision. The beard wasn't working for me, even though people told me they liked it. It just looked a little . . . schmutzig. I was having dinner with friends last night at Nirvana -- an excellent vegetarian Indian restaurant at 1810 K Street, NW -- and I kept catching glances of myself in the mirror. I was wearing my glasses, too -- there was just a little too much going on on my face.
I'm not a fan of the sacred-hymn-as-power-ballad, for one thing. How many "interpretations" of "O Holy Night" or "Away in a Manger" do we need? In the more secular realm, I'd much rather listen to a new, original Christmas song (of which 97.1 plays relatively few) than yet another "Silver Bells" by Faith Hill or Mariah Carey or, yes, even Neil Diamond (see yesterday's post). But mostly I'm a traditionalist -- because traditional carols are what I grew up with. WGMS (103.5 FM) has been playing some very nice stuff.
Right now I'm listening to a CD that has the Vienna Boys Choir, Placido Domingo, and Mario Lanza (!), among others. Now, that's Christmas to me -- "Adeste Fideles," "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming." The Latin hymn "Panis Angelicus" is one I didn't discover until I was in my twenties, when someone in the family gave my mother a Luciano Pavarotti album that included it. For the most part, Christmas music I came to know in my childhood has the most emotional resonance for me, but this is one song that's now in my top ten or so. Placido and the Vienna boys do it on my CD. So lovely.
By the way, as of this morning the full beard is gone, and I'm back to Goateeville. Who knows, I might end up back in Soul Patch Town, but for now I'm happy with my decision. The beard wasn't working for me, even though people told me they liked it. It just looked a little . . . schmutzig. I was having dinner with friends last night at Nirvana -- an excellent vegetarian Indian restaurant at 1810 K Street, NW -- and I kept catching glances of myself in the mirror. I was wearing my glasses, too -- there was just a little too much going on on my face.
posted by Billy at 1:50 AM
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