Five Things: Christmas Albums

It's so nice to see the holiday spirit around everywhere! There is something so comforting and cheerful about listening to the Christmas radio station in the car and sitting under the light of the Christmas tree. Even better, I get to pull out my favorite Christmas albums and play them while I sip a nice hot tea or hang out with the little man. I already gave you my list of five favorite Christmas pop songs, so here are my five favorite full Christmas albums, in no particular order:

1. Merry Christmas, Maria Carey (old school) - here's a fun fact: news is that 18 years after it was released, my favorite song from the album (listed in the previous post), "All I Want for Christmas is You" has just broken into the top 40 on Billboard's Top 100, at number 29. Apparently it doesn't matter when the single is made, just what kind of play it's getting today. For various reasons it didn't make it when it originally came out. Now people have rediscovered it and it seems to be the top streamed holiday song this season. 
2. A Charlie Brown Christmas (The Music), Vince Guaraldi. Simply magical, melancholy but happy. One of these days I'd love to learn all the songs in the piano sheet music we found a few years ago.
3. A Very She & Him Christmas, She & Him. Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward: nothing could be more enchanting, really. It's everything soft, nostalgic, cozy and delightful in the holidays crooned into a lovely musical package.
4. Let it Snow Baby...Let it Reindeer, Reliant K. Rockin', festive and surprisingly touching. Christmas punk style.
5. I'm actually a little stumped on this one. I'd love your suggestions for a new favorite! For now, though - I'm going to go with the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to The Nightmare Before Christmas, or even Edward Scissorhands, both composed by Tim Burton-movie-standard Danny Elfman, weaver of musical magic. I don't actually own these albums, but I would love to someday.

Five Things: Christmas Pop Music

Besides being tied for my favorite holiday for reasons previously explained, I love Thanksgiving because of the tradition of kicking off the Christmas season with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and (**drumroll**) putting up the Christmas tree! Both of these activities, no matter how cheesy or Hallmark-y, almost inevitably bring at least a couple of tears to my eyes every year. What can I say? I'm a sucker for sentimentality, especially when connected to tradition (I just heard an explosion of that "Tradition" song from Fiddler on the Roof in my head - weird).

Maybe it's because I've read too many books and watched too many movies (creating that strange belief that life must be saturated with perfectly executed moments of drama and nostalgic-montage-worthy scenes), I have certain requirements for the carrying out of said traditions. In the case of the Christmas tree, there must be some hot festive drink, such as apple cider or hot chocolate, cheerful involvement of multiple family/friend attendees in the decorating of the tree (with the angel on last - come on people! have a sense of ceremony!) and a background soundtrack of my favorite Christmas music. In honor of Thanksgiving week and in my excitement about dusting off those CDs and albums for the occasion, today's "Five Things" (yes, I want to make this a thing) is some of my favorite Christmas pop music! I don't say "Top Five," which is the accurate reference to the origin of the five list, the ever-awesome High Fidelity, because I can't commit to five favorites. Also - sidebar - many of these (maybe all?) are on a special mix CD made from another special mix CD made by a co-worker back in my San Antonio news days, for a shockingly friendly white elephant Christmas party in the studio (I came out a winner with a three-DVD box set of old-school Adam Sandler movies). That mix is still off the hook, Rhonda!

So, without further asides -

Five Things: Christmas Pop Songs

1. "All I Want For Christmas is You," by Maria Carey. Nothing makes me sing and dance like this song. Instant happy. And the music video! Christmas bunnies? Yes, please. Snow play? Yes, please. Who can look as good as Maria sledding around in a big red snow suit? Also featured on my beloved Love, Actually. One of the first CDs I bought, at the now-defunct Border Bookstores (take a moment of silence). My CD is no longer around, as it was eaten mercilessly by an old-school six-disc player (it was really tall and big, since the CD had to loop around on their little carousel). But it's on the mix!
2. "Pretty Paper" by Willie Nelson. What is more rustic, warm and lovable than Willie Nelson's voice?
3. "Blue Christmas" by Elvis Presley. I love some Elvis, especially gospel-style. Classic!
4. "Hard Candy Christmas" by Dolly Parton. Like Willie, Dolly really brings out the "home" in me. Now that I'm thousands of miles away, anything that connects me to Texas makes me feel sentimental. And, really, how can you help loving Dolly?
5. "Santa Baby," sung by Eartha Kitt. So naughty, so nice! Christmas magic and commercialism, all wrapped up in one and perpetually fun to sing along to.

What are some of your favorite Christmas pop songs?

Giggles and Love, Actually

If I could be any female actress, I would be Zooey Deschanel. I have no trouble admitting that I have a giant girl-crush on her. I have repeatedly cut my hair like hers (yes, I take her picture with me to the salon). I want to dress like her and therefore swooned over her Cotton ad:

Give me your closet, Zooey! I want to ride a bike with a basket in a cute skirt and cardigan, and go antiquing and shopping for banjos and records, and compose sweet sweet songs in my pajamas (oh wait that's her iPhone ad) that I then sing to a smiling and swaying audience in a dimly-lit intimate venue full of knowledgeable music appreciators who approvingly nod at my indie style reminiscent of a young _________ (June Carter Cash/Nancy Sinatra/Linda Rondstadt/etc etc). I want to sing in an awesome duo like She and Him and make an awesome vinyl album that comes with an mp3 download that I can buy and enjoy. I like to point out that I liked her way before New Girl and watched just about all her movies, especially the small ones like Gigantic where she played a character named "Happy Lolly" or the ones where she played awesome supporting characters like in Almost Famous, and that I knew she was "adorkable" before that word existed. I was thrilled when Jess, her character in New Girl, was just about exactly how I imagined she might be in real life (personality-wise, since in life she is a successful actress and musician and not a broke unemployed teacher), and also before that when I confirmed my suspicion that she was related to another favorite actress with shockingly awesome eye color, Emily Deschanel of Bones. Hello, most awesome sisters in the world! And when Zooey made a guest appearance on Bones as Bones's quirky cousin? Best! Ever!

But, wait... wasn't this post supposed to be about giggles and Love, Actually? Or at least giggles and love - actually? It is it is! So while reading about Zooey in some magazine or web article (lady magazines - if you want me to buy every issue just keep putting her on the cover. I fork over the cash like it's my job), I discovered she had started, with some other ladies, an awesome website called Hello Giggles that I now happily subscribe to. It's pretty much the webpage manifestation of Zooey - and although the different parts are written by many different people, they are all on the lines of what Jess's blog might be like if she had one. There's a Panda Night Cam! Cartoons! Nail polish ! And "Old Lady Movie Night," which is originally what I wrote this post to share. You should read this hilarious and spot-on commentary on one of my FAVORITE movies and probably favorite holiday movie, Love, Actually (high-five, friend Kate!). Talk about "old lady movie night" - one of the shocking moments was reading that the kid who played Sam is in his 20s. What?! Sigh. If you haven't watched the movie yet, WATCH IT NOW and read the commentary after (there are spoilers) so that you can nod in agreement and laugh out loud at the right moments while you read it. Appreciate the calculated "un-calculated" writing style that's actually a speaking style and see why I like it (even if you don't). Then let's sigh, swoon and laugh together ourselves about Love, Actually over a steamy mug of cocoa or chai tea. BFF-style.

Violins, Stop-Motion and Vinyl - What Could Be Better?

In following one of those procrastinator-friendly chains of online browsing, I happened onto several very cool things today, culminating in a music video from a collaboration album between violinist Hilary Hahn and Hauschka, called Silfra, and featuring a fabulous stop-motion animation by Hayley Morris. Let me see if I can trace the degrees of separation and highlight some of the treats along the way.

I started out from my FB homepage, which I hadn't visited in a while. I saw a post by a guitarist friend I haven't seen in years and from there went to browse his page. I noticed violinist Hilary Hahn among his "likes" and, a fan and player of violins myself, followed the chain to her page. I took a side trip from a link there to this article on the website "Vintage Guide to Texas" (those of you who know I'm a transplanted Texan and have a weakness for vintage can see how this was an inescapable trap). The article was there because it mentions that Hahn's album, the forementioned Silfra, was presented for sale ON VINYL during intermission at the  Dallas Symphony (swoon!). The article then goes on to talk about the return of vinyl and its superiority over other formats (word!).

At this point you can see an almost unbelievable series of irresistible crumbs seemingly left for me specifically by some (beneficent or malevolent?) guiding force of the global inter-webs (who clearly is an enemy of my dissertation). From the article I went to the album website, lured by the (a) violinist, (b) the album cover art (love!) and (c) the possibility of a good excuse to buy my one of my favorite things - one of those cool vinyl/mp3 combo albums (the record comes with a code to download a digital copy - what else can a millennial girl ask for from her music?). Once there I went to check out the advertised music video for "Bounce Bounce," was delighted by the animation, jumped to check out the page of the director and animator Hayley Morris, and was even more delighted by the photographic proof of her surely enchanting elven childhood, affinity to things miniature (me too me too!) and the rest of the description of her sources of inspiration.

Has there ever been a more worthy and fruitful internet chain journey? I think not. With that, I leave you with the music video for "Bounce Bounce":

Pretty Good Day

Recently I've been doing some reading and reflecting on how to increase the joy in my life and focus less on the everyday worries and more on the everyday blessings. I've read a few books so far that have given me great direction and inspiration, including:

• The Happiness Project, recommended by a friend who read my post about gratitude. I have been so impressed by it that I have also given it as a gift.
• Traveling Light for Mothers, a short but powerful little devotional by Max Lucado, adapted from his previous book Traveling Light. It is a series of meditations on the verses of my favorite Bible passage (and my son's), the 23rd Psalm.
• Great Day Every Day, with a pretty self-explanatory title, also by Max Lucado. I just started it, so I don't have too much to say about it yet. However, I thought of it when I had one of those delightful music moments, when something comes on the radio that makes everything stand still for a couple of minutes. I believe it was on KFOG's Acoustic Sunrise show on Sunday morning, which I enjoy while feeding the little man his breakfast. Anywho, I tracked down the song, and link it here for your enjoyment. Have great day today, no matter what!

Luce - "Good Day" (acoustic)

Luce - "Good Day" on KFOG Morning Show Live and Local @ Pacific Catch San Francisco from KFOG Radio 104.5/97.7 on Vimeo.

New Music: Laura Marling

At this very moment I'm sitting enthralled in front of my Amazon cloud player, absolutely loving the sound of a song by emerging British singer Laura Marling. Turns out Amazon.com has a promotion in which you can download "Sophia," one of the songs from her album A Creature I Don't Know, for FREE during the month of December. I did so, am delighted, and will now press the button to purchase the rest of the album. Hurray for new tunes! I first heard about her on CBS Sunday Morning, one of my favorite news magazine shows. I've loved their features for years - it's been a Sunday morning tradition in my parents' household since I was very young. I still get a warm, pleasant feeling of well-being from the associations of hearing Charles Osgood's opening lines, which I used to hear sleepily from my room along with the sounds of the kitchen as my mom prepared delicious Colombian Sunday favorites like arepas, huevos pericos (eggs scrambled with onion and tomato), or caldo de papas (a delicious broth with potato, egg, cilantro and scallions) - comfort food extraordinaire!

Anyway, back to Laura Marling - she has an amazing sultry, deep voice that totally took me by surprise after seeing a photo of her delicate 21-year-old self. This is where people say she's soulful beyond her years, or an old soul, or something like that - but I like to think that people can really be soulful at any age. Her voice, however, does have a bit of the older woman about it. Let's just say they had me at "sounds like a blend of Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen" or something along those lines. I highly recommend at least downloading the free song to see if you're into it.

Speaking of Brits, Marlings and CBS Sunday Morning, a few months ago they did a feature on indie actress/filmmaker Brit Marling (no kidding!) and what looks like a great sci-fi film called Another Earth. It won awards at Sundance, I believe, and I'm very anxious to see it. I missed it in theaters for mommy reasons, but I just put it on my Blockbuster Online queue. More on that when it arrives. Yay!

Update: Now listening to full album. Hear banjos and a subtle air of bluegrass in the mix. Still delighted.

A Song for Swooning

I just uncharacteristically clicked on one of those creepy targeted Facebook ads, vanquished by the inescapable draw of the name "Mark Lanegan." It was a link to this free promotional mp3 of "The Gravedigger's Song" from his new album, Blues Funeral. For those of you not familiar with him, Mark Lanegan used to be in the grunge band Screaming Trees, after which he has done various solo projects and some collaborations. I became a big fan of Mark Lanegan after writing a review of his collaborative album with Isobel Campbell of Belle and Sebastian, Ballad of the Broken Seas, which has to be one of my favorites of all time. I wrote it for a now-sadly-defunct mp3zine called Daily Sonic. I haven't had a chance to work things out so that I could include the audio file of my review here, but if you really want it let me know. Anyhow, I am pretty crazy for Mark Lanegan's voice, for many of the same primal reasons I love Leonard Cohen's later-life raspiness. You can get a taste by listening to the "Blues Funeral" mp3 I embedded below (you don't have to download it or provide your email to listen). Has anyone gotten to listen to the rest of Blues Funeral yet? I'm tempted to buy it, but was hoping someone might have some input first. I've lately been buying music through Amazon mp3, so that I have it on the handy Amazon Cloud Player, but this might be one to get on vinyl, if available. Lately they've been doing these awesome new vinyl releases of albums that come with a code to download the mp3 version online, so that you have it both ways. Genius!

Maksim Mrvica

My latest source of inspiration: