so many contenders

One of the friends we visited in Saugerties over the summer didn't plan on buying me a second Christmas present this year. However he couldn't resist the item he saw at an auction house. He had read my blog post about the late, great Ed McMahon and knew I would love an autographed picture of the legendary broadcaster.



The salutation reads "For the gang at S.M.C., All the best!" I wonder what S.M.C. stands for. Considering that the photo was purchased in New York State, I think a likely candidate would be SMC Stone. It could also be from SMC Furnishings, the Systems, Man & Cybernetics Society or the Snowsports Merchandising Corporation. Maybe Ed supported either an organization called Single Mothers by Choice or the Sacred Music Chorale of Richmond Hill. How could I forget the Black Irish chapter of the Shamrocks Motorcycle Club?

but wait, there's more

The goal I set for myself last night was to figure out how to get WINC and WVMP on my new WiFi clock radio. I located both their streams online and added them to "My Streams" at Reciva.com. Just before climbing into bed this afternoon for my nap, I saw that a new menu item had been added to my radio but neither station connected. I will keep trying.

The good news is that the results of my other experiments did work. Included in the new menu item called "My Stuff" were "My Stations," "My Podcasts," and "My MP3tunes." Since the eight stations I put on my preset buttons aren't enough when the whole world wide web is available, I now have a menu with some stations I'm interested in occasionally sampling like KIIS, KFI, WMAL, WWVQ and WXMX.

Registering the radio gave me a free membership at a site called MP3tunes.com. It offers a "music locker" where I can upload my own files from anywhere and then listen to them on my clock radio. I uploaded a bunch of Christmas songs and Frank Jr.'s version of "A Visit from St. Nicholas." I'm not ready for the season to be over yet, which is good because I will be the narrator for the Christmas Cantata at All Saints Church this weekend.

So far my favorite feature has to be "My Podcasts." I was too excited to sleep, so until I drifted off, I listened to the latest podcasts from Kevin & Bean, Fr. Gary Braun and Coverville. The latter was a countdown of their top ten cover songs. A country version of "Gin & Juice" (NSFW) was outstanding.

tenth or eleventh day of Christmas

The new clock radio I wanted for Christmas passed its first test this morning. It turned on at 4:30 a.m. and began playing WTOP. Or more accurately, wtop.com. The great gift from my wife receives both local FM stations and Internet streams.

The Sanyo R227 has eight presets for FM and eight presets for WiFi. I had a hard time finding eight local stations I liked enough to fill all the presets. I'm having the opposite problem narrowing down the thousands of Internet stations to pick my top eight.

For starters, I have programmed four news stations and four music stations. The news stations will stay on my buttons as long as their programming during the 4:00 a.m. ET hour interests me. I picked a station in each of the three cities where I've lived and one in St. Louis since I visit there often. They are WTOP, KNX, WINS and KMOX.

The music stations were a little easier to choose. I went with KROQ, KCRW and WLNG. The owner's manual says I can register my new toy at Reciva.com. By doing so, I can add stations to my device. I joined the site tonight and requested WINC, where my friend Paula works, as well as 101.5 The Music Place, where my friend Sarah works.

Since neither WINC nor The Music Place were on the list of stations already in the radio, I have temporarily assigned the last button to an Internet-only stream called "Christmas Vinyl." After all, the Christmas season runs through Sunday at my church.

candy planned

The candy spotted by my friend Keith made no sense for late December. He emailed me on the Second Day of Christmas to report that the Kroger on S. Northshore Drive was selling Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs. When I saw him at church the next morning, I asked if he thought they were left over from last Easter. No, a clerk told Keith that the eggs had just arrived.

My family and I stopped at a Sheetz convenience store on New Year's Day. In addition to the Reese's eggs, they had a whole assortment of Easter candy including Almond Joy Eggs, Easter Dots, Jolly Rancher Jelly Beans, Cadbury Creme Eggs and Cadbury Caramel Eggs.



The item that caught my eye and pried 99¢ plus tax from my wallet will be obvious to most readers of this blog. In fact, I had recently mentioned that I was anxious to try a chocolate-covered Marshmallow Peep. In my excitement, I hastily purchase a Peep covered with milk chocolate, momentarily forgetting that I had intended to hold out for the dark chocolate variety.

stingray sold separately

The challenge in finding a Christmas gift for my friend Bean is getting something unusual that he doesn't have. One year I was at the Post Office and saw a CD of Christmas music he would enjoy. He already had it. Last year I saw a unique Santa figurine in a wig shop on Gay Street. It was perfect.



A few weeks ago my family and I went out to dinner with a friend on Market Square. Afterward, we browsed in some of the shops. A certain package in Earth to Old City grabbed my attention. I don't know if the Steve Irwin action figure was made before or after the adventurer's death but I couldn't resist buying it for Bean.

monster of the midway

The Christmas gifts from my daughter made me proud of her ingenuity and thoughtfulness. She gave me a stack of books she knew I would like and paid nothing for them by using PaperBackSwap. When she heard that I had seen a simply wrapped package arrive in the mail last week from a PBS member in Saucier, Mississippi, she sent me the following email:

So, I was just going through your blog, your Facebook, your Twitter and your Amazon wish list. Even if I had never met you in person, I would know a lot about you and your personal tastes. If you love someone and actually take an interest in their life, wouldn't you be willing to take 5 minutes on the Internet to find a simple and cheap gift that they would love?

I know that you were good and did not open the gift that arrived for you, but you will be proud to know that I paid $0 for it. That's right, I paid nothing for the gift, I paid nothing for the shipping and I only had to research for about 5 minutes to figure out that you would enjoy it.

The books from PaperBackSwap turned out the be "Give Me a Break" by John Stossel and "The Last Days of Dead Celebrities" by Mitchell Fink. I had put them on my Amazon wish list when they were new but never got around to buying them.

The book pile grew even higher because my daughter gave me her own gently used copy of "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson. She had mentioned it to me when we visited a bookstore together on Labor Day. My wife also recalled my curiosity about H.H. Holmes that day and gave me a copy of "Human Monsters" by David Everitt, which is billed as an "encyclopedia of the world's most vicious murderers."

In addition to all the free books, my daughter gave me a 2½ ounce bag of Starbucks House Blend. A non-coffee-drinking friend of hers had received it in a gift basket at work. It's a re-gift I look forward to opening and brewing the next time I have a day off from work, so probably Friday during the Tournament of Roses Parade.

neg nog

The plan for my simple after-dinner treat turned into a bit of a science experiment tonight. A while back, I had received an email from LA Weight Loss with a recipe for "Guilt-Free Egg Nog." I decided to try it on the second day of Christmas. Here's the recipe:

5 cups of skim milk
1 package of sugar free vanilla pudding mix
1 tsp cinnamon
a pinch of nutmeg
1 tsp of vanilla extract (optional)

Blend for at least 2 minutes with wire whisk. Makes 5 servings. 1 serving (8 ounces) equals 1 Dairy

As I gathered the ingredients, I realized that the container of skim milk from Weigel's had less than the requisite five cups. It was time to call in the reinforcements. My son and daughter are both smarter than I could ever hope to be. It didn't take long for them to figure out that the 1¾ cups of milk I had left was 35% of what the recipe called for. All we had to do was use only 35% of all the other ingredients to make a smaller batch of diet egg nog.



My son measured the package of Jell-O Sugar Free Vanilla Pudding mix and found that it contained about 70 cubic centimeters of powder. 35% of that would be 24.5 cm³. A little bit of the leftover mix was lost during the transaction. We eyeballed the amount of cinnamon and vanilla extract by partially filling a half-teaspoon.



A good whisking created a frothy mixture that I poured into my Christmas in the City mug. Although it had a consistency similar to skim milk, the taste was a close approximation of the real thing.



I was reminded to look for the email in my inbox by a blurb in Friday's free News Sentinel. The weekly Web Watch column listed three sites. I remember one was SketchySantas.com and another was an egg nog page. I couldn't recall the exact URL so I turned to Google. It gave me the "Eggnog Recipe Collection," which didn't seem quite right. I found the Knoxville.Com section of yesterday's paper and saw that the site was actually "Eggnog World." My blog entry from last month has almost as many links as these relatively simple sites.

cold turkey

After playing holiday music for the last month, or in some cases two months, the all-Christmas radio stations across America will cut us off tonight. For one station in Knoxville, it's a good thing. For another, it's too soon for me. I even went so far as to suggest via Facebook that Love 89 keep Christmas hymns on the air for another twelve days, mixed in with their regular playlist. It might keep more seasonal listeners around for their "30 Day Challenge."

For Catholics like me, Advent, the season of anticipation, ended yesterday. The Christmas season started last night and runs until the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord. When the choir at All Saints Church wanted to repeat last year's Christmas Cantata during Advent, our pastor said no, it had to be during the Christmas season. You can come hear it for free on January 8 at 7:30 p.m. and January 10 at 2:30 p.m.

Love 89 normally plays Christian light rock. During Advent, they mix in a lot of secular tunes by Christian artists, which is how I discovered that I loved "Sleigh Ride" by Relient K and "Jingle Bells" by Denver & the Mile High Orchestra. Starting tomorrow those secular songs will get a rest until next year. I wish Love 89 would continue playing their versions of some traditional carols like a new favorite I heard for the first time this year, "O Holy Night" by Point of Grace.

Nationwide, Christmas airplay is dominated by non-religious songs. It's been that way for years. The list that ASCAP releases annually changes very little from year to year. The only religious entry on list of the top holiday songs of the decade is "Little Drummer Boy."

My love of Christmas music is connected to my enjoyment of cover songs. It's fantastic to hear an artist improve upon a previous recording. Even "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" can be re-done brilliantly, as it was by Poe. The Brian Setzer Orchestra regularly updates Christmas classics. The one good cover song I "discovered" on our local commercial holiday station this year was "Feliz Navidad" by Jon Secada. Yes, Mr. Deejay, that was me calling on the request line to ask for the artist's name.

Unfortunately, cover songs can also go horribly wrong. One of my favorite songs, "Baby It's Cold Outside" was ruined by the clash of Rod Stewart and Dolly Parton's voices. Porky Pig's version of "Blue Christmas" might be funny once but it does not hold up to repeated airplay. Because of the atrocious lyrics, I doubt any artist could salvage "The Christmas Shoes." Only Patton Oswalt's hysterical but very R-rated deconstruction is worth a listen.

sync or swim

The technological challenge of presenting the Living Christmas Tree in a basketball arena is mind-boggling. I was impressed with the professional caliber of the performance. It's as good a show as you would expect to see at a theater in Nashville or a theme park in Orlando. Was it too good to be true?

As I watched the program yesterday, I wondered where they placed the microphones for all the singers in the enormous, tree-shaped riser. Some of the soloists had flesh-colored headset mics on their cheeks. I thought about how many wireless channels it would take to collect the sound from the hundreds of cast members.



My suspicions were confirmed today by someone who attended the matinee performance on Sunday. She has a friend who played in the sizable live orchestra. The friend told her that the acoustics of Thompson-Boling Arena would make it impossible for all the musicians and singers to play and sing together. The distance between the orchestra pit and the singers in the tree would create an audio delay. As a result, the musicians and most of the singers pre-record their parts in October. A few of the soloists sing live with the recorded track. The rest of the singers and musicians aren't just mouthing the words or playing air guitar. They do actually sing along and play along with themselves but without microphones.

Armed with this information, am I surprised? A little. Am I disappointed? No. Do I regret going to the show last year or this year? No. Will I go again next year? Absolutely.

under (-utilized) the tree

Christmas is the second most important celebration in Christianity. The annual Living Christmas Tree performance recognized that fact as their nativity pageant turned into a passion play. I had a great time at last year's show and was anxious to see it again.

Imagine that your church decided to put on a nativity pageant and that it grew in popularity over time. It relocated from the church to a theater that still wasn't big enough. Eventually it found a home at a large basketball arena. The demand for tickets is so great that five shows are scheduled each year. That's what happened at Sevier Heights Baptist Church, which works all year to prepare for their annual festivities at Thompson-Boling Arena.



The show started with a series of songs that would fit right in on a secular all-Christmas radio station. A huge group of kids sang about toys and Santa sang that he was "back in town." They segued quickly into a reenactment of the first Christmas. My son wondered how they chose the real baby who played Jesus. Rehearsals for the Living Christmas Tree begin each July. They must put out a casting call for pregnant women who are due around Thanksgiving.



The story didn't stop with the infant Jesus. It picked up with John the Baptist (duh) who sang a solo before he immersed Jesus in a pool of real water. Jesus cast out demons, cured a blind girl and raised another girl from the dead during an upbeat musical number. During the Last Supper, they sang "I Am the Bread of Life," which I recognized from the Catholic hymnals. It was a little odd to see the giant Christmas tree as the backdrop for scenes of the crucifixion and the resurrection.



There is one more performance of this year's Living Christmas Tree. In addition to everything I've mentioned, there is also a good sermon from evangelist Jose Zayas. The only thing I don't understand is why they ask people to leave the arena for one-on-one counseling before the much-hyped grand finale featuring the Hallelujah Chorus. As usual, the audience stood.

once bitten and twice shy

Playing Christmas music on the radio is still a thrill for me. It might be different if I worked at one of those all-Christmas stations but I have only worked at places that mix in holiday tunes with the regular format.

I loaded three new Christmas songs into the system the other day, one at the request of my boss and two of my own picks. I had downloaded Lady Gaga's "Christmas Tree" while it was available for free on Amazon.com. I got a copy of SpongeBob SquarePants' "Don't Be a Jerk (It's Christmas)" in the mail from a publicist. My boss added both to his holiday playlist.

The new song that came across his desk was "Last Christmas" by the cast of "Glee." The Wham tune has been covered by hundreds of artists in the past few years. I put the "Glee" version in the system and got a chance to play it on the air this weekend. As I talked over the intro, I realized it reminded me of an older, equally campy song. Listen to the beginning of "Last Christmas" and then compare it to an excerpt of "White Christmas" by the Partridge Family.

to light and guard

One of the best Christmas traditions in East Tennessee is the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra's 23rd Annual Clayton Holiday Concerts at the Knoxville Civic Auditorium. My wife sings with the Knoxville Choral Society, which is featured in 12 of the 16 numbers on this year's program. There are four performances, the first of which was tonight.

Aside from my obvious bias toward the KCS, the star of the show each year is Santa Claus, who has one of the finest baritone voices you'll ever hear. He sings a couple of songs about angels, including "An Angel Gets Its Wings," which is inspired by Zuzu's famous line from "It's a Wonderful Life." The Sound Company Children's Choir and the Appalachian Ballet Company also performed during some of the songs.

One of the Symphony's musicians writes a blog about their concerts. She wrote about how it's the best week of the season and gave some behind the scenes reports from the rehearsals this past week.

The audience oohed and aahed during a slide show of dogs, cats and rabbits available for adoption from the Young-Williams Animal Center. My contact at the KSO, Stephanie Burdette, got a nice shout out from the Maestro for the work she did compiling a slide show of angel drawings by local schoolkids.

My wife drove herself to the concert while I waited for our son to arrive home from college. He and I left the house less than five minutes after he arrived. We used the pair of press tickets I had obtained. After intermission, my son asked why we all stood during the "Hallelujah Chorus." I explained that there was no good reason except perhaps that King George once needed to stretch his legs.

hear the angels' voices

Logan Murrell's performance of "I'll Be Home for Christmas" wowed me and everyone else at the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra's Clayton Holiday Concert three years ago. I wrote a blog post about it in which I predicted that Logan will someday be as famous as Leann Rimes. Her rendition of "O Holy Night" was fairly spectacular too.



About two months ago I received an email from Julie Murrell, Logan's mother. She said that a family member had discovered my blog post and shared it with Logan. Our conversation continued a month later when I met the Murrells at the March of Dimes Celebrity Chefs Auction. She said it was one thing for grandparents and relatives to praise Logan but even better to receive positive feedback from an outsider like me.



Julie had also read on my blog that I am a fan of Christmas music. She thought I might enjoy Logan's Christmas album. She gave me a copy, which I put in my car's CD player.

A week or so ago, I was talking about Christmas music with the program director of the country station in the cluster where I work. I had noticed that he's been playing Taylor Swift's cover of "Last Christmas." As the conversation progressed, I mentioned Logan Murrell and he remembered seeing her perform at the March of Dimes event. I retrieved her CD from my car and skimmed through the tracks with him. His programming "ears" perked up when we got to "I'll Be Home for Christmas." He agreed with me that it was hard to believe Logan was only 11 when she recorded the album. The good news is that he plans to give the song some airplay. Even though I don't normally listen to country music, I plan on tuning in to Q93 with the hope of hearing Logan on the radio.

snickerdoodles

The actors in "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" at Dollywood are better than the material they have to work with. To be honest, the material isn't all that bad. The simple story revolves around a young girl who wishes that Santa will help her brother and sister travel home for Christmas. All the cast members have excellent singing voices, so the more music the better.

A corny subplot with some mice looking for cookies didn't work for me. The two lead mice imitated Abbott & Costello, including part of the famous "Who's On First?" routine. My other gripe was with a supporting cast member who played several parts including a mouse, a sailor and a neighbor of the main characters. He looked to be a better dancer than the others but I felt that he was trying to steal the spotlight by turning his er... flamboyance up to eleven.



My wife knows the family of gifted ten-year-old actress Amelia Bryant, who plays Grace Baxter in the show. Her acting is natural and her singing voice is strong. We sat with Amelia's parents and siblings at one of the three performances tonight. We were supposed to be there for the 5:00 p.m. show but ended up at the 7:00 show after we got stuck in traffic on Chapman Highway. Apparently the road was closed for the annual Seymour Christmas Parade. I'm kicking myself for not knowing about the parade. I could have either avoided it or volunteered to be in it.

rocked k-town

The Brian Setzer Orchestra opened their show at the Tennessee Theatre last night with the theme from "Batman." I was in heaven as my favorite band played the music from my favorite TV show.



The musicians always do a great job. They might have been even more "on" than usual because the show was being filmed for BillboardLive. It will be streamed on Christmas Eve and repeated at some point in the future. At this point, the site has conflicting information about the time of the webcast. It will either start at 8:00 or 10:00 p.m. EST. After I thanked them profusely for the tickets, the guys from Surfdog Records told me that the concert could possibly be sold as a DVD too. I would buy one even though I already have a previous holiday disc of theirs.

State Street behind the theatre was closed to accommodate the TV truck. Fortunately my wife read about the closure on Twitter, which saved us some time and trouble on our way to the parking garage. Knoxville must be a great place to film a special. Ralphie May, among others, have used the Tennessee Theatre for the same purpose. Because of the proximity of Scripps Networks and the independent production companies that create programming for them, high-quality crew members are readily available. The cameraman focusing on Setzer from stage left was D.J. Corcoran, who was my classmate in the FBI Citizens Academy. He was part of the crew that once filmed an episode of "Ed the Plumber" at my house.

The set list mixed Setzer favorites with holiday classics. A costumed Grinch made an appearance as the band mashed "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" into the "Stray Cat Strut." I don't know if Brian really needs the sheet music for "The Nutcracker Suite" or if the roadies put it out there for a visual effect. I suspect he was actually reading the notes because he looked like a kid at his Christmas recital. The Orchestra's cover of "Angels We Have Heard On High" is one of my favorite versions of the hymn.

No Setzer show is complete without "Rock This Town." Even though I've seen their trick before, I love it every time. In the middle of the concert, Brian gives the horns a break and plays a set of tunes with just the drummer and stand-up bass player. It's obviously a nod to the Stray Cats. The last song the trio does is "Rock This Town." Before it ends, the scrim rises and the horn section kicks in to finish the tune big-band style. At the end of the show, real snow (or real shaved ice) fell on us as the band played "Jingle Bells."

bake and wake

The annual cookie-baking party thrown by some friends of ours has become a holiday tradition for my wife and me. The host couple provides food and drink and the ingredients for several types of treats. They also had the SEC Championship game on their big TV. The guests each bring whatever is necessary for their specialty. This year, my wife and I made Oreo Truffles, which are well-known to longtime readers of my blog.

During the party, I posted a few bon mots and pictures on Twitter from my cell phone. When I got home, I was frustrated to find that my favorite comment never showed up on the Internet, yet it resides in my phone's "sent items" list. Here it is, because I still think it's funny:

Overheard at the cookie party: "I never heard of this Lady Gaga until this morning on NPR."

For the past several years, my wife has hoped to get the recipe for cappuccino cookies from our hostess. She would get busy or we would get distracted and leave without the recipe. We knew that instant coffee was involved but never had enough information to find an exact match online. There are enough similarly-named recipes out there to really confuse the issue. That changes today, as my wife found the recipe card at the party and transcribed it into the little notepad I carry. I had no idea that the dough had to chill for six hours before baking.

Ingredients

2 squares unsweetened chocolate
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup shortening
½ cup butter
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon instant coffee
1 teaspoon water
1 egg
1½ cups semi-sweet chocolate
3 tablespoons shortening

• In a heavy saucepan, heat and stir unsweetened chocolate until melted. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
• Meanwhile, stir flour, cinnamon and salt together.
• In a large bowl, beat ½ cup of shortening and butter until butter softens. Add brown sugar and beat until fluffy.
• Stir coffee into water until dissolved. Add coffee, melted chocolate and egg to butter mixture and beat well.
• Add flour mixture and beat until well mixed. Cover and chill for one hour.
• Shape into 7 inch rolls, wrap in waxed paper and chill for 6 hours.
• Cut into ¼ inch slices. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake at 350° for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are firm. Remove and cool
• In a heavy saucepan, heat chocolate and 3 tablespoons of shortening. When melted, dip half of each cookie into chocolate. Place on waxed paper and cool until chocolate sets.

ginger snaps

Most people go to the Fantasy of Trees to see the trees, hence the title of the event. Volunteers from all over East Tennessee spend hours and hours decorating beautiful Christmas trees that are sold to benefit Children's Hospital. Having said that, I was more impressed by a display of gingerbread houses.

My wife and I attended a preview gala at the Knoxville Convention Center on Tuesday night. The building is right next to the real Sunsphere, which was represented in gingerbread. I also saw a house that looked like it was made of Pepto-Bismol and a structure that reminded me of the models of California missions that my kids had to build in the fourth grade at St. Finbar School.







Did you spot the entry from M&M Catering, a local BBQ favorite?

mp-free

The great Knoxville-based website, CouponKatie.com had a link to an offer that was right up my alley. Before November 30, you can get a $3 credit toward the purchase of downloadable mp3s from Amazon.com. Most songs cost only 99¢ each. I got three, which left me with 3¢.

Coupon Katie asked on Twitter which three songs I chose. A Twitter user named Dusty made a funny guess. I could have easily gotten bogged down trying to pick from among the probably millions of available tunes. Fortunately I came up with a plan. I went straight to the Amazon wish list that I have been maintaining for several years and chose one song each from three different CDs. One of the albums appears to be no longer available in its disc form.

Longtime readers may realize that I have been wanting these songs for some time. Two of the three catch my attention each year when I hear them on a local Christian station. A couple of years ago I even called the station to ask who was singing "Sleigh Ride" and "Jingle Bells." The artists were Relient K and Denver & the Mile High Orchestra, respectively.

The third song I chose combined two of my favorite things: the "1812 Overture" and the Brian Setzer Orchestra. Their "1812 Overdrive" is a rockin' version of a classical masterpiece on the "Wolfgang's Big Night Out" album. Did you know that the BSO will be at the historic Tennessee Theatre two weeks from tonight?

While finding the links for the previous paragraphs, I stumbled across another free deal on Amazon. You can download a Christmas album called Sampler Claus free of charge! The seven tracks are from my father's era including a preeminent communion song performed by the late, great Robert Goulet.

advent-ure

For the second year in a row I bought a Christmas ornament sight unseen. My wife and I didn't get a souvenir from Lake Winnipesaukee during our trip there in July. We buy ornaments when we find ones we like but we don't go too far out of our way to look.

Last year I persuaded a sales clerk in Branson to describe some ornaments to me. I picked one and had it shipped here. Earlier this week I called The Christmas Loft and asked if they had what I wanted. The clerk described a porcelain piece made by Barlow Designs that sounded just about perfect. It arrived yesterday with plenty of time to spare before we begin decorating.



In other Lake Winnipesaukee news, I may finally get around to watching "What About Bob?" Although filmed in Virginia, the story is set at the New Hampshire lake. It will be shown on Starz Comedy this coming Friday. My DVR is set.

electroluminescence

There was no Thanksgiving music during the light show at Smokies Park. In fact, the soundtrack was unabashedly Christmas. Tonight my wife and I attended a media preview of Shadrack's Christmas Wonderland in the parking lot of the baseball stadium in Kodak.

They had a small reception with hot cocoa, hot cider and Christmas cookies just before sunset. As it got dark, Sevierville Mayor Bryan Atchley and Sevier County Mayor Larry Waters cut a ceremonial ribbon held by members of the Glover family, who own and operate Shadrack Watersports. We all headed to our cars and drove through the maze-like course in the parking lot.

The lights formed secular shapes like snowflakes and trees, but the songs that accompanied the display were mostly religious. I heard "Christmas with a Capital C" and "Joy to the World" by Go Fish as well as "Stille Nacht" by Mannheim Steamroller. The music is broadcast on a low-power FM station, which sounded great on our car radio. The various colors appear to dance to the beat. A computer program synchronizes the lights to the music. It's reminiscent of both fireworks and water fountains.

Smokies Park is just off I-40 at exit 407. This is the third light display by Shadrack. In 2007, they started the tradition at their store in Bristol. In 2008, they began doing it at their location in West Knoxville, just off the Watt Road exit. The light shows start again in Bristol on November 13 and in Knoxville on November 19. All three displays will operate nightly from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. until January 2. It costs $15 per car on weekends and $10 per car on Monday through Thursday nights. The rates are higher for buses, limos and activity vans.

We were told to keep our headlights off as we drove through the mile-long course. As you can see in the photo below, there was a car behind us who left their lights on. Mikki Noel Glover (who is now married and has a different last name) told us that many owners of newer cars have no idea how to turn off their headlights. For some, it involves either the parking brake or the gear shift. By the end of last year, the Glovers had figured out how several different auto models work. They plan to research the information on the Internet and give themselves a refresher course for this year.

just say November

Never let it be said that I rush straight from Halloween into Christmas. Each year I write several blog posts about Thanksgiving. It bugs me to see stores displaying Christmas decorations in October. However, I did go online today and order my tickets for the Living Christmas Tree.

I went to the show at Thompson-Boling Arena for the first time last year and enjoyed it tremendously. Three of this year's shows conflict with the Knoxville Symphony's Clayton Holiday Concerts. I picked one of the two that do not, since my wife will be singing at all four Clayton shows.

Another Christmas reminder popped up in my email today. Dave & Melanie, the couple who operate the seasonal See's Candies kiosk at West Town Mall, wrote to tell me that they will reopen for business on November 12. They were kind enough to include some fun photos from their summer Workamping adventures.

On top of all that, the radio industry news had a few reports of stations flipping to an all-Christmas format over the weekend, including one in St. Louis and two in Kansas City. Despite being on the verge of a Christmas avalanche. I found two reasons to be hopeful for Thanksgiving.

On our way home from Missouri this summer, my wife and I stopped at Broadbent's in Cadiz, Kentucky. The Christmas-themed gift shop was across a parking lot from a radio station with a drive-through window. (Huh?) Amidst all the Christmas items in the store was a small display of three Thanksgiving (and one Halloween) decorations.



Perhaps most encouraging was the decent selection of Thanksgiving cards at Dollar General Market. My cell phone battery died just as I thought about taking a picture of the display. Instead I spent 50¢ to take home the card that reminded me of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

y'all come back now y'hear?

The Brian Setzer Orchestra is coming to Knoxville! This is a huge deal for me. I so badly wanted to see their show in Nashville a few years ago but couldn't make it. Sixteen weeks from now they will bring the Christmas Rocks! Extravaganza to the Tennessee Theatre. I must somehow get tickets to be there on December 8th.

The BSO released two new songs on iTunes today. Two more will come out next week in advance of the new album, "Songs from Lonely Avenue," due October 13th. Megan from Surfdog Records was kind enough to send along copies of the first two tracks for me to hear.



"Trouble Train" is an uptempo song that warns "if you hear the devil call your name, don't get on that trouble train." The powerful horns on the album were arranged by 87-year-old Frank Comstock. He wrote music for many big stars of the past and also wrote the "Rocky & Bullwinkle" theme.



"Lonely Avenue" is a slow number that captures the film-noir feeling that Setzer is going for. The new album is the first entirely written by Brian himself. The disc will include ten vocal tracks and three instrumentals.

My wife and I saw several Brian Setzer Orchestra shows when we lived in California. I have great memories of the concerts at the Greek Theatre, the Universal Amphitheatre and the House of Blues one New Year's Eve. Obviously, it's been a long time since then. I have been hoping they would come to East Tennessee for years.

Christmas in July

To remember our travels, my wife and I like to collect Christmas ornaments from the places we visit. They make perfect souvenirs because the memories are refreshed each year when the ornaments are unpacked. Sometimes it's difficult to find holiday decorations during our summer trips. Last year Byron Chesney helped me track down an ornament from Hot Springs, Arkansas.



We assumed there would be plenty of New Hampshire ornaments at Clark's Trading Post but didn't see any while we were there. Somebody working in the gift shop suggested it was the wrong time of year to be looking. Yeah, I know.

We did not find one at Lake Winnipesaukee either because we were too busy looking for a place to change out of our wet bathing suits. I'll have to contact some of the gift shops at Weirs Beach to see if I can order one over the phone or Internet since the lake was my wife's favorite part of the trip.

It was easy to find an ornament at our first stop in Vermont, Sugarbush Farm. At the time I thought it unusual that they would sell Virginia Tech magnets up there. Oh, wait.



It was a little harder to find one in Maine. We stopped at a few stores before finding Moody’s Giftshop, where we bought a miniature lobster trap that could easily be hung on the tree.



My wife found a brass ornament she liked at the Lexington visitors center. Its shiny surface made it as hard to photograph as a mirror. Eventually I got the idea to position so it would reflect some leaves. It is from the Lexington Battle Green after all.



At Hershey's Chocolate World, we bought a heavily discounted Kurt Adler ornament. Years from now we may find it confusing that the ornament says we went to Hershey a year earlier than we actually did.

twelfth night

Depending on the culture, the twelve days of Christmas end tonight or tomorrow. Some start counting on Christmas Day, others on Boxing Day. Either way, happy Epiphany Eve, even though my church celebrated the feast yesterday. Or maybe I should say merry Armenian Christmas Eve.

On New Year's Eve, my wife and son and I arrived downtown early for First Night Knoxville. The cold air was making my wife's nose a little runny. I thought that we could probably get a pack of tissues at J's Mega Mart, the combination wig shop and convenience store where I got the unusual Santa Claus figurine that I sent to my friend Bean. I was also curious to see if anyone had purchased the other dusty Santa that was still on the shelf when I did my shopping on December 10.

We walked into the store, peeled off our hats and gloves and started looking for tissues when, what to my wondering eyes should appear but three miniature Santas and possibly six more in boxes behind them. They all appeared to be brand new which means that the store must have had a supply of them somewhere. Since they're going out of business, I doubt that they ordered more just because I bought one. Each had a slightly different pose. Do they intend for someone to collect the whole set? There are many more black Santas available online. The one on the left in my photo has an open hymn book glued to his chest. His hand is in the wrong position to be holding it.



On another shelf, I saw lots of Little Debbie products, including the S'mores that I wanted to try last May. I probably should have spent the 46 cents but I was put off by the fact that they were not labeled for retail sale.

on an open fire!

Even Michael Phelps would have trouble burning off all the calories in my Christmas stocking and under our tree. I have been schlepping to the indoor pool at the fitness center at least three days a week all through the holiday season to help assuage the guilt.

Just in time for the holiday eating season, I found a blog called Back to the Fridge by Charlie Hills. I thought about adding it to the blogroll on the right of my page, but the BTTF design doesn't lend itself to easy scrolling and browsing. Instead I view his posts via Google Reader. On Friday, Charlie wrote: "Although the new year is now officially underway, let’s face it: our diets don’t start until Monday." My thoughts exactly! Charlie's tastes agree with mine in two other important areas: TV women and Chex Mix. A lot of guys wisely choose Mary Ann over Ginger but not everyone picks Bailey over Jennifer.

I always get some sweet treats for Christmas. This year I seemed to be especially blessed. I've already mentioned the marshmallows I got from friends and alluded to the gingerbread cookies my kids made. Perhaps my professed affection for See's Candies inspired some family members to load me up with gourmet chocolates.

Today we tried to slice and share some truffles from Joseph Schmidt, Master Chocolatier. One of the truffles in the package of three was supposed to be pomegranate flavor. The others were "all dark" and "extra dark." We couldn't tell by looking at them. The outer shells were a bit hard and broke when we tried to cut them in half. The excellent taste was not affected. Unfortunately the French truffles from Bissinger's were not quite as good. My wife chose the espresso and mint flavors. I took the raspberry. We split the double chocolate and the hazelnut. They were okay, just not as delicious as I had hoped.

The Chocolate Filled Candy Canes we got from Elegant Gourmet didn't do it for me either. After tasting a piece of my wife's, I gave mine away. There was too much candy cane and not enough chocolate for my taste.

On the other hand, a small box of assorted Krause's Chocolates was a very nice surprise for our family to share. They were chosen for us by our daughter's boyfriend who had visited the shop in Saugerties, New York. The chocolates came with a page that identified the flavors by the color of the paper cup and the shape of the candy. For example, the raisin cluster was in a red cup and had a bumpy surface. The butter cream comes in a white cup with a smooth top. Another candy-related gift I received from the same benefactor was a "Star Trek" set of Pez dispensers. As you can see, they're all straight but Sulu.

leapin' lizards

Like the guy in the Verizon commercial, Christmas isn't over for me yet. Today is only the tenth day of Christmas. I found a film blog that is also celebrating the tenth day today. Each of the related entries are fun, especially the eighth day.

Since we still have a little time left, let's take a look at three of the newsletters that were enclosed with Christmas cards we received this year. Like last year, the names have been redacted to protect the indulgent innocent.

These first excerpts are from some married friends of mine from college who like to travel. A lot. There are a few of their trips I'm leaving out, including their annual Thanksgiving cruise to the Caribbean.

While we didn't have gymnastics this year for S., we were indoctrinated into the world of competitive cheerleading. In January we traveled to Indianapolis and in February we were in Atlanta where S. was one of 22,000 cheerleaders competing in the Georgia World Convention Center. There was lots of glitter! S. is also back on the pageant circuit and in May she was crowned as Miss Junior National Teenager [from our state].

Spring break arrived in March and we actually thought about not going anywhere. At the last minute however, we decided to book a trip to St. John and had a fabulous time on this very beautiful island. Next, in April, we were off for a quick weekend to New York to see "Wicked," a great Broadway show. This little excursion included a stop in Philadelphia for dinner at a really cool Italian restaurant in South Philly; yes, we're nuts.

In May we went on a 12-day Mediterranean cruise. It was a fabulous vacation and we visited ten amazing ports. In Florence we spent the day touring the medieval villages of Sienna and San Gimignano. We loved the Tuscan countryside (although unlike last year, not by bike). The next day brought us to Rome where we had arranged a tour of the Vatican. Even though we had been there just a year before, there was still so much to see. This was the best vacation ever and we saw so many wonderful sights and had a truly amazing time.

Within a week of our return from Europe and barely over the jet lag, we were off to South Carolina for K.'s orientation at [her new college]. Not long after that we were all back in South Carolina for our annual vacation in Hilton Head Island, this time with four additional friends and the dog! Tiki loved her first trip to the beach. This Hilton Head vacation turned out to be quite memorable as we took advantage of the attractive real estate market and ended up buying a house. For now it will be a vacation home but we plan on moving there permanently when S. graduates from high school.

This next excerpt is from one of my wife's friends:

J. has now passed the 24 year mark at IBM. As his responsibilities have grown, he keeps thinking more and more about hanging up his cleats and moving to Hawaii... but then he wakes up from his dream and realizes we only have 7 more straight years of paying for the kids' colleges.

Our rental rates are very reasonable for those of you interested in coming to DC in late January. Desperate times mean desperate measures - we've got to do something to make up for the 401Ks.

And this last short paragraph is my favorite. It comes from a relative:

December highlight was a visit to the Governor's Mansion at the invitation of the First Lady, who is also an AXO. It is a restored 1871 Victorian mansion. The lunch was elegant and served by incarcerated workers dressed in tuxes and white gloves. An occasion to remember, for sure.

prayer palace

The beautiful new church building at St. John Neumann parish opened on Christmas Eve. WBIR got it right in their report however the anchors on WVLT mistakenly called the building a cathedral. I dashed off an email to a couple of people there but unfortunately the same script was used in the 7:00 p.m. newscast that night. A cathedral is the building that houses the bishop's chair, which is called a cathedra.



After seeing the new building with my own eyes today, I wondered if our next bishop could decide to pick up his cathedra and move it to Farragut. Although it's probably just as likely that they would continue to spruce up Sacred Heart Cathedral, which is right next door to the diocesan offices. The religious artwork in the new place looks much better in context than it did in the photos I saw online in August. The more contemporary looking figures inside the ceiling dome are complimented by classic-looking paintings of saints and Stations of the Cross that look like mosaics. They must be relieved to have made the deadline on the cornerstone. I had read that the church was supposed to open last January.



The former chancellor of the Diocese of Knoxville was elevated to bishop this past Spring. Bishop Vann Johnston now shepherds the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau. The Knoxville native was home for the holidays and celebrated the 10:30 Mass today at St. John Neumann. The bishop told me that the pastor, Fr. John Dowling, was inspired by the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis. Coincidentally, that is where my family and I went to Mass a week ago. I told Bishop Johnston that my wife and I had briefly been in his new diocese when we went to Branson this summer.



Fr. Dowling made some announcements before Mass began. They are moving the Saturday vigil Mass from 6:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. He said it would take too long to explain why. After Mass I heard some parishioners speculating that the church could book more Saturday evening weddings after the change. My wife had heard months ago that some families were registering in the parish so their daughters could get married in the new building.



The other big announcement was that the parish would no longer serve communion in both species. Apparently they feel that parishioners sipping from the cup takes too long. Because of the acoustics, they have decided to start singing slower and preaching slower, which will make the Masses run longer. The cavernous space and the hard surfaces create lots of echo.

I've been to several other churches where the problem of slow communion lines was solved by adding more cups, not by removing them. To me, the lack of communion in both species and a few other things made it feel like they were trying to turn back the clock. They rang a bell at the start of Mass and during the consecration. Some parts of the Mass were sung in Latin. When I hear the "Holy Holy Holy" and the "Lamb of God" I know it's time to lower the kneeler. At this Mass they sang "Sanctus Sanctus Sanctus" and "Agnus Dei." I lowered the brand new kneeler only to find that it had a child's muddy boot prints on it, probably from Christmas Eve when the weather outside was frightful wet. After Mass, I brushed it off as best I could with my hand.



The pew where I sat was in one of the transepts, near the ambo. The last person to receive communion in our section was a man carrying a fidgety toddler. A moment or two after the man received the host, I thought I saw the child drop something. I wasn't positive because neither the parent nor the deacon serving communion reacted. The man carried the boy back to their seats and the deacon went off to help distribute communion in the main section of the church. I had an inkling of a suspicion about what had fallen to the floor so I got up from my kneeler to investigate. It was only a few steps over to the spot where the communicants had stood. I didn't see anything until I knelt down to look more closely at the beige marble floor and tilted my head at an angle to see it in a different light. Half a host lay on the floor, barely visible because it was almost the exact same color as the marble. I picked it up and reverently put it in the palm of my hand. I thought about my options for a second and realized that the best thing for me to do in this circumstance was to consume the partial host myself. It would have been terribly disruptive for me to bring the host to the deacon or the bishop and say "look what I found."



I don't know if the deacon had broken the host in half because he was running out of them or if the man had broken the host in half himself, which he shouldn't have done. Either way, the child should not have had the opportunity to take the host from his father or to knock it out of his father's hand. In a situation like that, the man should have received the host directly on his tongue instead of in his hands. I wondered if he was a non-Catholic and didn't know the rules. Catholics believe that Jesus is truly present in the host. We take his words at the Last Supper literally. A fancy church building like St. John Neumann's will attract tourists of all faiths. The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis has the following paragraph on the back cover of their weekly bulletin:

All visitors who are not of the Catholic faith are welcome to join us in prayer but not to receive Holy Communion. Reception of Holy Communion is a sign of unity of faith and full membership in the Catholic community. Together let us pray for the eventual unity of all believers.

After feeling discouraged about the muddy shoe prints and the behavior of the child at communion, I'm glad that as I left the church after Mass, I turned back to read the inscriptions above the three doors. One of them reminds us of Jesus' words in the gospel of Mark: "Let the children come to me, do not hinder them."

gifts received

The Christmas gift from my friend Bean is perfect for me. The book "Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America" by Laurence Maslon and Michael Kantor is filled with chapter after chapter of my favorite comedians. The first random page I opened to had a picture of the Marx Brothers on it. A second flip fell open to a photo of my radio idols, Bob & Ray. My luck held when the third page I saw had Jerry Seinfeld's picture. Thanks Bean! I'll continue to enjoy this for a long time to come.

My lovely wife was thinking of my desire to listen to more podcasts when she got a good bargain on a Sony Walkman. Not only does it hold plenty of audio, video and picture files but my friend Sandy will be interested to know that it has a built-in FM radio too. I listened to a podcast of last week's "Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me" while eating dinner tonight.

My kids were thoughtful and generous with their gifts too. My son gave me Stephen Colbert's book, "I Am America (And So Can You!)," which looks like it will be a fun read. My daughter knew that the DVDs of the old "Mission: Impossible" TV series were on my wish list. She also knew that while I would probably be most interested in the episodes with Peter Graves as Jim Phelps, the completist in me would need to have season 1 with Steven Hill as Dan Briggs also. That's why she got me both the season one and season two sets. I'm watching a season two episode as I type this. I love that show. Too bad Tom Cruise defiled it with his movie version.

gifts given

After the Bijou Jubilee announcement earlier this month, I started walking toward the Mast General Store with the intention of looking for a Christmas gift for my friend Bean. Instead I ended up across the street at J's Mega Mart. I had read about the unusual store and its impending closing in The Bottom Line blog. Unlike the Sunsphere, J's really is a wig shop. In fact, some hair products are visible in the distant background of one of my photos below. Reporter Carly Harrington got herself a wig while she was there. She wrote that the store will stay open until they sell off their widely varied inventory. I saw two unusual Santa figurines that looked like they had been there forever. What a perfect gift for my friend! I bought one of the Santas and cleaned it up with a Q-tip before mailing it across the country to Bean.



When my wife and I went to Branson and Hot Springs this summer, we were unable to find any souvenir Christmas ornaments. Byron Chesney read of my plight and offered to help. His sister lives near Hot Springs National Park and could buy one at a gift shop for me. I wrote to Byron to say that I would gladly repay his sister. After she mailed the ornament to Byron, the following photo arrived in my email inbox.



Byron and I arranged a time and place for me to hand over some cash and for him to give me the ornament. I didn't mind that it cost more for his sister to mail the box from Arkansas to Tennessee than it did for the ornament itself. I knew that my wife would be more impressed by the effort than by the price anyhow. Inspired by this success, I went home and immediately tracked down a gift shop in Branson willing to sell me an ornament over the phone. It would have been easier if they had a website. The patient sales clerk described several ornaments to me until I picked one that sounded like it would be less tacky than the rest. I must have chosen wisely because my wife was surprised, puzzled and pleased by the gift. She was moved by the thought of all those people conspiring to make her Christmas special.

south pole meets north pole

Well, Layci did get her penguin. Thanks to a snowball effect started by my blog post on Friday, the young girl got her Christmas wish today. I wrote about how a mysterious benefactor bought a Styrofoam penguin as a surprise for the girl who had admired it but couldn't afford it. The catch was that only the girl's first name was known. The staff at Carole's Interior and Gifts tried finding Layci, without success. I happened to wander into the store last Thursday and heard the story from Carole Brailey.

As I was writing the blog post on Thursday evening, I realized that the story was too good to not also tell on the radio Friday morning. One caller got upset that I was making such a fuss over a little girl in an affluent neighborhood getting a frivolous gift when there are so many needy people elsewhere in the region. She was in financial trouble herself but turned down offers of help from other listeners. This situation played out during the 9:00 a.m. hour, while WATE's Bo Williams was on the air with us.

The News Sentinel's Michael Silence posted a link to my blog post on Friday morning. The Shopper News ran their own version of the story on Monday morning. WATE picked up on the search for Layci in their newscasts Monday night. Reporter Kristyn Caddell told me that she got the story from my blog after discussing it in the newsroom with Bo and others.

Friends of the family heard the coverage and got word to Layci's sister, who is a college student. The girls' parents, Karen and John, brought Layci back to the store today to pick up her gift from Santa. The man in the red suit told me that in previous years he has been onstage as part of the Sevier Heights Baptist Church's Living Christmas Tree. Layci's Dad said that she had done her part to "pay it forward" in the past. She recently participated in a program to collect and distribute shoes for the homeless.

Kristyn was there with a cameraman from WATE to capture the moment for tonight's 6:00 p.m. news. She was kind enough to mention me in her story and to pose for a photo with Layci. In times like these, Kristyn said she was glad to report a story with a happy ending. Merry Christmas Eve!

frozen customers

A nearby bank thermometer said 27° but the wind chill made it feel much colder in St. Louis on Saturday evening. The temperature continued dropping into the single digits during the night. Yet that didn't stop some dedicated fans from lining up in the cold to get their concretes from Ted Drewes Frozen Custard. A lot of them were wearing St. Louis Blues gear, no doubt celebrating the team's victory over the Wild. Many were underdressed and shivering without coats. During Advent, the famous custard stand also sells Christmas trees and wreaths in the parking lot. Ted Drewes does actually close in January for the coldest weeks of winter. Given what I saw on Saturday night, they could probably stay open year round.

sing in exultation

The piece of music that makes it feel like Christmas for me is the "Christmas Festival Overture" by Leroy Anderson. The composer took several popular Christmas carols and songs and arranged them in a medley. The best parts of it were clearly influenced by Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture." My favorite segment is a mashup of "Jingle Bells" and "O Come All Ye Faithful." There's a new BBC recording of Anderson's holiday works that includes the overture. I literally got goosebumps when I heard the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra perform the opus on Saturday night.

The SLSO's home is the beautiful Powell Symphony Hall, a former vaudeville and movie house. Prior to the concert, they projected messages on a screen reminding the audience that photography was prohibited and that ushers would provide cough drops before the show started. Coughing must be prohibited too. I was impressed that at one of the refreshment stands they sold slices of cake and pie, egg nog (spiked and regular) and hot cocoa. Meanwhile on stage, soloist Doug LaBrecque put the broad in Broadway as he sang to the rafters. He thanked his arranger Wayne Barker for working up some nice orchestrations to include the excellent St. Louis Children’s Choirs on "Do You Hear What I Hear?"

All the songs we heard at the concert and the songs we heard on the weekend's long car trip got me thinking about the good, the bad and the ugly of Christmas music. Relient K's version of "Sleigh Ride" is a favorite this year. I also still enjoy The Blenders singing "The First Noel" and the Brian Setzer Orchestra doing "Angels We Have Heard On High," which is downloadable for free for a limited time on Amazon.com. Look up pop perfection and you should get "All I Want for Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey. It is flawless both as a song and as a record. Ask the Grammys if you don’t know the difference between the two.

I've come to realize that "Baby It’s Cold Outside" is really a woman’s song. I don’t like versions in which the female part is a throwaway, for example when Dean Martin sings it with some anonymous chorus girls (sorry, Bean.) I loved the version on the Mark & Brian Christmas album, not because of Barry Manilow but because of the great voice of listener Pamela Holt. Even better is the cover of the song on the "Elf" soundtrack, sung by Zooey Deschanel and Leon Redbone. When Zooey sings the line "my sister might get suspicious," how can you not think of Bones?

My daughter left a comment on Bean's Christmas Music Everyday blog. He posted a song called "Christmas Eve in Washington" that seems to be disliked by everyone I know. As far as I know, it only gets airplay in D.C. That reminds me. Let me air a gripe about all the radio stations that play only Christmas music for the month prior to the holiday. I've already written about the uneven ratio of sacred to secular songs. Now I want to know why you cut us off cold turkey at 11:59 p.m. on the 25th? When you go back to playing the best mix of yesterday's favorites and today's whatever, I'll be listening to Christmas music for a few more days. I think you should leave some Christmas songs on the playlist through New Year's Eve. Oh and one more thing, when you play an instrumental version of "Sleigh Ride," keep in mind that Leroy Anderson was the composer of the piece. You often make it sound like he played all the instruments on the recording by the Boston Pops or another symphony orchestra.

cane and enable

The simultaneous blessing and curse of being the Internet's first self-proclaimed marshmallowaholic is that generous friends give me more delicious marshmallows than I should eat. After Mass a week or two ago, my friend Mike the keyboardist gave me a package of the new Peppermint Marshmallow Stars made by Marshmallow Peeps. The flavor goes well with the light and fluffy marshmallows. The candy cane coating seemed stickier than standard sugar-dusted Peeps but that won't stop me from enjoying them.

My wife received a marshmallow-related gift from her "Advent Angel" at work. It's the same concept as a "Secret Santa." The unknown gift-giver gave her a package of Snow Cone Hot Chocolate Mix for two. In addition to the cocoa mix, it comes with chocolate chunks and miniature marshmallows for melting on top.

I suspect that my friends Kathy and Keith enjoy cooking their way into my blog. They are the ones who made S'mores on a stick, the infamous chocolate "snowmen" on a stick and cream-filled cupcakes. On Friday they showed up with a tin of homemade marshmallows in two flavors. Half were of the standard white variety, the others were chocolate. Both taste great. They have a thicker, gummier texture than the Jet-Puffed kind you get in the supermarket. I just got back from a weekend trip to St. Louis and the first thing I did after unloading the car tonight was open the tin and savor some homemade marshmallow goodness.

death by telekinesis

During a recent remote broadcast from a car dealership, a coworker told me that he was going to an "ugly Christmas sweater party" that night. Although the self-explanatory concept reminded me of a funny scene in "Bridget Jones Diary," I had not previously heard of it. As often happens once something shows up on your radar, I started noticing several pictures of "ugly Christmas sweater parties" on USA Today's Pop Candy Blog.

A few days later, that same coworker saw me wearing one of the Alpaca wool sweaters I received as a gift last year from my wife's brother and his family. They live in Peru, where he is a missionary for Globe International. I felt like I had hit the jackpot when they drew my name in the family Christmas lottery. The Alpaca sweaters are the warmest, softest and most comfortable I've ever had in my life. I wore a light brown one to the Christmas parade two weeks ago. Anyway, my coworker asked if I was going to an "ugly Christmas sweater party." He thought that the llamas on my gray sweater were reindeer.

On Tuesday night I wore the gray sweater to the last regular Einstein Simplified show of the year (not counting our New Year's Eve gig). I kept it on during one of my favorite games, "Story Story Die," but soon got too hot on stage and took it off. Paul Simmons' wife Michelle took pictures throughout the show. I asked her to send me one that I could post here to show that the llamas look nothing like reindeer. Feel free to add your own captions in the comments section.

make glad the heart of childhood

On Monday evening a young girl happened to stop in at Carole's Interiors & Gifts in Farragut. The fancy gift shop is in the same strip mall as Garde Bien Spa Salon, where I went to get my hair cut yesterday. I also did some browsing at Carole's and heard the story of little Lacey (or maybe it's spelled Lacy), who had spotted a large penguin and fallen in love with it. The bird is made of Styrofoam and covered with a straw-like material.



When Lacey inquired about the cost of the penguin, Carole Brailey told her that it was originally priced at $400 but that she had marked it down to $200. Crestfallen, Lacey said she had only about $100 in her savings. At that point, Carole said she would sell the penguin to the little girl for $100. Lacey went to check with her mother and came back to say they "would have to think about it."

The next day, a mysterious and jolly old man came into the store to ask about the penguin. In fact, he wanted to buy it. Carole explained that she was holding it for someone. That's when the gentleman revealed that he had already heard about Lacey's story from one of his helpers, who had been in the shop the night before. He was still going buy the penguin, not for himself but for Lacey! The gift tag was to simply read "To Lacey, From Santa."



The penguin now sits outside Carole's waiting for Lacey to come back and be surprised. Will she make it there before Christmas? Can you help spread the word so that Lacey's mom will just happen to bring the girl by the store again? Carole has tried calling a few schools in the area, hoping to track down Lacey, so far to no avail. This little story has all the makings of a Christmas miracle, just waiting for the final scene to be written.

putting the band back together

TNT's annual broadcast of "Christmas in Washington" has become part of my holiday tradition. I found myself looking forward to the telecast for a couple of reasons.

Julianne Hough opened the show. Unfortunately she sounded nervous. When my wife and I saw her sing at the World Grotto accompanied only by a pair of acoustic guitars, she sounded fantastic. In front of First Lady Laura Bush and singing with a full orchestra and a choir full of backup singers Julianne was, how do you say, pitchy. My wife thought that she probably didn't have a good mix in her monitor speakers or earbuds.

My wife had recently heard about a clever version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas." At first she thought her friend was trying to tell her about the old parody song, "The Twelve Days After Christmas." Instead it was a medley of different tunes by a group called Straight No Chaser, who appeared on the show tonight. When Robin McGraw read their introduction, I was interested to learn that they sang together in college, went their separate ways and reunited when an old video of theirs went viral on YouTube. They now have a record deal. I put their CD on my Amazon wish list.

In other random Christmas music news, I've been hearing a lot about the Trans-Siberian Orchestra lately. When I happened to see affianced bloggers Rich and Lissa in Gatlinburg recently, they told me that they are going to the upcoming concert at Thompson-Boling Arena. The TSO also came up in a phone conversation with a friend who was traveling in the Northeast and thought that the band was playing in his area too. During the course of our chat, I got to wondering if the Orchestra could make more money during the holidays by being in two places at once. A look at their tour schedule confirmed my suspicions. On the night that the Trans-Siberian Orchestra plays in Knoxville, they will also be in Indianapolis. The night before that they will be in both Nashville and Detroit. After they play here, they will be in Memphis and Grand Rapids on the same night. Obviously they use two groups of musicians. Wikipedia says they hire local string players in each city but it doesn't say how the principals are divided up. No offense to Indianapolis, but I hope that Knoxville gets the better show that night.

it would be simply charming

If you see a lot of people in Santa suits on Saturday, blame The Cacophony Society. Apparently even Knoxville is important enough to rate an invasion of Kris Kringles. The event is known as Santacon and is supposed to happen in dozens of cities tomorrow including New York and Nashville. Washington and Los Angeles had their Santacons last weekend.

All of this might have slipped under my radar if not for Susan Olsen. She often talked about the Cacophony when we worked together at the Comedy World Radio Network.

The concept apparently started in 1994 with a bunch of people in cheap Santa suits partying and making mayhem. My guess is that they took some inspiration from the scene in "Miracle on 34th Street" where the real Santa kicks the drunk Santa out of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. It certainly looks like there might be a bit of drinking involved at Santacon. I mean they need to stay warm, right?

full of grace

Several Baptist churches around the country present Living Christmas Trees but few, if any, do so in as spectacular a fashion as the Sevier Heights Baptist Church in Knoxville. Their presentation outgrew their sanctuary and then the Tennessee Theatre years ago. Five performances of the Knoxville Living Christmas Tree filled Thompson-Boling Arena this weekend.

My wife and I had never seen the LCT, as those in the know call it. It is actually a gigantic choir riser in the shape of a Christmas tree. A segment on the noon news one day last week got me interested in going although our previous commitments didn't make it easy. We already had plans for Saturday. Tonight, my wife and I went to Mass at our own church for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a holy day of obligation and the national feast of the USA. It comes nine months before the celebration of Mary's birth. There was only one performance that fit our schedule, Sunday at 3:00 p.m. I went to the website to request a pair of free tickets only to find out that they were "sold out." I gave up my plans to attend and started thinking about going to the Knoxville Nativity Pageant next week instead.

After the Julianne Hough concert on Friday night, my wife and I went to Rita's Ice to share a dessert. As we paid for our Blendini, I saw tickets to the Living Christmas Tree on the counter. There were a few tickets for each of Sunday's two performances. Nancy, the store owner, told me that she had gotten the tickets through her church and that they were free for the taking. I grabbed a pair for the matinee. Call it fate, karma or good luck.

We got there about 45 minutes early. I dropped off Jere at the door and went to park the car. As I got out of my car, I realized that I had parked next to Matt Hinkin. He said that it had been a couple of years since he last saw the LCT. I found my wife in section 105 and sat down. I had brought my copy of "Thank God for Evolution" to read while waiting for the show to start. As the singers began to fill in the 16 levels of the tree, I noticed that their choir robes were just drapes that only covered their shoulders and upper bodies.

I went to the Living Christmas Tree expecting a musical performance. I didn't know it would also include a Nativity pageant, a Passion play, a sermon and a passing of the collection plate. The show was so entertaining that even I was moved to toss in a couple of bucks. In addition to all the other elements, there was a contemporary Christmas story, reminiscent of a schmaltzy TV movie. Hollywood producer Garrett returns to his hometown to expose what he thinks is the hypocrisy of their Christmas celebration. He has a change of heart after his assistant prays for him.



The best parts of the event were the singing and the sermon by guest speaker Scott Dawson. I could have done with slightly shorter talking scenes and more songs during the drama portion. However the show did have first class production values. In a way, it was like a slice of Pigeon Forge right here in Knoxville. In fact, the comic relief characters, Bobby Earl and Skeeter, were a lot like some I saw at the Dixie Stampede last year.

Before the performance, Shannon Leigh from Love 89 welcomed the crowd. She said that they were playing only Christmas music this month. On the way home, I switched back and forth between Love 89 and B97.5. The religious station beat the commercial station on each song I heard. The tunes that gave them the win were "Jingle Bells" by Denver & the Mile High Orchestra and "Sleigh Ride" by Relient K while the B was playing "Do They Know It's Christmas" yet again. You can compare the two station's playlists yourself here and here.

ebony and ivory

A small crowd of country music fans found themselves in the audience for a Poetry Slam on Friday night. Of course they weren't there for the poetry, they were waiting to see Julianne Hough, the true star of "Dancing with the Stars."



I had tried to catch a glimpse of Julianne at the WIVK Fowler's Furniture Christmas Parade along Gay Street. The sidewalks were packed with people who had gotten there a lot earlier than me to reserve their spot. After barely seeing Julianne's float pass by, I made the tough decision to bail on the parade and head over to the World Grotto, where my wife was waiting with our Tele-buddy Terry Morrow. He had interviewed Julianne earlier in the day and joined us for dinner on Market Square. The three of us got good seats on the cushioned benches along the wall near the stage just as the Poetry Slam began. Others sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the stage.



The Poetry Slam is a regular event produced by Black Sunshine Arts and Entertainment. As we waited for Julianne, we heard recitations from local poets RheaSunshine, Dawg, Jump Drive and Black Atticus. We also heard the evening's featured poet Carlos Robson, who had traveled from Charlotte to perform. Most of the country fans listened politely to the poets' left-leaning monologues. However the woman seated behind me spent most of the time chatting with her friends both in person and on the phone. Carlos was quite good and was able to command the audience's full attention. The emcee, RheaSunshine, repeatedly entreated the crowd to stay for more poetry after Julianne's concert. On the whole, the experience made me think of an improv game called "Performance Art" and a new variation we've recently started doing at Einstein Simplified shows called "Beatnik Coffeehouse."



As Rhea began to wrap up their first set, I went to the bathroom, thinking that I might catch a glimpse of Julianne's entourage in one of the other Grotto rooms down the same hallway. Instead I saw County Commissioner Mike Hammond, who greeted me warmly and allowed me to step in to the area reserved for WIVK's meet and greet with Julianne. After Mike introduced me to Julianne, I spied Jimmy Holt, who I knew to be a good guy from my time working at WOKI. I offered to take a picture of him with Julianne if he would return the favor. I told Julianne that I used to work with her former dance partner Adam Carolla.



Julianne was in good voice as she sang selections from her self-titled album and her "Sounds of the Season" disc. I thought she sounded better than she did on the various television shows where I've seen her sing. We had a good view of the stage until Julianne sang "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" and asked everyone to stand. Those who were seated on the floor were very happy to get up and stretch their legs.



I've been a fan of Julianne since she first danced with the stars. I now have both her CDs and have already programmed the DVR to catch her on the annual "Christmas in Washington" special on the 17th.

what exit?

A highlight of NBC's holiday schedule is their annual broadcast of "Christmas in Rockefeller Center." I thought that this year's telecast was considerably better than last year and the year before. There were still some things to nitpick though. Al Roker said the tree lighting was the "official start of the holiday season." I'm almost positive he said the exact same thing about the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade last week. C'mon Al, pick one.

The "miracle tree" came from 74-year-old twins Bill and Bob Varanyak of Hamilton, New Jersey. They explained that their late mother fertilized the tree with a mixture of manure and water for many years after planting it in 1931.

"America's Got Talent" winner Neal E. Boyd got to sing during the 7pm hour, which is shown only on WNBC in New York. His performance of "O Holy Night" had too much vibrato for my taste. For the nationwide broadcast, all they let him do was introduce "American Idol" winner David Cook, who did a good job on John Lennon's "Happy Xmas." I like David Cook's voice but his version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"on the pre-show wasn't that great, mostly because of his guitar playing and the way he "made it his own" by leaving out parts of the song. His guitar sounded like it was playing a different song than the one he was singing.

Faith Hill and Rascal Flatts made appearances on the telecast. I generally find country artists to be tolerable when they are singing Christmas standards. Faith did justice to "Little Drummer Boy" and "Joy to the World." Rascal Flatts was okay with "White Christmas." In fact, I preferred it over Harry Connick, Jr's jazz arrangement of "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year." My wife says I'm biased because it was too different from the way good old Andy Williams sings it.

I may be in the minority but I thought Miley Cyrus sounded good on "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree." It was the right song for her voice and was way better than the non-holiday song she did on the pre-show. It was fairly obvious that Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers and Beyonce pre-recorded their segments. Otherwise why would NBC stick them on a rooftop, away from the fans? Plus, the Jonas Brothers were on CBS minutes later in a live telecast from Los Angeles. I did like seeing St. Patrick's Cathedral in the background as Beyonce sang a song with a hint of "Ave Maria" in it. Co-host Jane Krakowski called it "her own personal version" of the hymn. As of last night, there were some comments on Beyonce's website complaining about her low-cut dress and the differences between her rendition and the actual "Ave Maria." After Jane Krakowski said that Beyonce's stage persona is "Sasha Fierce," Al Roker said that his was "Sir Gay Mild." Oh wait, maybe he meant "Sergei Mild."

The network did a good job of concealing Rosie O'Donnell's participation in the show. Britney Spears did less yet was promoted more. It was a surprise when Rosie showed up playing a bongo drum while her "Broadway Kids" lip-synced a song about Santa doing the mambo. Britney got a few seconds of screen time as she opened the show and teased the actual tree lighting prior to a commercial break.

Tony Bennett continues to make it sound easy when he sings. I can't believe he's 82 years old. I was also amazed to hear that "A Swingin' Christmas" is his first holiday album in 40 years.

I mentioned that the Jonas Brothers were in Los Angeles, not New York last night. They were present for "The Grammy Nominations Concert Live" on CBS. Mariah Carey opened that show with "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)." That song is one of my all-time favorites, especially the cover version by U2 and the original by Darlene Love. I wonder if Mariah has got a cold or if the song was not quite in her range. She didn't sound as good as usual. I think I'll click over to YouTube to see Darlene Love do the song on David Letterman's show.

o tannen-boom

Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam and Santa Claus lit the Christmas tree at the Regal Celebration of Lights tonight, the first big event in the annual Christmas in the City celebration. I was expecting the tree lights to come on, however the fireworks from Pyro Shows were a surprise. The fake snow they blasted out over the crowd could have been easily confused for ashes from the exploding shells above us.



The tree is just across Gay Street from the Regal Riviera. There were vendor booths and other activities throughout Krutch Park and into Market Square. Talented 12-year-old Logan Murrell was singing Christmas songs on the Market Square stage when my daughter and I came out of the new Rita's Ice store. I remember being impressed by Logan's voice two years ago when she was only 10. Her performance tonight reaffirmed my feeling that she will be even more successful in the future.



My daughter bought a coffee custard with fudge topping at Rita's. Instead of ice cream, I had a free cup of eggnog from Mayfield Dairy. Members of the Mayfield Mom Squad were handing out samples from the Flavor Force trailer. Earlier in the evening they gave out free Snow Cream popsicles. The Salvation Army offered free hot chocolate and the city gave away free marshmallows for roasting over a fire pit.



A vendor in one of the booths was selling marshmallow blowguns, which are painted pieces of PVC pipe. A miniature marshmallow goes in the mouth end of the gun and gains velocity as it travels through the barrel. A sign above the guns offers sage advice for life: "don't put mouth on blowgun until purchased."

limited time only

Oprah may have cheated her studio audience out of all the usual goodies during her "Favorite Things for a Thrifty Holiday" show today but at least she put some freebies on her website for us all to download. Because I was napping, I didn't watch the show. Instead, I saw an online blurb mentioning that there was a Brian McKnight Christmas song available on Oprah.com for a 48 hour window after the broadcast. I was pleasantly surprised that there were actually eight songs I could download. In addition to McKnight's "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year," I grabbed holiday music from Faith Hill, Tony Bennett, Il Divo, Josh Groban, Amy Grant, Harry Connick Jr. and Aretha Franklin. Bennett and Connick also make a free iTunes song available on their websites until Monday.

And, as Ironside would say, "Happy Thanksgiving, Eve."

goodness gracious

Here's a safe prediction: Derek and Julianne Hough could become the greatest brother and sister act since Donny & Marie. Their jive to "Great Balls of Fire" was the best performance in the history of "Dancing With the Stars." Even the music was better than normal. I loved all the horns in the arrangement. I've watched it several times and have not tired of it.

Julianne's triumphant return from surgery was made all the more impressive by the way she appeared from behind the lid of a grand piano. In fact the piano was a great prop, especially when Julianne danced on top of it and Derek slid under it. At least two people have posted the dance on YouTube (here and here) until ABC has it removed. The network does have the entire episode online in HD. I wish they would put up clips the way NBC does with "Saturday Night Live."

Julianne has become a celebrity in her own right. I think she's a bigger star than her dance partner this season, Cody Something. My guess is that Cody avoided elimination because viewers wanted to give Julianne another chance to dance. I felt similarly about her partnership with Adam Carolla.

I'm not a fan of country music but I will make an effort to swing by Target soon to pick up a copy of Julianne's Christmas CD. And yes, I am thinking about going downtown to the Christmas parade in which Julianne is scheduled to appear.

cookin' with gas

The new Christmas lights are on in Gatlinburg. By switching to LED bulbs, the four-month display will use the same amount of electricity as only three nights of the old incandescent bulbs. The Smoky Mountain city held its 19th annual Winter Magic Kickoff and Chili Cook-off this evening.



The headline entertainment was an incarnation of The Coasters. I doubt that there were any original members among the four guys we saw but they put on a good show nevertheless.



I was there to shoot some video for a feature called The Frank Files on the radio station's website. Inspired by the "Mascot Mondays" that I wrote about here over two years ago, I even tried dancing with a few of the costumed characters at the festival. With any luck, it will look funny on camera.

music that makes you feel good

The Christmas music playing in our car was there for a reason. We were driving through Kentucky and Illinois on our way to visit with several family members this past weekend. My wife was listening to the practice CD for a Christmas cantata called "Journey of Promises" by Joseph M. Martin. The choir at All Saints Catholic Church will perform the piece on January 16 and 18. My wife sings with the choir. I've been asked to read one of the spoken word parts.

When the CD ended, I scanned the FM dial for a station. The first one we heard was playing "The Chanukah Song" by Adam Sandler. It took a moment for this to register. It was October 23, two days shy of two months before the Jewish holiday. The next song was a Christmas standard. There were no deejays, just some sweepers identifying the station as Christmas 101.1 (although their website now calls it Holiday 101.1).

I eventually figured out that we were listening to WMVN, the former Movin 101.1 out of St. Louis. What was really surprising is that the station switched to the seasonal format back on October 10th. They're just biding their time until they go all-sports in January.

Sean Ross of Edison Media Research mentioned the format change in two postings. He writes that there have been far fewer stations making changes this fall than last. He also lists ten songs he heard the St. Louis station play on their online stream.

If you want Christmas music that goes beyond the same old versions of the same old songs, be sure to check out my friend Bean's site, Christmas Music Everyday.

je me souviens

An article in last Sunday's paper served to remind me to seek out some souvenirs from the road trip we took in August. The New Sentinel's travel editor interviewed several Knoxvillians about the items they bring home from their various trips. Most of the people collect the kind of knickknacks that in turn collect dust in the family room at home.

Instead of tschotskes that take up counter space, my wife and I prefer to collect Christmas ornaments from our destinations. While the tree is on display, we can remember our travels from the previous years. Maybe this year I'll remember to post a few photos of our more interesting souvenirs.

This summer we picked up a not-too-cheesy guitar shaped ornament at Graceland but had trouble elsewhere. The only ornaments we saw in Branson were generic. We didn't find any at all during our limited time in Hot Springs. Between now and Christmas, my goal is to find places online where I can get souvenir ornaments from Branson and Hot Springs. Any suggestions would be welcomed and appreciated.

meant what I said

It's too early to think about Thanksgiving and Christmas. However a press release NBC sent yesterday got me doing just that. The release runs down the network's holiday programming for 2008. Maybe the timing is understandable. While at KROQ, I would experience a bit of a Christmas rush in September. I suspect that part of the reason my friend Bean put his blog on hiatus is because of the workload for the annual Kevin & Bean Christmas CD, which probably needs to be turned in soon.

NBC will broadcast the 82nd annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I remember reading over the summer that this year's parade would feature a new Horton (as in "Horton Hears a Who") balloon. I'm still waiting to hear what other characters will make their helium-filled debut in November.

In addition to the return of some traditional holiday specials, the NBC release lists several new shows. They will crank out three countdowns that sound similar to the stuff you see on Vh1 and elsewhere. I will watch at least one, maybe two of these:

"Greatest Holiday TV Specials and Movies" features clips from the most-loved holiday TV specials and films. From animated TV classics to the must see holiday films of the past and present, we'll rank the greatest holiday moments that ever graced the screen.

"Greatest Holiday Songs" will count down the best performances of both classic and contemporary Christmas songs. From timeless tunes from the great crooners to recent essentials from the more modern pop stars, we will recount the greatest songs of the season.

"Greatest Holiday Home Videos" goes home for the holidays as we count down the most hilarious and entertaining holiday moments sent in from families' home videos across the country. This special will be an hour of non-stop family fun where we choose from thousands of submissions, and rank the best America has to offer from holiday mishaps to memorable moments to classic Christmas season chaos.

Of the three, I'm most interested in "Greatest Holiday Songs" although it would be funnier to make a countdown show of the worst Christmas songs. I've mentioned several of my favorite Christmas songs in the past. Maybe I'll arrange them in a numbered list before the NBC special airs. I doubt our lists will be very similar. Except for "Last Christmas." Everybody loves that one. If you also enjoy Christmas songs, you should know that the aforementioned Bean posts some Christmas Music Everyday.

There was no mention in the NBC press release of "Christmas Eve Mass at the Vatican." However the Catholic blog Whispers in the Loggia revealed today that Cardinal John Foley will return as "the voice of Christmas." Foley had indicated that maybe it was time for him to step down but higher ups in the Church and at the network urged him to stay.

here comes Sander Claus

The first stop on our current road trip was technically a make-good for an old trip. About five years ago, my son and I went to the World Chicken Festival in London, Kentucky. Because the words chicken and Kentucky were involved, I thought the festival would be a little closer than it was to the birthplace of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

After watching the parade, eating some chicken cooked in the World's Largest Skillet, having a deep-fried Twinkie for dessert, meeting a Colonel Sanders look-alike, meeting a Food Network camera crew, and watching the cluck-off competition, we just wanted to go home. Neither of us felt like stopping off in Corbin to see the original Sanders Cafe. By the way, the deep-fried Twinkie was not as good as it sounds. Oreos hold up much better to deep-frying.

The modern KFC attached to the old Sanders Cafe wasn't open yet when we got there last Saturday. The workers who had already arrived let us look around and take pictures. They asked if we were in town for the Nibroc Festival (Corbin spelled backwards), which happened to be that same weekend. Alas, we were only passing through.



The historical marker sign out front tells the story of how Colonel Sanders started serving food when the Depression slowed traffic at his gas station. Inside, there's a statue of a ghostly Colonel and a model of the motel and restaurant he opened to grow the business. He experimented with various ingredients and pressure frying methods until he came up with the recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken. His kitchen has been restored to what it looked like in 1940. In 1956, the Colonel heard the news that Interstate 75 would bypass his location. He sold that restaurant and began traveling and selling his fried chicken recipe to other restaurants.



The museum area has a display case with a Halloween mask of the Colonel. Another case has a record album titled "Christmas Eve with Colonel Sanders." While it would have been great to hear the Colonel sing, I can appreciate the fact that he included my favorite Christmas medley on his compilation disc.

drummers drumming

Merry Christmas, still. Today is the feast of the Epiphany, the twelfth day of Christmas. I once interviewed the Armenian Comedian on this day. He wore a grungy Santa suit to celebrate Armenian Christmas. If you never saw him on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," please watch the clip on YouTube.

A few years back I was traveling on Epiphany weekend and went to Mass at St. Mark Catholic Church in Vienna, Virginia. After Mass everyone went over to the parish hall to see a display of nativity scenes brought in by parishioners. Their creche exhibit is an annual event worth copying at local churches. I think they may have served cookies too.

The other day I heard somebody on ABC News mention a USA Today story about retailers promoting Three Kings Day as a way of extending the holiday shopping season. Stores such as Wal-Mart are using the holiday to appeal to Latino customers.

Since we're still celebrating Christmas, here are a couple of pictures I took last week in the West Hills neighborhood. Both of these were winners in a mailbox decorating contest.

reason for the season

The North Pole defeated the South Pole in a surprising come-from-behind victory yesterday at the Dixie Stampede in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. The South Pole team took an early lead in several equestrian events. The North Pole team finally scored some points in the pig and ostrich races. Ultimately it was audience participation that made the difference. A North Pole fan tied the overall competition by decisively winning the toilet seat toss. With the game on the line, North Pole fans were able to pass several toy candy canes from person to person faster than their South Pole counterparts. The cane-passing standout Murphy family of Knoxville helped cinch the victory for the North.

Prior to the competition, the audience witnessed a short nativity play. Actors portraying Mary and Joseph were lowered from the ceiling on a small square ice rink. Once the platform touched down on the surface of the horse arena, a herd of goats and a few donkeys were shepherded around it. Three camels carrying three wise men completed the scene as a trained dove flew the length of the arena into the hands of a live angel suspended from the rafters.

as people make merry

Merry Christmas! Today is the day we celebrate even though Jesus was probably born on April 17. Here are some random holiday thoughts.

My friends Bean and Rich posted their responses to the Christmas meme they got tagged with by me. They're funny. Don't miss numbers 13, 16 and 21.

Had I known that yesterday was National Egg Nog Day, I wouldn't have waited until today for my first sip of the season. I would say the first sip of the year but I had some on August 17.

I thought of some additions to my list of favorite Christmas songs. I can't believe that I forgot "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)." I like almost any version, especially the Darlene Love original and the U2 cover. Another favorite is "For Unto Us a Child Is Born," which we heard on the PBS broadcast of "Christmas at St. Olaf." The piece is from Handel's "Messiah." The lyrics are taken from the same Bible passage that I proclaimed at the 8:00 p.m. Mass last night.

heard him explain

When Frank Jr. was three years old, he couldn't go to sleep at night without listening to a cassette tape of Wilford "Diabeetis" Brimley reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas." It was a read-along tape, that came with a companion pop-up book and an audible signal to turn the page. Frank Jr. unintentionally memorized the story by hearing it every night for almost a year. Two years ago I wrote about how we brought young Frank to the KROQ studios and recorded his rendition of the story. Audio production people far more skilled than me did some editing and brought in a talented keyboard player named nicknamed "Iceman" to provide background music.

I have played the old tape on the air here in Knoxville for the past couple of Christmases. About ten days ago, Marc Anthony suggested that we take the tape of three-year-old Frank and mix in his current voice. My son is now in high school and has a deeper voice than me. I didn't know if it would be possible without it sounding terrible since I don't have the master tapes or separate audio tracks from the recording session. The only version I have is the final mixdown with voice, reverb and music combined onto one track. I would need to find somebody who could replicate the music track, allowing us to cross fade between the old and the new. My friend Mike Greiner was willing to do it even though his schedule was filled with his day job in the Knoxville Symphony office, his performances as a singer with the Knoxville Choral Society and his excellent piano and organ playing at All Saints Church. I put my wife's Casio keyboard in the car and met Mike at the radio station during his lunch hour. As expected, he nailed it. The next day, Frank Jr. had enough of a break in his midterm exam schedule that he could lay down the voice track.

I still needed an audio production wizard to put all the pieces together and make it sound seamless. Fortunately Gene Wooten has chosen to make his home in East Tennessee after years of working at WPLJ in New York City. He pushed an outdated version of Pro Tools to its limit as he synchronized the music and voices. He added reverb and ended up with the finished product that you can hear by clicking on the play button below. Merry Christmas Eve!

stamp act

It's always popular this time of year to come out against holiday newsletters. Many newspaper columnists have filled lots of column inches berating the annual synopsis that usually comes tucked into a Christmas card.

MSNBC asked readers to submit examples of outrageous Christmas letters. A writer from Glendale, California, wrote a book full of them. In his AllAccess.com Talk Topics column, Perry Simon pointed out that even the governor of South Carolina sends a Christmas letter.

No matter how corny the newsletters may be, I love them. For the few minutes it takes me to read the missives, it's as if my friends and relatives had blogs of their own. One married couple I know always includes a section about their successful radio show. Another couple who went to school with my wife let their children each write a paragraph about themselves:

T-----, 13, is in eighth grade. I like to play goalie in soccer. I still swim in the summer and winter. I also went to King's Dominion with my friend around Halloween (Fright Night). It was awesome.

S-------, 17, can see the light at the end of the dark, dank IB (International Baccalaureate Diploma) tunnel. He has continued his advance up the ranks of the quiz bowl team, and is now a steady member of the near-lossless A team. He still maintains his distaste for writing about himself in the third person.

phone home

"Nightline" had a feature on Paul Potts the other night. He was the winner of "Britain's Got Talent." Potts likes his new found fame but hasn't quit his day job, just in case it all goes away. He is on a leave of absence from Carphone Warehouse. I just saw that store on the series finale of "Extras" when a character loses his showbiz job and goes back to work at Carphone Warehouse.

The same edition of "Nightline" also had a short piece on Josh Groban. Josh talked about how he and David Foster "broke down the rhythm" of "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear." My wife liked their arrangement of that song but didn't care for what they did to "Ave Maria." She heard both songs after receiving Groban's top selling Christmas CD "Noel" as as gift. Oprah chose the disc as one of her favorite things, don't you know. If I correctly understand what my wife said, Josh dropped the Latin word "et" in one of the lyrics and then moved the subsequent syllables onto the wrong notes. She also didn't like the way he omitted the second verse and repeated the first instead. Maybe Josh didn't want to ask Mary to pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

We found an unexpected Christmas music treat while flipping around the dial last night. Our PBS HD station was running a Christmas concert by an a capella group called Tonic Sol-fa. They did a great version of "Ay, Ay, Ay It's Christmas," a song which I had previously only heard by Ricky Martin. The Tonic Sol-fa special is worth watching if they repeat it even though they spent a little too much time on filler between some of the songs.

Who knew that "Ay, Ay, Ay It's Christmas" is another one of those songs that people lip sync on YouTube for comedic effect?

the meme team

The Christmas meme I got the other day is being proliferated throughout the local blogosphere. Stacy McCloud and Barry Wallace have posted their memes after being tagged by me. I need to officially meet Barry. Apparently I've seen his band but we haven't been properly introduced. Les Jones and Doug McCaughan emailed me to say they are working on their Christmas memes. MissyB got tagged by someone else but referenced my frozen egg nog stash in question number five on her meme. Some bloggers got tagged more than once.

In response to question 14, I said that I would write more about my favorite Christmas songs. Every year hearing Leroy Anderson's "A Christmas Festival" overture gets me in the holiday spirit. Thinking about that medley made me realize that "O Come All Ye Faithful" and "Angels We Have Heard on High" should top my list of seasonal favorites. The choir at our church has added a choral version of an Amy Grant song to their repertoire this year. I liked it enough to find the original song in my CD collection and listen to it in my car. As a result, I will add "Breath of Heaven (Mary's Song)" to my list.

I think I've mentioned my secular favorites before. "Sleigh Ride" is another Leroy Anderson composition that I must hear for it to feel like Christmas. "Last Christmas" could almost be described as a guilty pleasure. "All I Want for Christmas Is You" also deserves inclusion. The last few bars of "Happy Holiday" continue to grow on me. At some point in the next few days I will listen to my Andy Williams CD and watch my Andy Williams DVD too.

long answers to short questions

Here's the Christmas meme I got from Jack Lail of the News Sentinel. Rules for the game include:

1. Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share Christmas facts about yourself.
3. Tag seven random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
4. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Welcome to the Christmas edition of "Getting to Know Your Friends."

1. Wrapping or gift bags? If I can't get my daughter to do the wrapping for me, I will resort to gift bags.

2. Real or artificial tree? It used to be real until we moved to Tennessee and made the switch to artificial. We wanted to put the tree up earlier and were afraid of it drying out by the time we finally took it down in January.

3. When do you put up the tree? I don't. My wife does, God bless her, in late November or more likely in early December.

4. When do you take the tree down? It stays up until after the Epiphany.

5. Do you like egg nog? Yes, Weigel's brand with nutmeg on top.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Probably my magic set or my hand puppets but I also loved getting Hot Wheels cars and accessories.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes. We have a simple ceramic set made by my mother's second husband. My mother has a classic Anri carved wood set that I have always admired.

8. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I got some horrible "adult" gifts from coworkers at WAVA and Comedy World.

9. Mail or email Christmas cards? I like sending email cards but receiving paper cards.

10. Favorite Christmas Movie? "Miracle on 34th Street" is a strong contender.

11. When do you start shopping for Christmas? My wife does the bulk of the shopping. This year she went to a 4:00 a.m. sale on Black Friday. I bought a gift for her about two weeks ago and a gift for a friend of mine on the West Coast last week. It seems to get a little earlier each year.

12. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Some pfeffernusse and a glass of egg nog.

13. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Currently clear but we are discussing adding colored lights next year.

14. Favorite Christmas song? After this weekend's Knoxville Symphony concert, I would have to say Leroy Anderson's "Christmas Festival Overture". That choice is a little bit of a cop out since it's a medley. I need to make a whole list of my favorites and turn it into its own blog entry later this week.

15. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home. I have a rule that we wake up in our own beds on Christmas morning. That may change once our kids move out.

16. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? Sure, can't you?

17. Angel on the tree top or a star? Neither. We have a big red bow. On our first Christmas together, my wife and I couldn't afford a tree topper. We happened to go to a department store called Hecht's on Christmas Eve just as they were dismantling their decorations. We asked how much they were charging for the treetop bows. They said they were going to throw them away and gave us one for free. When that bow wore out, my wife made a new one with different design but the same sentiment.

18. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas Morning? Christmas morning. When I was a kid, we would get up early and open all the presents in our pajamas. Then we would have to stop playing with our toys to get dressed and go to church. When my wife and I became parents, we decided to teach our kids that presents didn't get opened until after church.

19. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Repetitious airplay of the same old secular holiday songs.

20. Do you decorate your tree in any specific theme or color? We collect ornaments from all the places we visit. We also have all the official White House ornaments.

21. What do you leave for Santa? Homemade Christmas cookies and store bought egg nog.

22. Least favorite holiday song? There are several including "The Christmas Shoes." Quickly moving up (or is it down?) the list is the Crazy Frog version of "Jingle Bells." Stresiand's version of "Jingle Bells" is horrible too. I don't like "Wonderful Christmastime" either but it's not as bad as the other songs I've already mentioned.

23. Favorite ornament? Most of our ornaments are souvenirs of places we've been. I'm especially fond of the St. Louis Cathedral ornament that I got in New Orleans. It has a hole in the back for a light to be inserted.

The questionnaire I received ends here. No self-respecting Christmas survey should end at question number 23. I will add two questions to make it 25.

24. Family tradition? Whoever finds the pickle ornament on the tree gets to open the first present.

25. Ever been to Midnight Mass? Yes, but only once or twice. When our kids were very young, we went to church on Christmas morning. As they got old enough to participate in the children's choir, we started going to the late afternoon Mass on Christmas Eve. Now we go to the 8:00 or 10:30 p.m. Mass on Christmas Eve. Our parish doesn't have a Midnight service.

Now I get to tag some other bloggers. This meme calls for seven tags, which seems like a lot. But I'll do it. Merry Christmas to Bean, Rich, Les, Kimmy, Doug, Barry and Stacy. Once you've posted your answers, leave a comment here so my readers can find your responses.

too many nogs, not enough time

They were offering samples of egg nog in tiny Dixie cups at Sam's Club today. It was not thick enough or sweet enough for my taste. Instead I stopped off at Weigel's on the way home and bought two small containers of their egg nog, which went directly into my freezer.

This past August, I finally drank the Weigel's egg nog I had frozen in 2005. At four ounces per serving, it took me four days to finish the pint. It still tasted great, which is why I decided to freeze two pints this year. Like two years ago, I wanted to find bottles with an expiration date of 12-25. They only had 12-20, 12-22 and 12-29. I almost didn't buy any. Fortunately I got over my little obsessive moment and bought the 12-29 since it would be freshest.

I know that I will have to watch my calories for the rest of my life. It's tough this time of year because of the abundance of treats to tempt my sweet tooth. I would love to have a scoop of egg nog ice cream at Baskin-Robbins but I'm not sure if I'll get around to it. My starchy dance card has been filled lately with things like the slice of pie I had at the company Christmas party tonight, the piece of cake I had after Tuesday's improv show or the Christmas cookies our family will bake in the week ahead.

Another treat I'm curious to try but probably won't is boiled custard. I'm not exactly sure what it would taste like, although I did find a recipe on a blog that described it as egg nog without the nog. Does that mean it tastes like just egg? I saw some boiled custard at Kroger the other day, alongside some pumpkin egg nog. That's something else I would like to try but I won't buy a half gallon container. I might be tempted to drink the whole thing.

joyful and triumphant

The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra presented the first of four Clayton Holiday Concerts tonight. The remaining shows are Saturday at 3:00 and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3:00 p.m. The concert has become an annual tradition for our family. My wife sings on stage with the Knoxville Choral Society. As usual, the opening number was the "Christmas Festival Overture." I love the feeling I get during it, especially as the music and voices swell at the "O Come All Ye Faithful" part near the end of the medley.

The Choral Society was in fine voice even without the members who are performing in the Holy Land this month. Their second song, "Welcome All Wonders," had that modern dissonant sound that I don't love. My wife says the song takes some getting used to. My son, who has heard her sing along with the practice CD in her car, agrees that it get better after you've heard it a few times.

Perhaps it's because I've been going for several years in a row but the 21st Annual Clayton Holiday Concert had a very comfortable feel to me. Past years' shows felt a bit more ambitious. For example, a few years back they presented parts of a play that Maestro Lucas Richman had written. Those pieces needed more room than is available with a full orchestra and choir already on stage. "A Christmas Wish" deserves its own staging rather than being shoehorned into an annual tradition. Last year and the year before the program included featured soloists, some better than others. In addition to the Choral Society, this year's show had return appearances by the Appalachian Ballet Company and the best singing Santa you'll ever hear. Mr. Claus was featured on "A Holly Jolly Christmas" and "Silent Night." Santa and Maestro Richman always get laughs with their playful banter.

Even the new performers felt familiar to me. Thanks to Katy Wolfe Zahn's affiliation with the Symphony, the members of Sound Company get to perform at bigger events now. My daughter was in the Oak Ridge based children's show choir during her senior year in high school. I recognized their red sequined vests instantly. The kids sang on five songs including "Must Be Santa" and "Grown-up Christmas List."

At the end of the first half, my son asked why we all stood during the "Hallelujah Chorus." He wondered if it was a Southern thing. I told him to look at my blog entry from two years ago.

The second half began with Lucas Richman's Hanukkah Festival Orchestra. I enjoyed the upbeat music, especially the recognizable "Dreidel Song." Am I wrong to have wished he had included a few bars of Adam Sandler's "The Chanukah Song" in the medley too?

A photo montage was shown on two large screens during the Choral Society's excellent performance of "White Christmas." The performers were invited to submit holiday pictures from their families. We saw ourselves thanks to my wife, who emailed them a picture from last Christmas. We all stood again for the Christmas sing along. Overall, the show felt relaxed and the performers made it look easy. At the end of two hours, I was left wanting more.

the spirits up

Whitney Matheson of USA Today doesn't miss an opportunity to point out the lameness of Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime." Yesterday she linked to another clever list of the worst Christmas songs ever which ranked "WC" at only number eleven. They put "Do They Know It's Christmas?" as their number one. By the way, Whitney has a Knoxville connection. She graduated from UT.

Meanwhile, my friend Bean seems to be on board too. On his Christmas Music Everyday blog, he posted a cover version of "Wonderful Christmastime" by Jars of Clay. He writes that "the only listenable Paul McCartney songs of the 21st century can not be sung by Paul McCartney." Hey, it looks like Jars of Clay will be performing in Pigeon Forge on January 26 and Gatlinburg on February 1. They probably won't play any of their Christmas songs though.

As I type this, I'm watching "Christmas in Washington" on TNT in HD. Dr. Phil and his wife returned as hosts for the annual event. Robin McGraw's reading of the teleprompter was very stiff and almost too uncomfortable to watch. Both Katherine McPhee and Ne-Yo sounded good. Colbie Caillat looked nervous in what they said was her national TV debut. Vanessa Hudgens sounded weak, especially when attempting the "Gloria in Excelsis Deo" part of "Angels We Have Heard on High." Then Heather Headley came on to show them how it's done.

north polarizing

The most loved Christmas song on Edison Media Research's 2007 survey is "The Christmas Song" by Nat King Cole. I believe it, based on the number of times I have heard its first few notes and changed the station. I don't hate the song but it is burned out to me, like chestnuts left on an open fire for 50 years.

The Edison results are reported by Sean Ross, who I think might be the same Sean Ross I knew at my first radio job at WVBK in Herndon, Virginia. Sean points out that the newest song on the most loved list is 36 years old. I know I've covered this topic before but it's still something that interests me.

My friend Bean has some insight about why we still hear the same old Christmas songs over and over. He picks Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" as a song that will stand the test of time.

I'm thinking that Wham's "Last Christmas" is becoming a classic, especially now that there are more cover versions of it. In the past few years I have heard covers of it by Dexter Frebish, Jimmy Eat World, Ashley Tisdale and Taylor Swift. Even the Wham original is easier to find than it was about six or seven years ago when I tried to catalog my collection of Christmas music. As I made a spreadsheet of the songs on my CDs, I realized that I didn't have a copy of the Wham tune. I searched for it online and in record stores to no avail. My wife finally found it at the Virgin Megastore on an expensive British import compilation two-disc set. It was my favorite gift that year.

The Knoxville Blog Network tipped me to a list of Jim Miller's personal top ten Christmas songs. I like that he picked "Last Christmas" as his number one but I must disagree with his choice of Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime." This is not a surprise to longtime readers of mine.

Edison's most hated list contains no surprises. Although I would have liked to see the McCartney song on there, I was pleased to find Barbra Streisand's version of "Jingle Bells" at number 5. I don't remember ever hearing the song until I worked at a local oldies station but I do remember instantly disliking it. While I still loathe the song, I had to laugh at the guys who lip sync it on YouTube, whether in their bedroom or in a drag club.

green evergreen

The annual "Christmas in Rockefeller Center" special was on NBC last night. The show counts down to the lighting of the Christmas tree outside 30 Rock. Yet somehow they missed the shot of the lights going on. At the key moment, the camera was still on the people pushing the button. It would have been better to see the dark tree become illuminated, especially in HD. Poor Nick Lachey. He co-hosted the show alongside Ashley Tisdale and the perennial Al Roker. After Al said that the "High School Musical" DVDs would be on many Christmas wish lists this year, Nick suggested that 98 Degrees CDs would make excellent stocking stuffers. Yeah, if it were 1999.

Josh Groban sang "O Come All Ye Faithful," Carrie Underwood sang "Do You Hear What I Hear?" and Tony Bennett sang "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town." Ashley Tisdale did a fine job with "Last Christmas" but Taylor Swift did some damage to "Silent Night" with her twang. They put Celine Dion up in the Rainbow Room, perhaps as a way to disguise that her performance was probably pre-recorded. I thought she made weird facial expressions toward the camera while singing. I wanted to look away but couldn't. It was as if she was attempting to make sexy faces while singing "The Christmas Song." Ewww. New York audiences got to see an extra hour of the show starting at 7:00 p.m. They heard an additional song from many of the performers who were on the network show at 8 o'clock. The hour included Natasha Bedingfield singing "O Holy Night" and Josh Groban singing "Little Drummer Boy."

Al Roker was trying to sound eco-friendly when he actually said the words, "the owner of Rockefeller Center announced the first-ever green Christmas tree." Huh? Of course he meant that the lights are powered by solar energy panels on the roof and that the tree was cut with a hand-held saw. Maybe union writers could have phrased it better.

weary world rejoices

In an effort to catch a five minute appearance by the Brian Setzer Orchestra, I recorded all four hours of the "Today" show yesterday. Ann Curry flubbed her line and said that Brian "Seltzer" would be on the show. She joked about it later by saying Setzer was bringing some seltzer to their morning. Although the set was decorated for Christmas, the band played "One More Night With You" from their "Wolfgang's Big Night Out" CD instead of a holiday tune. The BSO will return to "Today" on Christmas Day. Since the equipment was all set up, they must have recorded the Christmas segment before this morning's live performance. In fact, they might have shown part of it. As they came back from a local news break, I saw the Orchestra finishing up "Boogie Woogie Santa Claus." Ann Curry tried to explain that away by saying it was a rehearsal for the live segment that was still coming up.

Gifted tenor Carl Tanner was on the "Today" show a couple of years ago. A friend of mine knows Carl pretty well and has been doing what she can to help his career. She called me this afternoon to ask if I had any suggestions for getting Carl an appearance on WASH-FM, the all-Christmas station in his hometown. I think Carl could be a good guest on my friend Loo Katz's morning show. Meanwhile, I asked if I could get one of Carl's holiday CDs for myself and one for my friend Bean, who loves Christmas music even more than I do.

Mere weeks after launching his new blog, Bean has another new website called Christmas Music Everyday. Each day he will post a song from his extensive Christmas music collection. Bean's site promises to be even better than the enjoyable "Last Christmas" blog I heard about, uh, last Christmas.

use the Brannock Device

Knoxville has two all-Christmas music radio stations. The first one flips just after Halloween. The second station doesn't rate a button on my car radio until they make the switch to holiday music right after Thanksgiving. I hit the scan button to search for it on Friday around 10:40 a.m. Sure enough, they were playing the treacly song that I most associate with their station: "The Christmas Shoes." Ugh.

I have added three Christmas CDs to my collection so far this year. Publicist Alan Rommelfanger of Daybreak Entertainment once again sent out a promo disc with tracks from his various clients. Most of the tracks seem to be novelty songs rather than cover versions this year. It includes titles such as "Santa Has a Mullet" and "I'm Down to My Christmas Underwear."

Last Sunday night at West Town Mall's Evening of Giving, the Select Comfort store gave away free CDs to anyone willing to lay down and find out their sleep number. Naturally, I rushed right in. The music is a predictably sleep-inducing assortment of instrumental tunes.

Earlier that day, the Ladies of Charity had a mini rummage sale set up on a table in the parish hall. This was the same event as the parish bake sale I've told you about. I bought an unopened copy of last year's two-disc Bath & Body Works Christmas compilation for only $2.50. It was worth it just for the Big Bad Voodoo Daddy cover of "Mr. Heatmiser." Somebody took that version of the song, mashed it up with the animation from the original "The Year Without a Santa Claus" and put it on YouTube.

peace on earth, goodwill toward men

Merry Christmas! This past December I saw a guy on the National Geographic Channel who said that Jesus was born on April 17 in the year 6 BC. He used astronomical calculations to determine that the Star of Bethlehem (a/k/a Jupiter) would have been visible 2,012 years ago today. After yesterday's events we could use some of that Christmas spirit.

Earlier today, my wife spoke with her sister who went to Virginia Tech. Through her we heard about a friend of a friend of a friend who survived the shootings by falling down and playing dead. Meanwhile we learned that the shooter grew up in Centreville, near where another of my wife's sisters used to live.

come on down

It's the fifth day of Christmas and I'm still catching up on some holiday viewing. I probably would have gotten to this sooner if I had been able to take some vacation time this week like I did at previous jobs. The week after Christmas doesn't quite feel the same to me when I still have to wake up for work in the morning. Anyway, on Christmas Eve, I recorded a show called "Santa Salutes the Stars," without knowing what it was. It turned out to be an incredibly cheesy Christmas parade in Orlando. I knew it would be spectacular as soon as "The Price Is Right's" Rich Fields read the following script to start the show:

From the family entertainment capital of the world, Orlando, Florida, the Real Yellow Pages from BellSouth presents "Santa Salutes the Stars" starring Hollywood entertainer and TV funnyman Alan Thicke; from TV's "Days of Our Lives," Patrika Darbo; with performances by "American Idol" sensation Kevin Covais; country performing artist Brian McComas; TV personality and singer Shawn King; The Gemz; CMA female vocalist of the year Janie Fricke; country great John Conlee; and featuring the one and only Gloria Gaynor; plus a special appearance by radio and TV talk legend Larry King; American Idol's Melissa McGhee; and Santa Claus!

The parade was telecast on Superstation WGN. I doubt it will ever be shown again but a paradegoer did post some home video on YouTube.

Larry King's special appearance consisted of standing next to his wife on a parade float as she sang about something in the oven and the whole "fandamily" comin' and how she's "Gotta Love the Holidays." Covais warbled his way through "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" but the worst thing might have been the stilted, almost remedial way Patrika Darbo read from her script. Or maybe it was the middle school aged dancers lip syncing to TLC's version of "Sleigh Ride." Or the superstar appearance by the guy who played Paulie Gatto in "The Godfather." I can't decide.

happy holy days

Merry Christmas! I hope you've had a good one. My family and I went to church last night at 10:00 p.m. Today we exchanged gifts and ate some delicious food including the Oreo Truffles you've been reading about. There was another sweet treat for me under the tree. I am now all about the Pomegranate Fruit Slices from Nancy Adams Confections. Each year my wife loves to get the annual White House Christmas Ornament from her mother. This year was no exception.

One day last week, right after school, I took my son to do his Christmas shopping. He wanted to buy gifts for each member of the family with some of the money he had earned over the summer. However, his money was in the bank and we didn't have time to go there first. I offered to use my credit card and let him pay me back later. I helped him pick out presents for his mother and his sister. He already knew exactly what he wanted to get me. As we walked to the cash register, he kept my gift hidden in his pocket. I was a little stressed that it would look like we were trying to shoplift but it worked out fine when the checkout clerk was able to ring up the sale without me seeing what Frank Jr. had chosen for me. This morning I was surprised and delighted to find that he had given me a DVD of "My Super Ex-Girlfriend." I was especially happy because I would finally get to see the first 15 minutes of the movie. The deleted scenes are pretty entertaining too.

Today was the first day of Christmas. The twelve days of Christmas run through the feast of the Epiphany on January 6th. An editorial in the Buffalo News accurately describes my feelings that Christmas music on the radio starts too early and ends too soon. Most of us are still celebrating Christmas through New Year's Day at least. If you are planning on hauling your tree to the curb tomorrow morning, you might have a little bit of the Grinch in you.

the stars are brightly shining

On Christmas Eve, it's appropriate to do some of the same things we do every year on this night. In that regard, I invite you to revisit my blog post from December 24, 2005. Please enjoy the story (and the audio) of my son's version of "A Visit from St. Nicholas."

Speaking of the famous poem by Clement C. Moore, did you see that a handwritten copy of it sold for $280,000? While you're listening to Frank Jr., feel free to browse through the December, 2005 archives for stories about Christmas music, presents, ornaments and food.

Blog reader Keith suggested I check out a site called "Jesus of the Week." This week they are featuring an inflatable nativity scene like the one I saw in a supermarket two weeks ago.

The other day I mentioned that I don't get the INHD channel, which will be showing a yule log tomorrow morning. The famous WPIX yule log will be shown on Superstation WGN but it's on tonight/tomorrow morning from 3:30 to 5:30 a.m. As I flipped through the channels on my new plasma screen, I discovered that Knoxville has its own hi-def yule log on WMAK. It's on from 4:00 p.m. today until 1:00 p.m. tomorrow. I know it's local because I heard "Tennessee Christmas," as nicely sung by my former radio partner Ashley Adams. While I'm talking about other stations in the market, I'll go ahead and say that the little-known Earl FM has been playing a pretty good selection of Christmas music today with several cool artists you'll never hear on Bland 97.5.

atta boy Clarence!

Why do we hear the same Christmas songs on the radio every year? An interesting article in the Arizona Republic says it's because stations prefer to play songs that remind listeners of their childhood. Perhaps this explains why "Holly Jolly Christmas" by Burl Ives has eclipsed Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" as the Christmas song receiving the most airplay. "Holly Jolly Christmas" is from the 1964 television special "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer." Adults in their 40s have grown up with it. "White Christmas" comes from the 1942 film "Holiday Inn," meaning an older generation grew up with the classic Crosby tune. What about the next generation? Is there a song from the 1980s that was enormously popular? Please don't tell me that "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" is destined to replace "Holly Jolly Christmas" as the most played holiday song.

"Last Christmas" and "All I Want for Christmas Is You" are two of the many secular holiday songs I got to play on the radio this afternoon between current top hits. But I still had the Christmas spirit no matter what song I was playing. Take a listen to my intro of the Hinder song "Lips of an Angel."

unanimous decision

Paul McCartney is having a rough year. His lame song "Wonderful Christmastime" has been chosen as the worst Christmas song of all time by retroCRUSH and as the most annoying Christmas song of all time by Giant Magazine. Longtime readers of this blog know that I'm on this bandwagon. Earlier this month I quoted from a Daily Beacon editorial that called "Wonderful Christmastime" the "most mediocre excuse for a pop song ever." A St. Petersburg Times writer is especially passionate about his disdain. Pop Candy's Whitney Matheson hates it too. Over a year ago I made a vague reference to my dislike for the song. Now I wish I had been more blunt. Meanwhile, Father Guido Sarducci is trying to deliberately write the worst Christmas song ever.

Giant Magazine is balancing their list of the most annoying songs with a list of the most underrated Christmas songs. The Chicago Sun-Times asked its readers to vote for the best Christmas song.

I've been soaking up some Christmas music in high definition. I think my new favorite channel might be PBS Digital. I like that I get it over the free airwaves (on channel 15-1). Tonight I watched two Christmas concerts, one from Concordia College and one from the Mormon Tabernacle. This evening they showed the 2003 concert with guest soloist Frederica von Stade. A couple of nights ago I saw the 2005 concert with guest soloist Renee Fleming.

My satellite provider doesn't offer the particular HD channel which will show a hi-def yule log with a Christmas music soundtrack on the 25th. Even though it's not in HD, I may still want to watch a little bit of the old school yule log on WGN. It's the same one that used to befuddle me as a child growing up in New York. We lived in a house that had its own fireplace, so we didn't need to watch the famous televised Yule Log. I am happy that he won on "Survivor" though.

one to watch

Ten years from now, young Logan Murrell could be as famous as LeAnn Rimes. Logan is performing this weekend with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra at the Clayton Holiday Concert. She sang a very good countrified version of "O Holy Night" and an excellent rendition of "I'll Be Home for Christmas." It would have been great to hear her sing even more.

Reviewer Harold Duckett summed it up in a sentence:

If there was a star of the evening besides Santa Claus, it had to have been 10-year-old Logan Murrell, who has a 20-year-old's voice and the presence of a veteran performer.

On Wednesday I mentioned that "America's Got Talent" winner Bianca Ryan had a style similar to Logan. Let me modify that. Logan is way better than Bianca. Logan can sing the right note and hold it while Bianca jumps around the scale trying to impress. Somebody needs to notify Simon Cowell.

holiday happenings

Reader Pam Mc said she thought of my recent blog entry as she drove home and spotted an inflatable nativity scene. She emailed me a photo to share with you:



I already mentioned that I was disappointed by the remake of "The Year Without a Santa Claus." They released it on DVD the morning after it was broadcast. Another TV movie I watched was much better. Jenny McCarthy's "Santa Baby" is on again Saturday afternoon.

The Atlanta tree lighting that I told you about will be rebroadcast in Knoxville on December 23rd at noon. I also mentioned the Brian Setzer Orchestra's upcoming appearance on the "Rachael Ray Show." It is now scheduled for Tuesday, December 19th.

One more thing. Don't forget to check back at ThaBombShelter and Last Christmas for some different versions of holiday favorites.

don't mean to be rude

Christmas music is in and on the air. I am very much looking forward to attending this weekend's 20th Annual Clayton Holiday Concert by the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and the Knoxville Choral Society. I had a good time last year. My wife sings with the KCS. She got home from their rehearsal tonight in time to watch an HDTV Christmas concert with me. As I type this, we're watching "Christmas in Washington 2006" on TNT in HD.

Simon Cowell's influence was apparent on this year's broadcast. "American Idol" winner Taylor Hicks (coming to Knoxville on March 3rd by the way) opened the show. "America's Got Talent" winner Bianca Ryan belted out a couple of tunes. My wife described her voice as country twang crossed with Mariah Carey's note jumping. She also said that there is a young singer with a similar style on this weekend's KSO program. Simon's creation, Il Divo sang "White Christmas." Three of the four Divos sound okay but the warbling goat standing on the far right was horrible.

Corinne Bailey Rae is everywhere. While introducing her, Dr. Phil's wife mistakenly said that tonight's Christmas show was Corinne's prime time American TV debut. I had first heard of the British singer last spring when my daughter told me about a CD she bought after listening to it on the headphones at a music store. In the past two months, Corinne has turned up on many shows that I watch including "Saturday Night Live," "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip." I guess we know which prime time show Robin McGraw doesn't watch.

It might have been Il Divo that I heard on the radio the other day when I flipped past a station airing a so-bad-its-good version of "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town." It was done in their faux-operatic style. Somehow I got the feeling that the singers I heard were taking themselves a little too seriously. Several years ago I bought a CD called "What if Mozart Wrote 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.'" As I recall from the liner notes, the musicians on that disc were in on the joke.

away in a manger

Holiday inflatables continue to amuse me even though I would never put one on my property. Because I like the ones that look like recognizable cartoon characters, I assumed that all the inflatables would be secular in nature. I realized that I was wrong when I saw the Airblown Archway Nativity Scene sitting on the shelf at Kroger. Let me know if you've seen the puffed up Holy Family on a lawn in your neighborhood. If it's close enough, I might drive by to take a photo. That reminds me. Reader Keith says I need to see the "Griswold house" in his subdivision.

give it to someone special

The bottom of the pool at UT made for some interesting reading over the weekend. When I was done with that, I perused The Daily Beacon. I've been waiting all week for last Friday's issue to appear online but it hasn't yet. I wanted to share a link to a well written commentary on the editorial page that made me laugh, even if I totally disagree with it. The unnamed writer trashed "All I Want for Christmas Is You," a song that I recently referred to as a pop classic. Here's what they wrote:

If you ever doubted that Christmas was a lusty, pagan solstice festival appropriated by the Church to lure Germanic tribes and, later, integrated into a Santa-industrial complex to generate much-needed end-of-the-year revenues for multinational corporations, this decidedly unchristian song should convince you. In it, [Mariah] Carey repetitively wails that what the millionaire chanteuse wants for Christmas is not world peace, an end to African famines (think "Do They Know It's Christmas") or even federal aid for farmers. O no, she selfishly wants to sate her sentimental and carnal desires. Worse yet, this song is about fifteen times better than Wham!'s "Last Christmas" and the most mediocre excuse for a pop song ever, Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime."

The Beacon staff may be right about the lame McCartney tune but how dare they dis "Last Christmas." And there's a lot of that going around. A writer named Rick Ellis put Jimmy Eat World's version of "Last Christmas" ahead of the dreadful McCartney song on his list of the ten most annoying Christmas songs of all time. I praised the Jimmy Eat World song last November.

This morning, Whitney Matheson mentioned that the McCartney dreck is also her least favorite Christmas song. Rather than also slam "Last Christmas," she pointed us to a new blog devoted to the song and its many cover versions. I like cover songs, don't you?

previous topics revisited

At Disneyland and Walt Disney World, the face characters usually represent the leading ladies from the Disney animated films. There has to be some others but the only male face characters I can think of right now are Peter Pan and Aladdin. The female characters have plenty of fans. One guy made a list of his top ten favorites.

If she were a cartoon (and who says she isn't?) Jenny McCarthy would have earned a place on that top ten list. It might be corny but I plan to watch her ABC Family movie, "Santa Baby." It's on next Sunday night.

Another made-for-TV Christmas movie will be on NBC the following night. "The Year Without a Santa Claus" was something that piqued my curiosity when it was being filmed this past summer.

peach tops apple

The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree was lit this past Wednesday. NBC broadcast the festivities again this year. The telecast was just okay. Hall & Oates served as the "house band" this year, playing as the show resumed after each commercial break. Last year and at least one other year before that, the Brian Setzer Orchestra filled that role. I preferred Setzer's uptempo arrangements to the slower Hall & Oates holiday songs. At least they closed the show with "Jingle Bell Rock." For the actual tree lighting, they showed some celebrities counting down and pushing a button.

I caught the last twenty minutes of another tree lighting ceremony while channel surfing this afternoon. One of our local stations replayed the lighting of the Great Tree at Macy's in Atlanta, which took place on Thanksgiving night. The tree was an understudy after the original snapped in two. The musical performances that I saw were very good, especially LeAnn Rimes. She was accompanied only by an acoustic guitar on "All I Want for Christmas." It's not the same song as Mariah Carey's pop classic "All I Want for Christmas Is You." LeAnn's song is more of a emotional ballad. The sentiment of the song was felt even stronger when the cameras from WSB-TV showed a woman in the audience who had just received a videotaped marriage proposal from her serviceman boyfriend in Iraq. At the end of the show, LeAnn did an excellent job on "O Holy Night," which, when done right, is one of my favorite carols. As LeAnn hit the high note on the words "o night divine," the tree lights came on and some fireworks shot up. It was so much better than the countdown and button push at Rockefeller Center. Unfortunately the genius who posted a video of the moment on YouTube did his own countdown into his camcorder's microphone.

beginning to look a lot like

Best Week Ever posted a link today to a blog called ThaBombShelter. The site is featuring alternative Christmas songs this week. As a fan of cover songs, my favorite featured track so far has been the Death Cab for Cutie version of "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)." I sampled the Sufjan Stevens tracks too. Somehow I had thought there was an "r" in his first name and I was expecting a surf guitar sound. I don't want to say I was disappointed but I will say that I will have to try listening to the mellow tracks again when I'm not so tired.

magic in that old silk hat

Holiday inflatables began springing up all over the place last weekend. One neighbor has their inflatable penguin up and running whenever I drive past. Another home has their two inflatables turned off in the afternoons. They probably only run them at night along with their Christmas lights. Their deflated Frosty the Snowman reminds me of the classic TV special. Frosty melts but is magically reformed when hit with a gust of cold air because he was made from Christmas snow.



When inflated, the Santa Claus balloon looks like the Rankin/Bass version of St. Nick from "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." But the deflated Santa looks like he fell face first from his high flying sleigh and went splat on the lawn.

don't he look natural?

A CD that's in the running for my favorite Christmas disc of the year is one that can't be bought in any store. It's a sampler CD sent to morning deejays by publicist Alan Rommelfanger, whose company is called Daybreak Entertainment. It has tracks from Richard Cheese, Gary Hoey, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, The von Trapp Children and several of his other clients. The first song on the disc is a novelty tune that I thought only I knew about. It's "Disco Santa" by Holiday Express, which I think I might have included on the mix disc I made for some friends a year ago.

Alan put a song from the Brian Setzer Orchestra on his sampler CD too. The BSO makes its annual appearance on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" tonight. I wonder if they'll be playing at the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting again tomorrow night. There's no mention of it on the Setzer website but it does say that they'll be on "Fox & Friends" in the morning and that they taped an episode of the "Rachael Ray Show" to air in mid-December. By giving my email address, I was able to get a free download of a live version of "Jingle Bells." I'll have to settle for the free download because I don't think I'll be getting any free tickets to their Nashville concert.

I picked up two more Christmas CDs for my collection yesterday. One is a novelty disc called "A TV Christmas Dinner" and the other is "The Andy Williams Christmas Album," which had been on my wish list for a while. I haven't listened to the novelty disc yet but I popped the Andy CD into the player while we were still in the parking lot at McKay's. My son and I noticed that the first six songs were all secular and the next six were all religious. I guess that when the album was first released on vinyl, the secular songs were on side A and the religious songs were on side B.



Before becoming a famous radio deejay, my friend Bean worked in a record store in the Georgetown section of Washington, DC. It was around this time of year when a gentleman came into the store and asked Bean for help locating the Andy Williams Christmas albums. Bean immediately says "Andy Williams? Isn't he dead?" That's when Andy Williams said, "No. I'm not." It turns out that the musicians needed to hear some of the original arrangements for Andy's performance at the Kennedy Center.

old buddy old pal

The snow flurried fast and furiously at lunchtime today. If the temperature had been below freezing, we might have had some actual accumulation in Knoxville.



I thought the snowflakes might make a nice backdrop for a photo of a new marshmallow candy that my wife bought for my Christmas stocking. Marshmallow Pals are made by Frankford Candy. They are decorated with icing, which gives them a lot more detail than Marshmallow Peeps. The shapes reminded me of the delicious marzipan candy that my sister's husband wants every Christmas.



There's no sign of the Christmas pals on the Frankford website but I did see some Marshmallow Pal bunnies and birds toward the bottom of their Easter page. A website called Groovy Candies sells a Halloween version of the Pals. I need to look up how much I'll have to swim to burn off the calories in each Marshmallow Pal. I recently learned that I would have to walk almost a mile per Pal.

while supplies last

The sign in front of the Krispy Kreme said "Hot Light Ornaments For Sale." My curiosity was piqued so I pulled into the parking lot. My wife and I have collected Christmas ornaments for the past several years. When we traveled, we would try to find a souvenir ornament no matter what time of year it was. A tight budget has kept us closer to home lately. Each Christmas, we remember the places we've been by looking at our decorated tree.

I've never been a Krispy Kreme addict but I used to eat them now and again before losing weight. I can't overlook the fact that my family and I attended the grand opening party at the Burbank location a few years ago.

The Hot Light Ornaments cost $1 if you also buy a dozen doughnuts. To maintain my current weight I could maybe eat half of a glazed chocolate cake doughnut every few days. The time when I would buy a dozen for the family is gone. Nor could I bring myself to pay $3 to get the plastic light-up ornament without the doughnuts. Maybe I would have if the design were printed on both sides instead of just one. Plus I kept thinking that the ornament was exactly the type of thing that used to be sent to me for free in press kits when I worked at radio stations in D.C. and L.A.

circumstances beyond my control

It's been less than a week since Halloween but Christmas is already taking over. Walk into any retail store to see what I mean. If you're not ready for it, you might want to skip the rest of today's blog entry and read about the new balloons in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade instead. After last year's parade accident, some balloons didn't pass the new wind test.

Three Christmas music things happened to me today. The new Christmas CD from Richard Cheese arrived in the mail. I read the fine print inside the CD cover and was delighted to find my name on the list of people he thanked. You should buy a copy and show Richard that he was right to include me. I've been looking forward to the disc for a while.

A caller told me today was the day that EZ88 switched to its annual all Christmas music format. I tuned in for a while and heard my friend Mike Blakemore introducing "O Little Town of Bethlehem."

An email from a friend suggested that I check out Billy Idol's website. Billy has recorded an album of Christmas songs but unfortunately didn't do them in Billy Idol style. Wouldn't it have been great to hear a version of "White Christmas" that sounded more like "White Wedding?" EZ88 probably wouldn't play it though.

old business on the agenda

A couple of comments recently turned up on my January 30th post about Cas Walker. One of them mentioned an upcoming event at the East Tennessee Historical Society worth noting.

You might recall that Scott West contacted me and booked our improv group into one of his businesses. That didn't stop me from making a joke on TV though.

I like cover songs and Christmas songs. This week I added the new "Now That's What I Call Christmas" disc to my wish list and I listened to four Twisted Sister Christmas songs on the web. You can almost tell the songs apart.