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Christmas playlist part two: Wintersong by Sarah McLachlan

Album cover: Wintersong by Sarah McLachlan

Apparently 2006 was a banner year for Christmas albums. Well, two, anyway. Aimee Mann’s One More Drifter in the Snow, which I covered yesterday, and Sarah McLachlan’s Wintersong were both released in October 2006. Both albums are well worth the money, though McLachlan’s Wintersong strikes me as the more traditional of the two.

Like Mann’s Drifter, Wintersong is largely composed of covers, with only the title track being an original by McLachlan.

The album starts with McLachlan’s take on the John Lennon / Yoko Ono single, “Happy Xmas (War Is Over).” I might even prefer it to the original, depending on the day and my mood.

While Mann’s take on Christmas is a little melancholy and anti-commercial, McLachlan’s album embraces the holiday spirit full force. It’s interesting to compare the songs they both chose to cover, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” to juxtapose the arrangements and moods. In McLachlan’s hands, “Have Yourself” is fully traditional. Mann’s is celebratory but also a little world-weary and wise.

“Wintersong” is my favorite track on the album. It’s sultry and lovely, very much in the vein of some of my favorite McLachlan songs from earlier albums like Surfacing.

Really, there’s not a bad track on the album. It’ll fade into the background while you’re trimming the tree or otherwise celebrating, but it also rewards close listening. Nice gift if you have friends or family who enjoy Christmas music, too.

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Christmas playlist part one: Aimee Mann

Cover: Aimee Mann "One More Drifter in the Snow"

If the phrase “Aimee Mann Christmas album” seems weird at first, you’re not alone. Most Christmas albums seem like cash grabs, which would be weird for Indie-to-the-core Mann. Rest assured, this is not your standard Christmas fare. Mann’s not afraid to be downbeat and explore the somber side of the holiday.

Mann’s Christmas album includes a mix of standards and two originals, one by Mann and Paul Bryan, one by Mann’s husband Michael Penn (“Christmastime”). “Whatever Happened to Christmas” opens the album, a perfect tune for drinking whiskey by the fire, alone.

“The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)” is beautiful but not exactly joyous. Penn’s contribution, “Christmastime,” brings to mind hints of Elvis Costello It’s one of my favorite tracks on the album, but I doubt you’ll be hearing it on the department store rotation this holiday season.

Mann’s take on “You’re A Mean One Mr. Grinch” is fun. It’s faithful to the original without being a carbon copy, with Grant Lee Philips doing co-vocal duties. It’s hard to live up to Thurl Ravenscroft’s original take, but Philips does an admirable job.

If you want to feel the traditional Christmas spirit, Mann’s take on “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” is what the proverbial doctor ordered. You know, if doctors ordered that sort of thing.

“Calling on Mary,” the Mann/Bryan original, is my favorite track on the album and feels a lot like Mann’s previous album The Forgotten Arm. It would have been right at home on that album. It’s also the source of the album title:

Calling on Mary is voluntary
Unless you’re alone like me
If there’s a star above, then it can look like love
When they light up the Christmas tree

And to all the lost souls down below:
Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas
What’s one more drifter in the snow?
Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas

Bonus Track “I Was Thinking I Could Clean Up for Christmas”

Off the aforementioned Forgotten Arm album, “Clean Up for Christmas” is about kicking an addiction in time for Christmas. Not exactly festive, but it’s a powerful and gorgeous song.

Tried to find a good YouTube version to link to, but to my ear the uploads I found were a bit off. Do dial it up on the streaming service of your choice if you haven’t listened to it before. Actually, just go ahead and cue up The Forgotten Arm and One More Drifter in the Snow back to back if you’ve got a little time and would like an antidote to schmaltzy Christmas tunes this week.

Back tomorrow with another peek into my Christmastime playlist. If you have suggestions, please share!

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Space debris, normalcy bias, RSS as the foundation for social media

AI-generated picture of a cat staring at a computer, in a woodcut / watercolor style.

AI-generated picture of a cat staring at a computer, in a woodcut / watercolor style.Too many tabs open in the browser today, even compared with my usual tab overload.

  • Good piece on Ars about space debris. Pull quote by Moriba Jah, an astrodynamicist from the University of Texas at Austin, “I also predict that we will see a loss of human life by (1) school-bus sized objects reentering and surviving reentry and hitting a populated area, or (2) people riding on this wave of civil and commercial astronauts basically having their vehicle getting scwhacked by an unpredicted piece of junk. I predict that both those things are going to happen in the next decade.”Just reading this post, I feel like Jah would be a lot of fun to work with…
  • “How to rebuild social media on top of RSS” by Jacob O’Bryant. Not sure this way of thinking will take off, but I like the idea.
  • “How normalcy bias will define our future” by Jessica Wildfire. Wildfire writes about the concept of normalcy bias and how it’s defined the past few years and how it’ll impact us in the future. The concept is something that’s been gnawing at the edges of my brain for a while now, but I didn’t have the name for it. Things that, objectively, should be cause for alarm that people just refuse to react appropriately to. (Whether that’s Trump, COVID, or Elon Musk, to name only a few…)

Definitely worth a read. Expect I’ll write more about it in the future. What’s on your mind lately?

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Goodbye to Schoolhouse Rock! creator George Newall

Still from Schoolhouse Rock that says "Noun" in the top and has a girl walking to the left.

Still from Schoolhouse Rock that says "Noun" in the top and has a girl walking to the left.Ars has a nice post about one of the creators of Schoolhouse Rock!, George Newall, who passed away at 88.

Most Gen X’ers I know can recite at least a few of the Schoolhouse Rock! shorts, and have fond memories of the cartoons meant to teach kids math, grammar, science, and American history or process. (Later series would tackle money and computers.) Continue reading “Goodbye to Schoolhouse Rock! creator George Newall”

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Recent books: The Obelisk Gate, Kaiju Preservation Society, All Systems Red

AI-generated picture of a Kaiju and Mecha

AI-generated picture of a Kaiju and MechaI’ve done a terrible job keeping up with my reading over the past few years, but have been trying to remedy that recently with some success. In the past few weeks I’ve been getting back into science fiction and fantasy, with The Obelisk Gate, The Kaiju Preservation Society, and All Systems Red. Continue reading “Recent books: The Obelisk Gate, Kaiju Preservation Society, All Systems Red”

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Miss you, Laney

It’s been a year to the day since I said goodbye to one of the best cats that’s ever walked the planet.

When I first got Laney, I put her in a separate room (like you’re supposed to) to acclimate to the new surroundings and before introducing her to Lilah. She managed to bust out of the room by the second night and found her way up to my pillow, settled down and slept right next to my head. That was that. She decided it was her place, and if Lilah happened to wander too close she’d get a swat.

Mind you, Laney had been declawed before I got her and had no business starting a cat fight with a younger, fully equipped, Murder Cat. But she did, and Lilah backed off. All the cats respected her territory and mighty, if clawless, paws.

It still doesn’t seem quite right without Laney around, nor going to bed and not having Laney settled next to me on the pillow and providing purrs.

Not a day goes by that I don’t think about Laney, or miss having her demanding pets or attention. We’re fortunate to have plenty of wonderful cats (and two great dogs, too), but there’s always going to be a Laney-sized hole in my life without her here. I like to think she’s still out there, somewhere, and maybe we’ll meet again. Give your fuzzy friends extra pets and snuggles while you can. Miss you, Laney.

  • Laney, a torbie cat, on her back being cute
  • Laney, a torbie cat, napping
  • Laney, a torbie cat, wearing a Christmas bow
  • Laney, a torbie cat, glaring at the camera
  • Laney, a torbie cat, looking pensive
  • Laney, a torbie cat, glaring at the camera
  • Laney, a torbie cat, loafing on the floor
  • Laney, a torbie cat, licking her lips at the camera. Or yelling, hard to be sure.
  • Laney, a torbie cat, looking possessive.

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Caturday cat blogging: From dignified to derp in three seconds

Sir Wobbles, an orange cat looking at the camera being dignified

We have, it’s true, a ridiculous number of cats. With six to choose from you might think that I’d have a favorite or two, but I love ’em all equally. However, Sir Wobbles might just be our most photogenic cat. He’s always happy to strike a pose and the camera loves him.

Sir Wobbles, an orange cat looking at the camera being dignified
Sir Wobbles strikes a dignified pose

Here, Sir gives us his dignified, “I’m ready for a cat food sponsorship” pose.

And then, we get another side of Sir Wobbles.

Sir Wobbles, an orange cat, staring up at the ceiling and showing his little fangs.
Sir Wobbles staring at the ceiling and showing off his tiny tooths.

Not so dignified. But still adorable.

Happy Caturday, enjoy your weekend and give all your furry friends a little extra attention today.

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Last Bandcamp Friday of 2022! Eliza Rickman, Mdou Moctar, Asian Dub Foundation

Access Denied (album cover) by Asian Dub Foundation

It’s the last Bandcamp Friday of the year, which means Bandcamp forgoes its cut and artists get the entire price (minus some processing fees). Not sure what to get? Check these out!

Access Denied by Asian Dub Foundation

The band describes this album thusly: “Access Denied is an avalanche of wildstyle jungle punk, orchestral drum’n’bass, Indo-ragga dub and militant-lyrical soundclashing confronting themes surrounding Brexit, hostile border policies and the climate crisis.” Sounds about right.

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=1341704025 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small]

Crystal Disc by Sleeping Pandora

Instrumental album, very chill in a guitar-heavy way. Kind of Pink Floyd’s “Echoes” meets trance or something. Great to work to.

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=2473375058 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small]

“I Put A Spell On You” by Eliza Rickman

Single track from one of my favorites, Eliza Rickman. Cover of “I Put A Spell On You” by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, with Rickman’s unique voice. How can you go wrong there? You can’t. Go grab it.

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 track=1013795220 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small]

Niger EP Vol. 1 & 2 by Mdou Moctar

Two fantastic “mixtapes” of “field recordings” of Mdou Moctar playing live all over the place, house concerts, weddings, rehearsals. Sounds like something a band might put out on a “deluxe edition” to pad it out, but it’s all 100% worth listening to, start to finish. Oddly, Vol. 1 doesn’t have a share/embed link, but you can still check out it out online. Recommend both EPs, and the entire catalog.

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=456071327 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small]

Need more ideas? Check out my collection and wishlist.