Chrisstmas 2022

 

A CHRISTMAS PLAYLIST 

 (Note: this was published in segmented form on Facebook Christmas Eve)

 

 

CALL THIS PRELUDE: In each of the past three or four Christmases I've come across Christmas carols performed in unique ways. Now, I am talking about traditional religious carols. I don't care for the popular type music context. No "Rocking around the Christmas tree; " or "Silver Bells" and especially not "Feliz Navidad." This year I went looking for them and I found seven or eight that I liked. So, with apologies to Ma Belle Michele, I have organized the special ones I found into a playlist  But for starters here are two from the past couple of years.

The first I have posted before, and I still like it. The second is just because it's funny. I hope some folks will join me. In the meantime enjoy "The Little Drummer Boy" like you may have never heard it before — with drums. 

And here is the second: The second is for comic relief. Last year I saw a list of someone's favorites. Something looked a little off in the presentation so I checked it. I deon't think this is the "Joy to the World" he thought it was. "Jeremiah was a bullfrog …" "Joy to the World" 

 

 

 

And now for this year's play list

 

 

I've searched the interweb over the past month or so looking for that one Christmas carol done differently but respectfully that impresses. I've found one by accident the past couple of Christmases but this year I went looking for that one. Instead I found several I liked. So I made a playlist. These first two came out at the top of the pile. I couldn't make a choice between them, I am only putting the one first because it is a new, original song and produced with children. The first few bars of solos are a little rough, but when the chorus gets fired up it's an experience. And deserving equal billing: this is the second one, second only because of the originality and children in the first. This is six sisters ranging in age from 19 to 29 singing a carol in (get this) six-part harmony. And then on to the best of the rest.Meet the Cimorelli sisters.

 THE BEST OF THE REST

Billed as the best Christmas song ever heard. 1,000 participants. Over A Thousand People Came Together To Break a Record And Bring This Moving Christmas Hymn To Life. The Piano Guys, Peter Hollens, David Archuleta, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir get together to sing "Angels We Have Heard On High." 

 

 

 O Come O Come Emmanuel - New City Sessions

New City Church, Macon, Georgia If this doesn't play, here is the link.

Hark the Herald angels Sing: Junior Garr & The Spirituals perform reimagined traditional Christmas carols! Originally performed in St. Paul’s Cathedral, this London-based choir bring exciting and rhythmic re-arrangements that go beyond the season.

 

 

Hallelujah Chorus is done in many versions; I particularly liked this one. Just like many who starred in shows such as American Idol, America's Got Talent, and The Voice,

Lucy Thomas also got her start on a show called The Voice Kids.

In December 2020 Lucy Thomas released Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" and it quickly became her most popular video on YouTube.

 

 

 

The final best of all the rest. It seems every year somebody does a new version of Drummer Boy. I'll leave Joan Jett's version to your imagination. But, how about with African rhythm. This is

Little Drummer Boy (African Tribal Version) - Alex Boye' ft. Genesis Choir.

 

And that's it for Christmas 2022. 

 

 

 

 

 

Psasing along some early Christmas cheer

Christmas keeps arriving early this year: Here's how it happened. I ordered a gift for my grandson off an ad on facebook. After they had my money I was informed it was coming from Italy. That was three weeks ago. The last I heard it was being examined by Italian customs — Dec. 16. Faced with no gift for my grandson I searched yesterday for an interim gift. I found a cool colorful toboggan sled. I drove it to their house today hoping to hide it, but I pulled up only to find him at the top of a snow berm in front of their house. So much for hiding. I snatched the sled from the truck, passed it up to him and said let's see you come down with that. Big grin, several more slides and several "this is fun" exclamations. I am guessing a couple days early is OK. Merry Christmas to all!

Hello Orion my old friend …

With apologies to Paul Simon. This striking photo showed up on facebook Dec. 4, 2022. Credit deserved is credit given: it was credited to David Jeřábek but I could find little confirmed information  about him, so that will have to do for now.

The image led me to recall a moment on the big ocean, or rather a series of moments on a southwesterly course across the Pacific Ocean from Cape Flattery on the coast of Washington State to Honolulu, Hawaii.

Over the almost month-long voyage on a 44-foot sailboat I stood several night watches and in the course of them had the opportunity to observe the night sky without the mask of polluting artificial lighting associated with larger populations. Orion became my traveling companion, first observed off the port side as we sailed through the night. Those three stars on Orion’s belt so visible in the photograph rode my shoulder most of the way, at least in the early parts of the evenings and I made sure of where they were the minute I took over the helm I became so accustomed to Orion over my left shoulder  that one night when we were hove to and riding out a storm with the bow pointed in the opposite direction from our course, the belt rose off to starboard  and I swear I was disoriented for at least a day afterward.

There was another realization that seemed so obvious once I recognized it. You see, most of us who lead relatively stationary lives (as opposed to ocean voyagers) when we see the stars at night it is usually close to the same place and relatively close to the same time of day. As a result we unconsciously place them permanently at one particular spot in the night sky. There's something you're barely aware of, but have never observed. OMG the stars move too (or at least seem to as the Earth spins). Spend a couple of night watches and you realize the stars seem to take the same path as the sun and the moon, while the earth spins underneath them. Some nights at particular points I recognized Orion seemed to pass across in front of the mast and begin to dip toward the horizon on the starboard side. Because of positioning and distances I never saw it set as it more dissolved into the haze of dawn. 

I’d like to say that was the beginning of a search for a broader understanding of space, but it wasn't. I was pleased with my discovery that the stars rose and set just like the sun and the moon and sailed on with Orion on the port side (for the most part). But every time I see it in the sky or in a photo, I feel a bit of the confidence and assurance of understanding I felt the night I realized its path across the canopy and the comfort of familiarity it affords all who travel under it.

The log of the Midnight Sun, Part 2
Messing around in boats