The Wine Commonsewer™

My Dear, We're Still Good Bye'n

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Lost in the clamor for the neutering of the season is the reality that many of our most beloved Christmas tunes were written by Jews. White Christmas and The Christmas Waltz, for starters.

On a scorching hot day in 1945, Sammy Cahn and Jules Styne penned Let it Snow, which hit Billboard's top slot in 1946. Okay, so it isn't quite an actual song about Christmas. But it is. Ask my Ma. She hummed and crooned it in verses and five-bar snatches throughout the holidays. Every so often, she'd sing it in its entirety, often while she was baking holiday goodies or stringing tree lights. It suited her lovely contralto quite nicely. 

The piece was written as an up-tempo celebration of new love and fireside smoocherie, but today the song is more of a paean to bygone eras, when Christmas shopping happened downtown.

6th & Grand, Downtown Los Angeles, Christmas 1940

Nobody does big band today like Harry Connick and this is a superb arrangement of an old time classic.

As Always,

TWC

Photo appears courtesy of LA Is My Beat. 

Katherine Mackenzie & Mackenzie Rae Play Carol of the Bells

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

And now, in other, cheerier news: Mrs TWC shot this video of The House Blond and her BFF Mackenzie rehearsing for their Christmas recital on Saturday.

If you cannot see the video, it is here.

As Always,

TWC

War Is Over (If You Want It)

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Yes, that's a repeat of about three years (or more) running. And guess what? The war ain't over. Just today I got a Christmas card from a nephew. Guess where it came from? Iraq. He and his lovely bride are both over there.

Back in the day you joined the National Guard to stay out of the war. Now, the war is so all encompassing that the National Guard is over there too.

The older I get the more I realize the futility of sending your kids off to war. Korea. We're still there. Been there my whole life (and I'm older than dirt). Viet Nam? Big success. Iraq? Afghanistan? How long does it take to subdue a country the size of So Cal?

Here's a heads up: Patton isn't running this war and we are up a creek without a paddle. The way things are going, in just a few years they'll be drafting my kids to send them off to war. That ain't gonna fly.

Video here.

As Ever,

TWC

What Kind of Sleigh is That? It's Got a 327 Chevy......

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Rock meets Big Band in an updated cover of one of Ma's favorite Christmas songs.

No video? See it here.

As Always,

TWC

Merry Christmas Baby

Video is here.

As Always,

TWC

First Day of Hanukkah So Drink Your Gin & Tonica

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Today is the first day of the Jewish Festival of Lights and that sort of reminds me of the mad crush I once had on Jan (I guess I really shouldn't name her outright). Of course, fifth graders don't understand mad crushes or the subtle distinctions that delineate. My parents meant well as they explained that Jan lit the Menorah and well, what if you grow up, fall in love, and have kids? What ever will you do? But, on the bright side, at least she isn't Catholic.

Decades later, In a bit of irony, my cousin (Mr Macintosh) married a lovely Jewish girl, and they had kids, and they worked it out. Pretty sure they light both the Menorah and the Christmas tree. 

That said, for some inexplicable reason, this video brings my dear Mrs TWC a disproportionate amount of enjoyment. White Christmas? Meh. Run, Run, Reindeer. OK. Adam Sandler? Big smiles and laughs.

Can't see it? Look here.

As Ever,

TWC

Last Christmas

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

OK, all you Gen Xers can throw rocks if you want to, but TWC likes this cover of the Wham! 80's classic. 

God knows she's better looking than George Michael.

As a rule, email subscribers can't see the video and you will find it here. And, btw, thank you for enjoying TWC in your inbox. 

As Ever,

TWC

I'll Be Home For Christmas

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

TWC is a Christmas music snob. I am the Grinch Who Stole Most of the Christmas Music because much of it is sterile and forgettable (or downright annoying). That indictment includes more than a few of the classic medieval hymns that are right popular among Catholics and Protestants alike.  I mostly keep that stuff to myself and I'm sure many people do not share my eclectic tastes, which are laid bare in the TWC Christmas Tuneography.

Though the lyrics were written by a homesick college student, I'll Be Home For Christmas was popularized in 1943 by Bing Crosby and touched the heartstrings of soldiers far from home as well as Americans on the home front whose sons and husbands were not coming home for Christmas.

If you are a jazz fan you will appreciate Dianne Schurr's cover and realize how difficult vocal jazz is to do well. If you detest jazz, you will realize that Dianne Schurr's cover is arguably the best, anyway. Ever. I know it's not fair. Bing and Sinatra didn't have our technology. But still. The woman can sing.

I'd planned to whip up a You Tube video for the occasion, but we is outta time, so what you don't see is what you get.

As Ever,

TWC

Christmas Eve Stress

Gentle Readers,

Can't see the video? Look here.

As Always,

TWC

Tip of the glass to Soozie

White Christmas?

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

That cold front that moved through here Wednesday left us with this.....

Taken from the deck of the master bedroom here at Casa de las Rocas Grandes looking southwest toward the Pacific.

Also taken from the deck of the Casa. My friends Michelle and Ty live in the neighborhood you can see at the base of the hills.

It is rare to see snow at this elevation. Ordinarily, there might be a light dusting after a cold and stormy night.

Heck, it even snowed in Lost Wages.....

The sun is shining.
The grass is green.
The orange and palm trees sway.
I've never seen such a day.
In Beverly Hills LA.
But it's December the 24th,
and I am longing to be up North.

Recognize the words? That is the first verse, but you don't often hear it sung that way.

Bonus:

As Always,

TWC