#606: A post a day for Dec.?

I usually hibernate around here in the Winter -- it's cold & dark & the rain POUNDS down 4 months on end. I've already felt myself withdrawing, battening down the hatches Bcos Winter's back & I hate not seeing the sun.
After a not-very-productive November, I could use a challenge -- so I'm gonna see if I can do a post each day in December. I don't think there's a chance in Hell that I can DO it, but I need something 2 jolt me out of my lethargy, & maybe this'll help. I love 2 write, I'm just tired of searching 4 a topic 2 hang a post on. I'm also bored with most music lately. I don't know what I wanna hear, but I sure as hell can't FIND it....
Besides, I've got some Sure Things coming up: I'll be marking 4 years of blogging around mid-month; I've got the 3rd Annual TAD Awards 4 the best stuff of the year coming at the end of the month (I don't think it was a very good year, but I may have forgotten something); I'm slowly working my way thru 2 pretty good books: Hunter S. Thompson's FEAR AND LOATHING IN AMERICA, a collection of his letters from the mid-'60s thru the mid-'70s; & John Einarson's FOREVER CHANGES: ARTHUR LEE AND THE BOOK OF LOVE, which includes lotsa stuff from Lee's unpublished autobiography....
+ maybe this'll force me 2 write some of those Big Projects I've wanted 2 work on 4 ages -- newspaper experiences, Air Force experiences, more Nostalgia, etc. Ghod, could I really have that much I wanna write about? We'll find out.... Summa these posts might end-up as lists of whatever I'm listening 2 or reading, or rants about whatever's on my mind -- there may not B much of a framework -- automatic writing? Should B fun....
Maybe the higher production will also bump up the readership numbers, which took a real slide in Nov after 3 really strong months & a killer Oct. Course I only wrote 5 real posts in Nov, so....
Enuf of the hype, onward 2 THE LATEST AT-WORK PLAYLIST....

Cat Power -- He War.
Kinks -- Victoria, Apeman, Sunny Afternoon, Dead End Street, Shangri-La, Well-Respected Man, Dedicated Follower of Fashion.
Outkast -- Hey Ya.
Aretha Franklin -- Daydreaming.
Steely Dan -- Dirty Work, My Old School.
Pogues -- Lorelei, Fairytale of New York.
Darlene Love -- Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).
Squeeze -- Pulling Mussels from the Shell, Another Nail in My Heart, Separate Beds, Misadventure.
Florence + the Machine -- Shake it Out.
Fairport Convention -- Chelsea Morning, Mr. Lacey, Book Song, I'll Keep it With Mine, Tale in Hard Time, Meet on the Ledge, Genesis Hall, Come All Ye, Stranger to Himself.
Wigwam -- Losing Hold, Grass for Blades, Eddie and the Boys, Tramdriver, Autograph, Just My Situation.
BONUS TRACK: Ray Conniff Singers -- The Twelve Days of Christmas.

OK, most of these I probly don't have 2 describe. Whatever keeps me motivated, ya know?
Cat Power's "He War" is a masterwork of rhythm & little bitty repeating guitar & keyboard parts -- mesmerizing. & she has a great voice. Lots of nice suppressed drama here.
The Kinks' stuff I've been a sucker 4 for years. Love that gtr sound on "Victoria," & the way Dave Davies screams in the background. "Shangri-La"'s a dramatic masterpiece 2. "Sunny Afternoon," "Dead End Street" & the others R fun singalongs. SHIT, I shoulda played "Days"! Maybe tomorrow....
"Hey Ya"'s just a scream. Who could resist it?
Now that I've adjusted after not hearing it 4 30 years, "Daydreaming" is Xactly the floaty masterwork I remember. Aretha's back-up singers R all OVER the choruses. & she sounds so relaxed....
"Dirty Work" I assume features early Dan vocalist David Palmer...? It's too smooth 2 B Donald Fagen. "My Old School"'s still great, whatever it means....
I think "Lorelei" was the Pogues' highpoint, absolutely gorgeous Irish folk, but "Fairytale of New York" is both hilarious & heartbreaking & should become a Christmas classic. It was featured in the romantic comedy movie P.S. I LOVE YOU. Haven't heard it played on the radio yet, somehow. Probly summa the lyrics R a problem, I'd imagine. But most people don't listen 2 lyrics, so....
After "Fairytale," I was bitten by the Christmas bug, so put on Darlene Love & Phil Spector's "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," which has all the crashing melodrama of any classic Phil Spector hit, & shoulda bn included on his best-of. You've heard it even if you don't think you have -- it ran under the opening credits of the movie GREMLINS back in '82 or whenever....
Squeeze's ARGYBARGY was their highpoint -- but a little of them goes a long way, I got 4 trax in. "Separate Beds" has some cute choruses, & "Misadventure" describes some stress-inducing Middle Eastern trips, if you can follow the lyrics....
Florence's "Shake it Out" is still the best thing I've heard in years, but tho the lyrics R great, it really relies on the booming loudness of the drums. Turn it down a little & it just doesn't hit. It demands 2 B played LOUD.
Fairport's version of Joni Mitchell's "Chelsea Morning" is busy-busy, & Judy Dyble's voice is a nice contrast 2 their later stuff. "Mr. Lacey" is a funny blues. "Book Song" sounds like it could B any mid-'60s folk group -- with some nice atmosphere. Mixed among the rest is some of the greatest British folk music ever -- tho they sure liked their grim subject-matter. "Tale in Hard Time" is a little grim despite Ian Matthews' sunny singing, "Meet on the Ledge" is dark, "Genesis Hall" is brutal -- good thing I didn't play their version of Bob Dylan's "Percy's Song"!
By contrast, "Come All Ye" is a rockin' rouser -- my favorite of all their work. Their version of Dylan's "I'll Keep it With Mine" is just gorgeous. "Stranger to Himself" is the only track I've heard from their later stuff that could stand with their classic work -- an intense, hushed funeral march. & why isn't their hilarious version of Dylan's "Million Dollar Bash" included on their 2-CD best-of?
Wigwam's HIGHLIGHTS best-of doesn't include THEIR best track ever, the rumbling & ominous "Bless Your Lucky Stars." But "Losing Hold" is a nice long workout 4 organ, "Grass for Blades" is an intense piano-based blues that gets interrupted, "Eddie and the Boys" & "Tramdriver" R lite silliness -- & "Tramdriver" is really catchy. "Just My Situation" is another long bluesy number with downcast vocals & piano from leader Jim Pembroke. These guys R worth checking out, but track down their NUCLEAR NIGHTCLUB 1st -- there isn't a really weak track on it.

1 local radio station -- WARM 106.9 -- is already playing nothing but Christmas favorites 24/7. While dialing thru stations Thursday nite I heard Ray Conniff's epic "Twelve Days of Christmas," which I hadn't heard in years. I'd forgotten what a hoot it was. 4 1, it goes on FOREVER -- in the old vinyl days they coulda filled a SIDE with this song. 4 another, it's so '50s/'60s whitebread it's hard 2 believe. Check out the way the guys sing "FIVE GO-OLD RINGS!" & "THREE FRENCH HENS!" You'll be seeing clones of Pat Boone in matching crewcuts.... & at the very end, where the chorus ...like ... IMPROVISES a bit, it's just freaking hysterical. Check it out, if you dare. The best comedy Christmas song since Barbra Streisand's "Jingle Bells?" (And does anybody know who did the '70s satire of "Twelve Days" with the verses that ended "...and a Sony transistor radio"? Drop me a line if you remember -- I haven't heard it since about 1971.
More VERY soon....