Father Christmas

... give us some money.

I play this every Christmas season, but I have been rather negligent this year.

I went to a Quaker Christmas party on Sunday, and when they asked what Christmas songs people liked, I thought of this one, but the Quakers are nonviolent and you know, this song ain't. ;)

Shhhh--don't tell.

~*~

Father Christmas - The Kinks



~*~

And I've been getting hits for this one already... everybody loves the Chairman of the Board!

Mistletoe and Holly - Frank Sinatra



Once again, apologies to my fellow vegetarians for the line "tasty pheasants"--which does rhyme with "presents"--after all.

Hope your holiday season is proceeding as planned.

Father Christmas, give us some money...

Father Christmas - The Kinks


[via FoxyTunes / The Kinks]

Two Father Christmases

Two Father Christmas songs, played on my radio show. We will be playing them next Saturday, of course.

Father Christmas - The Kinks



~*~

I believe in Father Christmas - Greg Lake



The lovely melody in the song's middle section was borrowed from Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kijé, which always makes me think of the end of Woody Allen's Love and Death.

:: Your weekend dose of cute comes from HuffPo: Baby Seal Enters House, Sleeps On Couch. As adorable as it sounds!

:: This weekend's podcast is up! Yall come visit.

Father Christmas, Give us some Money!

...The Kinks. Dead Air official Christmas Carol for the fourth year in a row! :D

War is over, if you want it

Best thing I've heard today: Gloria Allred canceled her press conference with her stunningly-attractive client, Rachel Uchitel, just as Uchitel was poised to Tell All about her "relationship" with Tiger Woods.

Scandalmongers everywhere sobbed; Gloria never lets us down. This is a first!

After the cancellation, Allred's daughter, Lisa Bloom (yes, intrepid Court-TV junkies and scandalmongers love Lisa almost as much as we love her mom), announced on several news networks that mom would never cancel a press conference, except for one reason: Mr Green has arrived.

Mr Green! Love it.

And I'd love to know what kind of Merry Christmas the Uchitel family will have this year; something tells me the presents under the tree will be first rate indeed.

~*~

More scandals! DEAD AIR can barely keep up. As Renee reported, actress Meredith Baxter has come out as gay.

I first became very interested in Baxter when she dated... David Cassidy! Yes, I kept careful track of all the Cassidy-women: Meredith, Susan Dey, Judy Strangis, Robin Millan, and his first wife, the totally fabulous Kay Lenz. Embarrassing but true.

Camille Paglia once wrote the following about Baxter, which I found rather puzzling at the time... but now, suddenly makes perfect sense:

Baxter's 1992 performance as a real-life San Diego murderess in the two parts of "The Betty Broderick Story," "A Woman Scorned" and "Her Final Fury," remains one of the most impressive pieces of work by an American actress in the last 20 years. Though I've watched rebroadcasts of that tense docudrama times without number, I still thrill with admiration at Baxter's tough energy, pinpoint vocal work and insight into both sexual relations and American character. "The Betty Broderick Story" should be required viewing at every acting school.

Um, say what?

Of course (it should go without saying!), I enjoyed the Betty Broderick mini-series as much as the next scandalmonger... but hey, Meredith Baxter isn't Meryl Streep, okay? I wondered if Paglia (with whom I share my special great love for Elizabeth) had gone off the deep-end, or was possibly in love with Baxter.

Ha! Was I right or what?

Now that we know, I am wondering if they have actually dated or possibly got real friendly on one of those hot lesbian cruises.

It's interesting that Paglia lets her emotions interfere with her critical sensibilities, although she loves to accuse feminists like Naomi Wolf of doing the same thing. Paglia is always proudly blathering that she has "a male brain"; I wonder if effusively gushing over her favorite lady-friends is what she means by that?

(giggle)

~*~

Raleigh Demonstrators against Cliffside, from October 29th demonstration. Photo courtesy of the Canary Coalition.


On a political note, Duke Energy is still attempting to destroy the Blue Ridge Mountains with a coal-burning power-plant, smack-dab in the middle of one of the most beautiful areas in the world. I have covered this previously, and the brawl continues, with protesters busted this week also.

Jeanne Brooks writes, accurately:

Although coal-burning power plants are the largest source of carbon emissions in the U.S., that’s not the only concern. In August, U.S. Geological Survey research tested fish in about 300 streams across the nation and found every fish contaminated with mercury.

The smoke-stack emissions of power plants are a major source of the mercury, the EPA said, along with trash burning and cement plants.

Tiny particulates, associated with heart attacks and asthma, among other medical problems, are another power plant emission.

Removing mountain tops by detonation in central Appalachian states like West Virginia and Kentucky to mine coal is an additional, and ugly, factor. The debris has ruined and buried miles of streams.

STOP CLIFFSIDE!

~*~

Pausing for unpaid commercial for the wonderful MOMMIE DOTS line by Augisa & Co. All of their vegan, cruelty-free skin-products are terrific, but this one deserves a special shout-out.

I just sent the awesome Mommie 2 Be Bellie Butta to my daughter, as her pregnant self expands. Bellie Butta is made of aloe, chamomile, lavender and organic coconut oil; highly recommended for you future-mamas out there.

~*~

Locally, the Sara Lee factory is closing and laying off 200 workers. Our warmest positive thoughts, deadhead vibes and heartfelt novenas are with all the folks losing jobs at Christmastime, which just makes me wanna cry:

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Officials with Sara Lee Corp. said 200 workers in South Carolina will lose their jobs when the company closes its bread factory in Greenville.

Sara Lee officials told the Herald-Journal of Spartanburg that they have to close the bakery in January because they lost a major customer.

Spokesman Mike Cummins said the plant makes frozen dough and bagels for the food service industry. Cummins said a few workers may be offered jobs at other plants, but the rest will get severance packages and help finding another job.

Sara Lee began operating the Greenville plant in 1984 after acquiring it from King's Hawaiian Bakery.

We are with you, folks, and wish you all the best.

~*~

And speaking of Christmas, as always, I am currently inundated with endless holiday music at my workplace. (My definitive Christmas music post is here!) However, I have noticed that John and Yoko's famous "Happy Christmas/War is Over" is pointedly NOT one of the songs being played over and over.

Hmm.

Maybe because the war isn't over?

(If you want it.)

~*~

Speaking of Christmas and capitalism, several different versions of the official DEAD AIR Christmas season kick-off tune have been yanked off YouTube already. Yes, boys and girls, The Grinch is alive and active and wants to CHEAT US OF OUR JAMS!

But I found one anyway, she snorted derisively. Listen now, before they yank this one too!

Come to think of it, they never play this one in public places either. ;)

Father Christmas - The Kinks

[via FoxyTunes / The Kinks]

Father Christmas, give us some money

I've been getting a number of hits for this song, which I featured last year as my official Christmas season kick-off. I am very pleased to say, it now seems more popular than ever--particularly in our current financial recession!

Apologies for the rather slipshod quality of the video, obviously taken right off the TV. (Ray looks GREEN--then again, maybe he is trying to look like the Grinch?)

And don't forget the moral of the story:

Have yourself a merry merry Christmas
Have yourself a good time
But remember the kids who got nothin
While you're drinkin down your wine

~*~

Father Christmas - The Kinks


[via FoxyTunes / The Kinks]

A Gallon of Gas

It is 6:23pm and 98 degrees. It's way too hot to blog. However, it's NOT too hot to complain about gas prices. In fact, it just makes it worse: air conditioning in the car, also uses up gas.

Here in South Carolina, a tourism-state, we've really noticed the drop-off in drivers this summer.

And so, once again, I bring you the Kinks!

~*~

I've been waiting for years to buy a brand new cadillac
But now that I've got one, I want to send it right back
I can't afford the gas to fill my luxury limousine
But even if I had the dough
no one's got no gasoline

I went to my local dealer to see if he could set me straight
He said there's a little gas going, but I'd have to wait
But he offered some red hot speed and some really high grade hash
But a gallon of gas cant be purchased anywhere
for any amount of cash

I can score you some coke and some grade-one grass
But I can't get a gallon of gas
I've got some downers, some speed
all the drugs that you need
But I can't get a gallon of gas
There's no more left to buy or sell
There's no more oil left in the well
A gallon of gas can't be purchased anywhere
For any amount of cash

I love your body-work, but you're really no use
How can I drive you when I got no juice?
Because it's stuck in neutral and my engines got no speed
And the highways are deserted
And the air smells unnaturally clean.

It's got power-assisted overdrive and carpets on the floor,
But it's parked out front just like a dead dinosaur.
And I'll be paying off the bank for 45 years or more.
It should go 100 miles an hour,
But it's never moved away from my door.

Who needs a car and a seven-forty-seven
When you can't buy a gallon of gas
Who needs a highway, an airport or a jet
When you can't get a gallon of gas
There's no more left to buy or sell
There's no more oil left in the well
A gallon of gas can't be purchased anywhere
For any amount of cash

You can't buy a gallon of gas

~*~

The Kinks - A Gallon Of Gas

[via FoxyTunes / The Kinks]

George Carlin 1937-2008

Exactly the right song for George.

NOTE: I am not quite sure what "shadow Dave" is wearing in this video. My British readers should feel free to jump in and tell me what it is. It doesn't quite look like a kilt, some kind of Mod Edwardian thing?

My Kinks "BBC sessions" CD (which I never leave home without) has authentic angelic-voiced English schoolchildren doing the "la-la-las"--which sound like someone ascending to heaven... I regret this version doesn't equal that one.

Resquiat in Pace, George Carlin. Thanks for doing the Irish proud.

~*~

THE KINKS - DEATH OF A CLOWN

[via FoxyTunes / The Kinks]

See my friends!

Left: More azaleas! You can never have enough!

~*~

Plugging a few of my friends' blogs today! GO READ IMMEDIATELY!

Vanessa hazards a guess about why her generation is so apathetic. She blames the 80s nuke scares and Scifi, which makes sense:

The American people of my generation, born in the late seventies, grew up at a time when outright nuclear destruction in the next decade or so was a virtual guarantee. Pop culture was saturated with this idea. Probably like 80 percent of the movies and TV shows I watched as a child (my dad, bless him, was probably a little lax on the whole "Rated R" concept) were either action movies set in the present where scary Soviets were trying to annihilate us, or dystopian science fiction where scary Soviets already had. Even Star Trek: The Next Generation, the one scifi universe where humanity apparently managed to get their shit together, talked about a post-World War III dystopia.

She believes the overall result of this doomsday-prognosticating is the pervasive belief that There's Nothing We Can Do.

So when this specific impending doom vaporized just when we were entering high school I think we suddenly had to figure out what the hell to do with our lives, I think we went all jaded and sarcastic and became Nirvana fans who could care less about the world because it could explode tomorrow...except it never got around to doing so.

~*~

Why do women trash other women? A lifelong puzzle to me, as a feminist. Those of you who saw Heathers and its rather pallid update, Mean Girls, know exactly whereof I speak.

I've recently dealt with the situation of a grown woman who seems to have regressed to high-school-level clique-mentality. And this is the kind of person who should know better, as feminists should. Why do we do this? Maybe because so many feminists felt like persona non grata in high school, so they are making up for it now? I have no idea.

In any event, Renegade Evolution has had enough of it. Beware, video is Not Safe For Work and for that matter, not safe for anyone of delicate sensibilities who needs copious amounts of smelling salts to get through the day. (So, if you faint easily, stay away please.)

~*~

Belledame generously hosts the feminist trainwreck thread of the month at her blog, Fetch Me My Axe! Yes, everyone gets in on the action. Don't miss the fun!

Queen Emily writes about ignorant people, while Zan changes her blog to MY FAVORITE COLOR! (love it, Zan!) Adrienne writes about how she learned to read and incidentally reminds us of the importance of feminist books for children, while the wonderful La Lubu gives us a whole reading list for kids!

Raven travels to Luverne, Minnesota, to say goodbye to a friend who has passed. She shows us the stunningly-beautiful prairie that sustained her spirit during the visit.

And Octogalore keeps on keeping it real, with her fabulous feminist posts about age and appearance:

[Women] are schooled to view other characteristics to supplement our view of what’s attractive. And given the ingrained myth of the man being the more active in the world, while the woman supports or receives, characteristics going along with this action are imbued with perception of attractiveness.

This is why an older woman of achievement is still judged in a radically different way than a man of the same age and achievement.

We all know, in many stories with a female protagonist, the conclusion is a proposal or wedding (name a “chick flick”). That’s the end goal. Stories with male protagonists often have to do with career tumult (Bright Lights Big City) or intrigue (Godfather) or action (Mad Max, Indiana Jones).

I come back to this from the previous post:

“I think if the roles of man = provider/actor and woman = decorative, passive receiver were more averaged out, we'd see more [situations in which women’s age and maturity are part of, or at the very least do not diminish from, her attractiveness].”

Many will toss out things like “biology” and “wiring” and back that up by talking about things like spreading of seed. To which I toss out things like “birth control” and “who has more orgasms per unit time?” and “child support” and “three months [last trimester, the only time most women experience significant impact from pregnancy]” and “breast pump.” I do not know many guys who have a desire to have large numbers of expensive dependents with multiple women. Nor do I know many women who were bedridden and/or unproductive during a large part of their pregnancies. I do know many men who experienced the same post-partum bond as their spouses. I am no biologist and I’m not claiming it plays no role, but I think the degree to which it does is greatly exaggerated.

GO READ THE WHOLE THING! (Although she is currently supporting Hillary, some of us can't wait until Octo runs for the office herself!)

~*~

SEE MY FRIENDS - THE KINKS

[via FoxyTunes / The Kinks]

Father Christmas, give us some money

Let's start the season with some wise words from The Kinks!

Have yourself a merry merry Christmas
Have yourself a good time
But remember the kids who got nothin
While you're drinkin' down your wine

~*~

The Kinks Father Christmas

[via FoxyTunes / The Kinks]