By Toren Atkinson of The Darkest Of The Hillside Thickets
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Jim Campilongo is a fantastic guitarist and songwriter and has been called “an American treasure” by Billboard Magazine.
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Darick Robertson is a comic illustrator and writer, and co-creator of Transmetropolitan and The Boys. He has just written and drawn a one-shot Conan the Cimmerian story called “The Weight Of The Crown” for Dark Horse Comics.
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I know this song’s privileged, paternalistic attitude is totally inappropriate, but it just reminds me so much of teenaged Christmases, I can’t help but love it. Plus, it features many of my teen musical crushes: Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Boy George, and of course, Marilyn (before the drugs took their toll).
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By Jesse Roth
Every holiday season, the media never fails to deliver its audience the unwelcome gift of what I’d like to call the “and your point is?” story. From what I can tell, the big story this time around reflects on this new phenomenon known as “people other than Bing Crosby recording Christmas music.” Thus far, most of the stories have gone along the lines of “Oh. My. God. You mean Bob Dylan released a Christmas album?! And Mariah Carey released one in 1994?! And wait? What’s this? Andrea Bocelli has one too, and he’s singing with MUPPETS?!? What a craaaazy decade we’re suffering through!”
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To me, “Christmas Song” means a song that is about the holiday. I’m not sure what crazed goon chose “My Favorite Things” to include on the Christmas radio station, but I can’t abide by it. That also excludes songs from Christmas specials that are not about the holiday. Like “We’re A Couple Of Misfits” from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer—it’s not about the holiday. Your interpretation may vary, and that’s good.
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I think it has everything. Lush orchestration, festive jangly bells, underrated reindeer, and more than a little bit of indie magic.
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By Brenna Chase
Rather than keep your eyes glued to your favorite news channel for the latest intrusive development or read another biased career retrospective on the recently deceased King of Pop, ponder these conundrums, posed by a true (frustrated) fan who pays attention to what’s really important.
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By Ann Clarke
Sure, I got this idea from all of the redundant questionnaires on Facebook that I fill out, but it got me thinking. . . there are a lot of bad ideas out there that are overrated and stupid, but large masses of people seem to think they are so great. What are they seeing or hearing that I’m not? Most of the time I am in disbelief as to how people can enjoy certain things, but it really is one of those “to each their own” ideologies! With that said, I’ve compiled a big list of what I think is SHIT, and I don’t mean “The Shit”. . . just SHIT! Some of the items are similar in theory, so I will have to merge some into subcategories.
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By Christian Lipski
I’ve been to a few live shows in my life, starting with the Beach Boys in 1983, and there’s nothing like seeing your favorite band doing what they love and giving them that immediate feedback. Recently I was asked what my ten favorite concerts were, and surprisingly that’s not something I’d ever done. It made me look back at all the great live moments I’ve experienced, and that was worth the trip alone. Here’s what I came back with, in no particular order.
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