K.A.C. - T - 18 Days ...

     Time to give your eyeballs a rest from the K.A.C. - today you can let your ears do the walking as we celebrate holiday music ... with a twist.

     Let's start with the picture on the left. When you hear the Christmas carol 'The Little Drummer Boy' , what's the first thing that comes to mind? A boy with a drum? The Baby in the manger? No, of course not ... it's Grace Jones! WHAT ??? Oh, it SO happened - back in 1988, in fact, on Pee-Wee's Christmas Special. Want to relive this Surrealistic Santa moment? Just click on the link! Thanks to Bill for the find!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uETyXE2mE2E

     Next, let's step into the Wayback Machine and head back to 1949, and the Screen Song cartoon SNOW FOOLIN' - a Famous Studios production which (hard as it may be for us to believe now) was quite popular in the theaters of the day, where audiences would "follow the Bouncing Ball" {in this case, an egg} and sing a popular tune - can you imagine going to the movies today and trying to get that to happen?
Well, it took place all the time back in the 1940s and in this winter-themed cartoon, you (and your friends and co-workers) can sing along to 'Jingle Bells'! The interesting thing about this is the song has alternate lyrics that I haven't seen anywhere else - give it a look!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_faPt0BGqP8

      Are all these earfuls of Christmas cheer making you crazy? Then get out your Kleenex, as we're ending today's aural assault with two of the saddest holiday hits ever made. First, the immortal Roy Orbison with his sad saga 'Pretty Paper' - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOgsyNAsoWc

    

Finally, we leave you with the saddest Christmas song you will EVER hear, from my favorite folk artist Stan Rogers. Many an artist can sing a song and go through the motions with the words, but Stan had the ability to make you feel that he had LIVED the tales he was singing about in his beautiful, deep voice. If you've never heard his music, I urge you to track down his albums. Stan died tragically at a very young age, but his music lives on and I am proud to present this. A word of warning: I will post this and make sure the link works, but aside from that will not listen to it myself (for now) - it is the only song I know that makes me cry every single time I listen to it. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you First Christmas.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=chTMOuuUZi4 


      On that note, let's all take a moment to compose ourselves and come back tomorrow for more holiday shenanigans - see you then.