HillBuzz Open Thread: Friday December 23rd, 2011
There’s a blast of “Christmas Wrapping” for you, by way of the most recent episode of Glee. It’s actually my third favorite Christmas song of all time…though I couldn’t find a YouTube of it performed by original artists The Waitresses.
I’m sure you’ve heard the song, but I wonder if you know how it came about or what happened to the group who sang it.
The Waitresses were a punk band riding the New Wave of the early days; someone at their record label had the idea one hot summer day in August to record a Christmas album featuring various punk bands singing new, modern Christmas songs. To the best of my knowledge, The Waitresses were the only group who bothered to do the homework assignment. It’s one of the earliest uses of a talk/sing blend that would eventually be known as “rap”.
When I was in college, I used to manage a few punk and rap acts and get them booked into the little dive bars and blink-and-you-missed-them clubs that once lined the Flats on the banks of the Cuyahoga River (Justin’s spending Christmas with his parents in Arkansas, but this is where he’d be rolling his eyes anticipating the onset of another trip to the Bottled City of Cleveland that exists in my memory palace and gets dusted off when songs like this trigger these memories). I can’t help but think of those days, when I actually rocked close-cropped, platinum blond hair with little black cheetah spots and never dreamed we’d have all the gadgets and gizmos like cell phones and iPads and the Internet. I’m glad I have nothing at all to do with the music biz, but loved having a year or two working the phones to book the bands’ gigs and playing the Rio to their collective Jem like that.
The lead singer of The Waitresses hated the music business, but after Christmas Wrapping (the last of the band’s two hits) came and went with the holidays in the early 80s she ended up working as an executive for one of the major labels…before dying at age 40 in the mid-90s. This is the part where Justin normally asks, “Why is it that your Christmas memories always somehow end with someone dying, and yet your Halloween stories are almost entirely murder or body-count-free?”. Oh, Cleveland, how I miss but in many ways never really left you.
If you haven’t seen the Glee holiday special, check it out on Hulu.com; I’m not a fan of the show (it lost me after the first season), but this holiday special was really fun. The premise was that the kids had the chance to put on a holiday special on a local TV station in Ohio, and they somehow came up with a black and white homage to the Christmas shows that aired in the 60s where various celebrity guests would just drop by for a chat and a song (sort of like the Dame Edna specials that aired randomly on NBC in the 90s).
We’re just two days away from Christmas…so I wonder if you could think about the people in your lives who might not have anywhere to go on Sunday.
Are there any old people who live around you who don’t get many visitors?
Do you have any friends you’ve been mad at or family members you’ve been estranged from?
Is this the year you’d be amenable to burying the hatchet with Lisa, the office goblin who you’re certain stole your favorite stapler (though you haven’t been able to prove it)?
Maybe I watched too many Christmas specials as a kid, but I love a good Christmas miracle…and the most miraculous and magical thing I think can happen at Christmastime is for people to make an extra special effort to look out for one another and remember the reason for the season.
The greatest gift you can give this year is simple, kind gestures directed at people you know what really appreciate them.
Today’s going to be a really light day at work for most people…so if you have any spare time, maybe you could dash off a few emails to let people know you hope they have a merry Christmas, or invite them to your festivities if you know they have nowhere to go.
You honestly could turn someone’s entire life around by doing this, especially if that person is someone who’s grown to dread the holidays because they feel so alone…and then in walked YOU, with all that holiday cheer, and maybe even streamers and Santa suits and go-go-boots too.
What’s on your mind today, in politics, regarding the holidays, or whatever else you think is important?
Can you reach out to anyone you think might be alone at Christmas and invite that person to join your family’s celebration?
It’s totally okay if you think that’s weird. Most people wouldn’t do it, because in 2011 most of us have become so isolated and cut off from that personal contact with neighbors. So maybe it’s not something you’d feel comfortable doing today, or tomorrow, or this year…but it’s something to think about for next year so I wanted to mention it to you.
© 2011, Kevin DuJan. All rights reserved.
Also Recommended:
Latest Buzz:
Help HillBuzz by Shopping Amazon
"Bee" Advised!
I look forward to your comments. Please follow these simple guidelines:
- Please do not complain about your comment not yet showing up
- Stay on topic of the article ("This is OT, but..." = bad!)
- I will STING if you troll, spam, bait, swear or attack someone
The NAZI Ron Paul's objective is to take down social conservative Michelle Bachmann in her homestate Iowa. If he manages to do this then Bachmann is GONE. If social conservatives and Evangelicals reject their own girl then the GOP is going down in November with the White House and Congress going DEMOCRAT SOCIALIST ATHEIST!!!! MARK MY WORDS!!
h/t William L. Donlon
"WINTER SOLDIERS" —- THE GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS PAST —
ARE WATCHING US!!
Christmas – 1776 — Washington Crosses The Delaware — Wins At Princeton & Trenton — Keeps The Cause Alive.
Christmas – 1777 — Valley Forge Washington & The Contanental Army Freeze Through The Winter — Come Out Stronger & Liberty Prevails.
Christmas -1862 After A Bloody Defeat At Fredicsburg, Lincoln Weathers Blistering Calls For Impeachment and A Truce, Prevails At Vicksburg &Gettysburg In July 1863, Slavery Is Ended.
Christmas – 1944 General Anthony McAuliff Commanded The 101st Airborne Division At Bastogne. Cut Off, Surronded, Out Numbered 10 to 1, He Replied "NUTS" To A German Surrender Proposal. The 101st Held, The American Line Held & Germany Asked For Surrender Terms Of McAuliff In April 1945.
Christmas – 2011 Tea Party Freshman & The Republican House Caucus, Led By John Boehner, Say "NUTS" To Obama And Harry Read They Have Dug In Against All Odds To "End Business As Usual" And Preserve This Republic For Our Children & Grand Children.
America Was Built On The Bones Of Lost Causes!
Winter Soldiers Have ALWAYS Stood To Their Tackle Against All Odds.
We Have Never Cringed From Trouble — We Have loosened Our Belts A Notch Or Two And — Went Looking For It.
The American Ghosts Of Christmas Past Are Watching —
"Why Stand We Here Idle"?
Go To Your Window — Open It —
Lean Your Head Out Into The Winter Wind —
Listen To The Whispers Of Ghosts Of Patriots Past —-
You'll Know What To Do!!
The Obama-mas Choir sings “Home for the Holidays”
They just don’t know when to quit. Consumed with the singular task of re-electing Barack Obama, progressives across the country will use the holiday season to propagandize their conservative relatives and friends. White House elves are directing the re-education Christmas camp efforts.
On Tuesday, the Obama 2012 campaign released an instructional video titled “Home for the Holidays: Share Why You’re Working to Re-elect President Obama.” Instead of relaxing with loved ones, the president’s
monomaniacal campaign staff and volunteers provide “pointers” and “strategies” for converting their “stubborn” families.
http://michellemalkin.com/2011/12/23/the-obama-ma…
http://conservatives4palin.com/2011/12/rush-limba…
From the way he talks, the only thing Rush hasn't said is that Palin is his candidate. He sure does kneecap everybody else. Rush has all the dirt and he shovels it on all of them.
Just 5 letters….. P-A-L-I-N
You know Gov Palin is someone to be reckoned with when Rush, Levin and Bolling are all pining for her openly.
Sarah 2012!!
Yes, and Mr. L likes her a lot. too.;-)
http://www.mrltavern.blogspot.com/
News From the Future: North Korea Reacts to Obama Election Loss
http://dougpowers.com/2011/12/23/news-from-the-fu…
Does Rep Pelosi know how many Americans are employed?
How far out of touch with the American people is one per center, the first grandmother to be Speaker of the House and present House Minority Leader, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)? Jim Hoft of The Gateway Pundit explains it all for us.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/12/does_…
Michelle Obama’s Unsavory School Lunch Flop
The road to gastric hell is paved with first lady Michelle Obama’s Nanny State intentions. Don’t take my word for it. School kids in Los Angeles have blown the whistle on the east wing chef-in-chief’s healthy lunch diktats. Get your Pepto Bismol ready. The taste of government waste is indigestion-inducing.
According to a weekend report by the Los Angeles Times, the city’s “trailblazing introduction of healthful school lunches has been a flop.”
In response to the public hectoring and financial inducement of Mrs. Obama’s federally subsidized anti-obesity campaign, the district dropped chicken nuggets, corn dogs and flavored milk from the menu for “beef jambalaya, vegetable curry, pad Thai, lentil and brown rice cutlets, and quinoa and black-eyed pea salads.”
Sounds delectable in theory. But in practice, the initiative has been what L.A. Unified’s food services director Dennis Barrett plainly concludes is a “disaster.” While the Obama administration has showered the nation’s second-largest school district with nutrition awards, thousands of students voted with their upset tummies and abandoned the program. A forbidden-food black market — stoked not just by students, but also by teachers — is now thriving. Moreover, “(p)rincipals report massive waste, with unopened milk cartons and uneaten entrees being thrown away.”
http://michellemalkin.com/2011/12/21/michelle-oba…
I work as a "lunch lady" here in one of the largest school districts in MN. Yes, we have been acknowledged by the first lady for the changes we have made in our meals, but we are also seeing our paying customers leaving our lunch program. I see nothing wrong in introducing new meal items, but when a food and nutrition department is making money for the district through it's paying customers, we need to treat them as if they were in a restaurant and not a prison or county hospital. If families need government assistance for the lunch program then they must eat what the school delivers. The only problem with that is the monumental amount of waste, insufficient calorie intake (just because you force them to put it on their plate, doesn't mean they'll eat it) and paying students must have their meals dictated by the wishes of the government even though they are paying for their own meals. If they don't like it, they don't have to eat it and the district loses the profits from those lost diners.
Look, I'm all for healthy meals, heck I eat them myself, but this social engineering of food being imposed on schools because of the government subsidies is wrong.
Many Americans Dissatisfied With All Presidential Candidates
Nearly half say there is no candidate who would make a good president
http://www.gallup.com/poll/151682/Americans-Dissa…
I'm just going to just throw this out there. A few days ago, Eric Bolling asked Gov Palin if she was reconsidering and if it was too late to get in. All I can say is, the lady did not say no!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj-Tjj_ucKs
The Media is in full throttle making propaganda of the Obamas and pushing Romney and Gingrich. They take for granted the GOP will nominate any of these old boring white men. They never touch Michelle Bachmann because the only thought of the GOP nominating a woman sends bad chills to their spines.