I really love Thea Gilmore’s “Strange Communion” – it’s not only one of my favourite “holiday” albums, but it’s a really wonderful collection of songs, regardless of the winter/christmas themes.
I wanted to do some kind of little “seasons greetings” message of sorts, and the best way I know how is through music. This song has been in my head a lot this week, what with the solstice, full moon and lunar eclipse, and the snow and wintry weather here in Ireland for once. So, I decided to do a rough little cover of it on piano. This is Thea Gilmore’s “Midwinter Toast”:
Nollaig shona, agus athbhliain faoi mhaise daoibh go léir freisín.
(you can hear it on soundcloud too, and download it from there if you like too.)
Snapped some more photos of the snow, and low solstice sunlight over the last day or two.
Here’s a few of them (click to see bigger versions, as per usual) :
St. Nicholas’ Cathedral and one of my favourite lines of trees in the city:
The grounds of NUIG
They were just snapped on my HTC Desire, not anything snazzy. ;) But it’s handy to have on me when I don’t feel like carrying around a camera. You can get decent shots with it too, every so often.
It may be a bit odd, but Xmas for me has always meant the Muppets. One of the earliest presents I remember the whole family getting one Xmas was a VHS player. We didn’t get one until sometime in the early/mid 90’s. Xmas 1993, I think, as the movie that my folks bought with it for us all to watch was the Muppets Christmas Carol, which came out in 1992.
We watched that movie so many times since then and it’s kinda become one of the longest christmas traditions. Back then, we’d rent out one video every so often, as a treat, and watch it all together as a family, but the Muppets Christmas Carol was one of the ones we actually owned and was rewatched so often. I know the songs in that movie as well as any of the Christmas carols I grew up listening to and singing in choirs.
I still love the music in that movie, and indeed the music in many of the Muppet movies is absolutely wonderful, and I’d rank it up there with the best Disney musicals. Nothing makes me happier and feeling more Xmas-y than sitting down to watch this brilliant retelling of the Dicken’s classic.
The melody in “One More Sleep ‘Till Christmas” is absolutely gorgeous:
The variety of character singing in “Scrooge” is brilliant, and sets up the movie wonderfully:
The Muppet movies manage to mushy, happy, heart-warming songs so well, without becoming overly sickly sweet, in my opinion. I can’t help but smile at “Bless Us All”. Simple song, beautiful little harmonies, and a lovely sentiment.
And “It Feels Like Christmas” captures the essence of Christmas better than most any other song. A lot of the best Christmas songs have a sadness or nostalgia in them (“Last Christmas” by Wham, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey, “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”, “White Christmas”), but this song just celebrates the different parts that go together to make a classic christmas, from choirs singing, to fireplaces, to present giving, to meeting up with old friends and family… It’s a wonderfully happy joyous celebration of the best things about Christmas, and is probably my favourite Christmas song ever. The key changes are beautifully subtle (Westlife, take note) and lifts your spirits. True, it’s hardly subtle with the message of “wherever you find love, it feels like christmas”, but it is a movie aimed at all ages and I don’t think subtlety is really the point of the thing. ;) But still. This song makes me feel like it is Christmas.
It’s delicious and perfect for winter. I love them dearly, and they’re simple to make. It’s just a hot toddy with whiskey:
A shot of whiskey (mine is usually quite generous), a slice of lemon with some cloves stuck into it, and a spoon of sugar all into a suitable glass or mug. Then just add hot, not boiling, water. Result = awesomeness in a glass.
Some glasses may need to be warmed gently with some hot water first, the trick there is to have a metal spoon in the glass when you add the hot water so the glass doesn’t crack. We have a selection of suitable glass mugs / irish coffee mugs just perfect for the job.
I like a lot of cloves. Some people can’t stand lemon or cloves. Some people add more sugar, or none at all. I’ve heard of people adding cinnamon sticks, which just sounds wrong to me, to be honest. Play around with it and see what you like.
Oh, and yeah, hot toddies made with port are also delicious, and I used to share a house with someone who made them using Limoncello, for a hot, alcoholic, lemon drink. Which was also really tasty, I gotta say.
Now you can submit your own “remix” of Cage’s 4’33” to the “Cage Against The Machine” project. I don’t think “remix” is quite the best word to use, though. As every individual recording of 4’33” is a valid performance of the work, in my opinion. I’m tempted to do one from my favourite café later today.
I’ve posted about this work already on this blog. In a way, this addition to the CATM project takes the work right into the digital age – focusing the listener not just on the sounds of their own space, but also sharing that sound with other listeners who will not hear that space in the same way either, as the sound will merge with the sound of their own spaces.
There is a popular misconception that Cage’s 4’33” is ‘silence’. It’s not. It’s the sound of the place you are in at that time. We have therefore asked some of the best remixers in the world to submit their own versions of 4’33”, in other words, the sound of where they are and what they are doing at that time. Herve tidies up his studio, Alex Metric walks to work, Adam F goes to a club, I’m told Aeroplane may be having a shower, all for 4 minutes and 33 seconds.
So go to it, give us a four minute thirty three second audio snapshot of your life. Record it on your phone, your Mac, PC, recorder, dictaphone, walkperson, whatever and share it here. Bring smiles, warmth and awareness to our cause. Thank you for being part of it :)
Eddy Temple Morris
But is it not all just pretentious rubbish? Perhaps. But interesting, thought-provoking, challenging, inspiring, and creative too.
