So, you get the idea - the only song which had any religious overtones at all was a parody of Frank Sinatra singing "Away in a Manger" with a swing. Every thing else was decidedly secular in tone. And yet I still got a call asking when I was going to play something besides Christmas music. I replied that "Christmas" music was all I had brought with me - it seemed like the thing to do. The person on the phone then said, "Oh. That's too bad." Every freakin' year I get a similar call or calls.
I get quickly fed up with the "Holiday" music playing constantly everywhere I go. Especially the trash that has been promoted for the last 20 years or so. The music I play is the stuff you don't hear much anymore, and is likely to have a woman plaintively asking Santy Claus' help as her man "is in so much trouble even the white folks can't get him free." Here it is - 1927 with vocals by Victoria Spivey, Lonnie Johnson on guitar and Porter Grainger on piano:
Ms. Spivey, by the way, used to have a blues show which played frequently here in Brattleboro at the Red Barn (no longer a performance venue).
So, I had finally begun to find a bit of Christmas Spirit, and had it taken away. I got two phone calls from friends who told me how much they liked what I was playing. Still, their kind calls didn't put me back in the mood.
A few weeks ago I won $40.00 on a scratch ticket. I spent $10.00 and saved the rest for a Christmas tree. I eventually had to spend the $30.00 for food, but I took it out of the very next paycheck. Last Monday, a friend helped me get and transport a tree. I immediately got it up in its stand and have been watering it all week. I have yet to put the first light or ball on it.
Finally, I am about to start. And I will do everything I can to come up with some Christmas Spirit - just to spite the damned sonof a bitch who called.
2 comments:
Shake em off, dahling! Merry Christmas and Fuck Them All!
Oh, Dahling, you have such a colorful way with words.
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