The Christmas Playlist Series: No. VII

The Hunt for New (Christmas) Music:

 
This is the seventh in a series of of posts on the very best music of the Christmas/Holiday season.
There are a couple of absolute standouts on this list:  Katherine McPhee (singer/actress) delivers a great version of  the holiday classic”Jingle Bells”  to kick things off.
The Tractors version of “Santa Clause is Coming” is a rocking good time, there’s the warm and wonderful version of Louis Armstrong’s “Winter Wonderland”, a live version of “Holiday Road” (theme from National Lampoon’s Vacation movie) by Lindsey Buckingham, and the eye-opening/thought-provoking “God Trying to Get Your Attention” by blues artist Keb ‘Mo.
Also, jazz greats Dave Brubeck and Gerry Mulligan, Christine Aguilera,  the CSSR State Philharmonic Orchestra, James Taylor, Train, Lemon, The Weepies, and more.
These are all fabulous performances, but, really, everything on every one of these lists is terrific.
Enjoy the season and the spirit of the music.
Happy Holidays.
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The Fine Print: Image courtesy of our friends at Getty Images (all rights reserved), who graciously make available their vast archive of photos to non-profit bloggers and websites. Check it out–they have the last century on file. Thanks, guys, as always, for sharing.

The Nightshift: 7 December 2016

Press Clippings

 
It’s Wednesday, 7 December 2016.
It is the  the 75th Anniversary of the Attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, an act of war which did not turn out well for Japan and which ushered in the nuclear era in which the world now exists.
History has a very long memory. As one Pearl Harbor survivor said, “we can forgive but we can never forget”.
See what’s happening in the rest of the world by clicking on the links below to the front pages of the world’s great newspapers.
The Times (London)
Financial Times (UK)
The Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)
The Wall Street Journal (European edition)
Washington Post (Washington, D.C.)
New York Times (New York)
The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles)
Daily News Egypt (Cairo)
South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
The Moscow Times (Moscow)
Le Figaro (Paris)
The Jerusalem Post (Jerusalem)
The Japanese Times (Tokyo)
The Buenas Aires Herald (Buenas Aires)
The Sidney Morning Herald (Sidney)
Deadline Hollywood (Hollywood)
FiveThirtyEight (New York City)
This post is number 839 for this site. 
The Fine Print: Image courtesy of our friends at Getty Images (all rights reserved), who graciously make available their vast archive of photos to non-profit bloggers and websites. Check it out–they have the last century on file. Thanks, guys, as always, for sharing.

The Christmas Playlist Series: No. VI

The Hunt for New (Christmas)Music:
 

Our 6th  Christmas Music Playlist. Every playlist has a different personality and every list is very tightly curated.
Pay particular attention to Paul Simon’s opening song, “Getting Ready for Christmas Day”, which is an absolute blast and sets a great tone for the holiday season. Right behind, Barenake Ladies & Sara McLachlan do a very 21st Century version of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” and McLachlan follows with a sharp version of John Lennon’s “Happy Christmas” (and you thought The Beatles didn’t do Christmas music) .
Another in our tradition of including not-specifically-Christmas music comes from Mavis Staples, whose version of of “In Christ There is No East or West” is a modern spiritual for the Holidays.
There’s a great group of “chill” Versions of classics (“Deck the Halls”, “We Three Kings”, Sleigh Ride”, “Winter Wonderland”), a new classic from Hall & Oates (“Home for Christmas”) and songs by Lenka, Zee Avi, Michael Franks, and Stevie Wonder & Wyclif Jean.
All in all–a terrific Christmas Playlist (But then, every playlist is terrific).
So..it’s a gift and a soundtrack for the season.
Enjoy and turn it up….
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The Fine Print: Image courtesy of our friends at Getty Images (all rights reserved), who graciously make available their vast archive of photos to non-profit bloggers and websites. Check it out–they have the last century on file. Thanks, guys, as always, for sharing.
 
 

The Warm Up

Paying Attention:

 
For decades, there have been two schools of thought about serious winter wear (the type of winter wear you need in places like Chicago, New York City, Boston, Stockholm, Moscow).
One side goes traditional winter fashion: long coats (camel hair or cashmere double breasted top coasts), maybe some designer down, fur coats for women in major cities.
The other goes technical, adopting the down, Gore-Tex, sophisticated materials and designs of the outerwear worn by people who are involved in outdoor sports and activities: climbers, campers, skiers, skaters and snowboarders.
Which side of the winter wear option you come down on can depend on your location (big city/mountains) and activity (work/outdoor sports). Increasingly, however, folks are discovering this well-tested and prove fact: technical outerwear does a great job under any condition of keeping you warmer, dryer, and comfortable than traditional fashionable winter clothing. The people who participate in winter outdoor sports and the outdoor sports industry have long known that technical gear–with the latest materials and design for function vs. fashion–has always been the way to go. One great jacket from Columbia, The North Face, Patagonia, LLBean, Eddie Bauer, Arteryx or any of the other top brands in the technical outdoor wear  industry can take care of you on the slopes or in the canyons of Manhattan on a cold, January evening.
The word is now getting out.
This is a mainstream movement now, as this article from Bloomberg.com shows.  And despite what Fran Lebowitz says in the Bloomberg article, not a good idea to take advice on anything to do with being outdoors  from someone who once famously said ,”The outside is what you pass through on the way from your cab to your building”.
Full disclosure: I have the traditional cashmere DB overcoat for big city work, but, when conditions are really nasty, I always reach for my vintage highly-technical  1980s U.S.Ski Team jacket by The North Face, which is easily the very best piece of winter outdoor gear I own.

The Nightshift: 6 December 2016

Press Clippings
It’s Tuesday, 6 December 2016.
Time is speeding up as we approach 2017. From here to the New Year, it’s going to be a big blur.
See what’s happening in the rest of the world by clicking on the links below to the front pages of the world’s great newspapers.
The Times (London)
Financial Times (UK)
The Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)
The Wall Street Journal (European edition)
Washington Post (Washington, D.C.)
New York Times (New York)
The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles)
Daily News Egypt (Cairo)
South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
The Moscow Times (Moscow)
Le Figaro (Paris)
The Jerusalem Post (Jerusalem)
The Japanese Times (Tokyo)
The Buenas Aires Herald (Buenas Aires)
The Sidney Morning Herald (Sidney)
Deadline Hollywood (Hollywood)
FiveThirtyEight (New York City)
This post is number 834 for this site. It’s been an amazing run. 

The Christmas Playlist Series: No.V

The Hunt for New (Christmas)Music:

 
The Fifth Playlist in our annual Christmas Music Playlist Series. Every playlist has a different personality and every list is very tightly curated.
As always, new favorites and classics updated for the times….all of it good.
Enjoy.
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The Fine Print: Image courtesy of our friends at Getty Images (all rights reserved), who graciously make available their vast archive of photos to non-profit bloggers and websites. Check it out–they have the last century on file. Thanks, guys, as always, for sharing.

The Nightshift: 5 December 2016

 
Press Clippings
It’s Monday, 5 December 2016.
The first weekend of the last month of the year is behind us and the Big Day is fast approaching. From here to the New Year, it’s going to be a big blur.
See what’s happening in the rest of the world by clicking on the links below to the front pages of the world’s great newspapers.
The Times (London)
Financial Times (UK)
The Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)
The Wall Street Journal (European edition)
Washington Post (Washington, D.C.)
New York Times (New York)
The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles)
Daily News Egypt (Cairo)
South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
The Moscow Times (Moscow)
Le Figaro (Paris)
The Jerusalem Post (Jerusalem)
The Japanese Times (Tokyo)
The Buenas Aires Herald (Buenas Aires)
The Sidney Morning Herald (Sidney)
Deadline Hollywood (Hollywood)
FiveThirtyEight (New York City)
This post is number 832 for this site. It’s been an amazing run. 
 

The Christmas Playlist Series: No. IV

The Hunt for New (Christmas)Music:
 

No. IV in our annual and tightly curated Christmas Playlists.
As always, new favorites and classics updated for the times….
Turn it up and enjoy the sounds of the season.
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The Fine Print: Image courtesy of our friends at Getty Images (all rights reserved), who graciously make available their vast archive of photos to non-profit bloggers and websites. Check it out–they have the last century on file. Thanks, guys, as always, for sharing.