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5 Down and Dirty Christmas Songs

5 Down and Dirty Christmas Songs

Music December 2, 2020
I have spent the last two weeks trying to surprise you with wonderful and warm Christmas music, but just so you know I haven’t completely lost my edge amidst such holiday zeal, I thought I would share five of my favorite grimy and gritty Christmas tunes.  After all, Christmas is also one of the most difficult times of the year for so many people and Stargayzing is nothing if not inclusive.  So in the spirit of holiday misery:   1.  Ramones, “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Wanna Fight Tonight)” The song was on the Ramones’ 1989 Brain Drain album.  I love this song because it expresses something real and true about Christmas that seldom gets discussed: many of us simply can’t…
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There’s A Lot to Be Said for Melissa Manchester’s “Working Girl (For The),” Plus a Recipe for Her Summery Seafood Salad in <i>Eating With the Stars</i>

There’s A Lot to Be Said for Melissa Manchester’s “Working Girl (For The),” Plus a Recipe for Her Summery Seafood Salad in Eating With the Stars

Eating With The Stars, Music May 1, 2019

“I discovered the album quite by accident in 1981 when, drawn to the George Hurrell cover and my love for Melissa, I rented it from the East Brunswick Public Library and played the song over and over one day when I was home from school with a bad cold. I recall so vividly how the song transported me from dolorous East Brunswick, New Jersey and, for that single day that I played the song continuously, I soared across America—from Detroit to Des Moines—on a magic carpet woven of Melissa’s mellifluous vibrato and DayQuil.”

Fanny Cradock Cooks: “Mincemeat, the Cinderella of Christmas Cooking!”

Fanny Cradock Cooks: “Mincemeat, the Cinderella of Christmas Cooking!”

Eating With The Stars, Television December 11, 2018

“Whenever I watch Fanny’s videos, (which is an activity I by no means confine to the holiday season), I find myself thinking a great deal about her beleaguered assistant Sarah, who in addition to being made to wear a Branch Davidian-chic caftan had to endure the brunt of Fanny’s intemperateness; for when it came to cooking, Fanny would not settle for anything less than perfection.”

Carole King and Gerry Goffin’s “Will You Love Me Tomorrow”: When a “Song” Becomes a “Copyright”

Carole King and Gerry Goffin’s “Will You Love Me Tomorrow”: When a “Song” Becomes a “Copyright”

Music December 1, 2018

What is it about this song that makes it so enduring?  Perhaps it’s the way its simple, relatable lyrical concept is married to its emotionally elegiacal melody.  Like most great songs, it’s hard to imagine the lyrics and melody existing apart from each other—as if they were created as one.  Because “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” translates so well from genre to genre, language to language, and decade to decade, it has become one of the great copyrights—a published song with multiple recordings—of its era (or any era, for that matter).

November 1, 1970: The Night Barbra Streisand Sang for Bella Abzug, By John Richkus

November 1, 1970: The Night Barbra Streisand Sang for Bella Abzug, By John Richkus

Music October 15, 2018

“Streisand’s support of Abzug culminated that year in her headlining the “Broadway for Bella” concert at Madison Square Garden’s Felt Forum on November 1, 1970.  My dear friend John Richkus, whom I’ve known since the early 1980s, recently reminded me that he actually went to the “Broadway for Bella” concert.  I was fascinated as he shared his memories of how he attended the concert by himself, not just because it was full of anecdotal theater lore, but also because as he told me the story, I realized it was a turning point in his life; you see John was only thirteen years old in November, 1970.”

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