As 2006 winds down to a chilly and wintery end here in Northern Wisconsin, we here at Veritas Lux Mea want to wish you and yours a very wonderful Christmas and a happy holiday season.
And, with Christmas a mere 12 hours away, there's no better time to give you our little gift for this season, with some great tracks by talented artists all recommended by yours truly. So, as you're sipping back the eggnog with the family or falling asleep to an afternoon football game in anticipation of a morning filled with unwrapping presents and holiday hangovers, take in the tunes located near the bottom of the post and enjoy your winter break with some of our favorite artists.
To start this Christmas Eve post off right, let's get into the Holiday spirit with some interesting articles...
Jewish in a Winter Wonderland
By CINDY CHUPACK for the New York Times
I BLAME the Pottery Barn holiday catalog for the fact that my husband and I, both Jews, spent last weekend at Home Depot picking out a Christmas tree. I cannot blame our kids who begged us mercilessly for a tree, because we do not yet have kids. I cannot blame my parents, because although my dad initially supported George Bush, he never supported the Hanukkah bush.
In fact, I recall that he was extremely judgmental of one Jewish family in the place I grew up (Tulsa), who did have a Christmas tree every year. Even though it was decorated exclusively with blue ornaments and silver bows, my dad made it clear to my sister and me that he thought the whole Jews-with-trees movement was in very poor taste.
Then again, my dad was a man who, in his wood-paneled wet bar, had highball glasses featuring busty women whose clothes disappeared when the glass was full. So I learned early on that taste was subjective.
Fast forward to last month. My husband and I have been married a year and a half, and I am flipping through the Pottery Barn holiday catalog while he sorts the mail, and page after page is something beautiful and not for us, because we are Jews. In my humble opinion, Jews have yet to make Hanukkah decorations beautiful, unless you consider a blue-and-white paper dreidel beautiful, but what can you expect from a holiday whose spelling is constantly up for debate...[READ MORE]
Nice and Naughty 2006
ThinkProgress has put together their Naughty and Nice List for the year that was 2006. Here's a few examples of what you'll find on their lists:
NAUGHTY: Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA), for attacking incoming Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), the first Muslim elected to Congress.NICE: Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), for still wanting to be friends with Rep. Virgil Goode.
NAUGHTY: The 109th Congress, for doing nothing.
NICE: The 110th Congress, for promising to work five days a week.
NICE: Nancy Pelosi, for becoming the first female Speaker of the House.
NAUGHTY: The Capitol, for having no women’s restroom in the Speaker’s office.
NAUGHTY: Maf54.
NICE: NetNanny.
NAUGHTY: President Bush, for refusing to see Al Gore’s documentary, An Inconvenient Truth.
NICE: Participate.net, for giving teachers 50,000 free copies of An Inconvenient Truth that “were rejected by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) after apparent pressure from Exxon and oil industry advocates.”
NAUGHTY: The 109th Congress, for failing to raise the minimum wage and allowing it to fall to its lowest level since 1955.
NICE: Voters in Ohio, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Arizona, and Colorado, for raising the minimum wage...[READ MORE AND SEE THE WHOLE LIST]
MUSIC
Featured Album: Lou Reed, Brooklyn 2006
Live at St. Ann's Warehouse, Brooklyn, December 14, 2006
This is what David Fricke of Rolling Stone magazine wrote: "On December 14, 33 years after the album's release, (Lou) Reed opened a sold-out four-night stand at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, New York, performing the whole of Berlin live for the first time, with full orchestration... The story still thrills as it repels: the way Reed, with a poet's ear and a reporter's eye and no intruding moral comment, renders both artificial ecstasies (booze, speed, reckless sex) and real-life horror (beatings, blood on the sheets).
Lou Reed - "Berlin"
Lou Reed - "Lady Day"
Lou Reed - "Oh Jim"
Lou Reed - "Sweet Jane"
Lou Reed - "Rock Minuet"
Story and downloads courtesy of BigOWorldwide.
Also from Big O...
Christmas Song - (Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds Feb. 21 1994, Alexandria, VA
Merry Christmas, I Don't Wanna Fight - Joey Ramone Dec. 11 2000 The Continental NYC NY Joey's last complete show. Ronnie Spector's back up singers as well as Marky Ramone on drums also Daniel Rey and Andy Shernoff
More Christmas songs at BigOWorldwide
Veritas Lux Mea Holiday Season Playlist
Eagles of Death Metal - "I Only Want You"
Bloc Party - "The Answer"
Seu Jorge - "Rebel Rebel"
Bad Religion - "Let Them Eat War"
Sleater Kinney - "One Beat"
Band of Horses - "Bass Song"
Arctic Monkeys - "When The Sun Goes Down"
Tammany Hall Machine - "Animal"
Pixies - "Wave of Mutilation"
Danielson - "Things Against Stuff"
Ted Leo - "Biomusicology"
Brian Jonestown Massacre - "Wisdom"
Billy Holiday - "Strange Fruit"
Beastie Boys - "Time to Get Ill"
Bonus!
VIDEO:The Decemberists Vs. Stephen Colbert: Countdown To Guitarmageddon (with appearances by Henry Kissinger, Eliot Spitzer, Rick Neilsen, Robert Schneider, and Peter Frampton!)
Last but not least....
A YouTube Christmas
VIDEO: Harvey Danger - "Sometimes You Have to Work on Christmas"
VIDEO: A Peter Griffith Christmas
VIDEO: A Charlie Brown Christmas
VIDEO: National Lampoons Christmas Vacation meets the Gorillaz
VIDEO: National Lampoons Christmas Vacation clip
And...
Merry F'ing Christmas from South Park
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Veritas Lux Mea
