Wrapping up (get it?) my series of posts about Christmas music with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member and Grammy-winner Darlene Love. Love is one of producer Phil Spector’s discoveries and featured on 1963’s “A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector” album. That record still sounds great, but we now know that Spector is a monster and a literal murderer. I’d rather think of happier things on Christmas, so let’s focus on Love. From her official YouTube channel, here’s an animated video for “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).”

In 1986, Love first appeared on “Late Night with David Letterman” to sing her signature holiday tune. Between Letterman’s NBC show and “Late Show with David Letterman” on CBS, Darlene Love performed “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” 28 times. (The scaled-down tradition continues on “The View.”) Here’s a Leterman supercut through the years.

“Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” has since been covered by both Mariah Carey and Cher, who is rumored to be a back-up singer on the original. Another rumor is that Love helped out U2 with their version by singing back-up herself.

Today’s Christmas song is not exactly undiscovered or forgotten, but doesn’t get nearly the plays it should this time of year. “Christmas All Over Again” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers is the lead track from 1992’s “A Very Special Christmas 2.” What I like about the song is that it embraces the season, but is also kinda casual about the whole thing.

This is just audio, but we’ll get to video in a bit.

Continue reading

Time to talk about another Christmas song, one a day until December 25. “Christmas Must Be Tonight” by The Band is so much better than you’d expect from a song stuck at the end of side one on their 1977 odds-and-ends album, “Islands.” This was their last album for Capitol Records, scraped-together leftovers so the soundtrack for “The Last Waltz” could come out on Warner Brothers.

Continue reading

The Hood Internet specializes in mash-up remixes and has been boiling down “The Year in Music” as YouTube videos, starting with 1979. That’s the latest up above, 1994 condensed to three and a half minutes. Sure, you remember Notorious B.I.G, but MC 900 Ft. Jesus too?

I’d guess your favorite remix will depend on when you graduated high school or found those 4-5 CDs that got you through your early 20s. I guess that’s why I’m partial to 1986.

I’ll confess though that the remixes get smoother as more hip-hop enters the pop charts and there’s more digital production.

I got to meet magician Mac King in the late 1990’s when I was the wacky morning reporter at WDRB-TV in Louisville, KY. Most days, I’d broadcast live from somewhere around town, but occasionally, we’d tape something for later. Mac grew up in Louisville and had come back to see family – and pay for the trip with a few shows at The Comedy Caravan. Mac borrowed a blindfold from former WDRB (and Weather Channel) meteorologist Paul Emmick and this happened.

When we got back to the station van, the newsroom radioed about a call from the police. That McDonald’s at the end of the video had been robbed a few weeks earlier and the manager called the cops about Mac and me – and the cops called the station. Of course, McDonald’s knew it was WDRB because we had branding all over the microphone and camera. It all got sorted pretty quickly – and I kept my job.

Mac is a great performer because he’s both genuinely funny and a skilled magician. When the world opens back up again, you should go see his show at Harrah’s Las Vegas. He performs at 1 and 3 pm, which is a great time to see a show in Las Vegas. You’re finally awake, but it’s too hot outside, so go see Mac. Here he is with his masterful take on a classic.