Cappacino! playlist for 2008-12-20 (ho ha ho)

Well, it’s Christmas-time, and while I really do love the season and really do love the music of the season, I feel that Cappacino! always represents something… alternative.

So, here’s my holiday playlist:

• Christmas Song by To Repel Ghosts from the album All Is Calm. A haunting variation/remix of the classic that never quite sings.. The album (and more music!) is free at the Internet Archive.
• Rosa Mystica by Kitaro from the album Peace on Earth. I’ve admired Kitaro’s ethereal music for a long time — it may even be among the first music of its type that I heard, thanks to a good friend and mentor, Ron.
• Christmas in Paradise by Paradise Lust from the collection East Coast Christmas Sampler I. Still looking forward to volume II. I think it’s been over a decade..
• Christmas Jazz by Trans Siberian Orchestra from the album The Lost Christmas Eve. This group was probably the first (or close to it) to truly re-imagine holiday music in a really cool way.
• Seasonal Seance by The Dry Heeves from the collection East Coast Christmas Sampler I. Don’t blame them for associating ghosts with Christmas; blame Dickens.
• White Christmas by To Repel Ghosts from the album All Is Calm. Some pieces of music deserve to be played at different times of the year, but get pigeon-holed into fitting only at certain times. This is one. So I play it.
• Fum, Fum, Fum by Mannheim Steamroller from the album Christmas Extraordinaire. Ok… so these guys are really the ones to re-invent Christmas music the first time.. Although it’s still fairly traditional.
• Christmas Steps by Mogwai from the album Come On Die Young. Honestly, I really don’t get the Christmas reference here.. but I’m a music lover and not a music scholar. I’ll have to ask a friend about it (he is more a scholar), and it will likely turn out to be some really gruesome story, I bet..
• Carol of the Bells, a traditional song sung by members of the Buffy Between The Lines cast. I’ve been privileged to work with these folks on this awesome production, and they did a phenomenal job on this song. Keep in mind: I don’t think any two of the singers are in the same state, let alone room…
• Christmas Dragnet (Yuletide) part 1 by Stan Freberg from the album The Very Best of Stan Freberg. I think an essential part of any celebration should be lots and lots and lots of laughing. In this past year I’ve become acquainted with the works of Stan Freberg thanks to my friend anim5 at International Detective Dragons From Outer Space and the sharply funny and musically talented George Hrab of The Geologic Podcast. I was very fortunate this year to meet both of them on my big trip to Dragon*Con, and hope to see them again next year.
• Little Drummer Boy (Up The Khyber) by Hoodoo Gurus from the Christmas collection A Lump Of Coal. Even though the religious significance is lost on me, I can’t help but admire both the staying power and the sheer sense of tradition that Christmas music has, and how it gets continually re-invigorated.
• The Deep One Song (Solstice in R’lyeh) by Melissa Jones, Katherine Trottier and Erika Zucker with Sean Branney from the album of alternative carols An Even Scarier Solstice V2. Clever rewrites of classic carols also make me happy.
• Queen of Winter Night by Trans Siberian Orchestra from the album The Lost Christmas Eve. Another original composition that fits so well.
• Christmas Dragnet (Yuletide) part 2 by Stan Freberg from the album The Very Best of Stan Freberg. The conclusion of the fantastic script. Did I mention that Freberg does all of the voices? (Or at least the male ones. I think.) Did I mention that he’s still alive, and recently made an appearance on The Adventures of Doctor Floyd? No? I must be slipping..
• Harley Got Devoured By The Undead by John Yelvington from the album An Even Scarier Solstice V2. Seriously: I play this (and it’s predecessor) every Christmas since I got them. Multiple times. I’m trying to learn the lyrics.
• The Wisdom of Snow by Trans Siberian Orchestra from the album The Lost Christmas Eve. Other than the times I’ve played an entire album, I think this is the first “three-peat” I’ve every done. Well deserved. Glad I snuck it in there..
• The Night Before XMas by Buck65. I first heard this on the CBC (which is who produced it, I think), but they made it available as a free download, so I snagged it. A great reading of the story, rivalled by few others (such as the crime neighbourhood version by Henry Rollins that I played last year).

Well, that’s it. Next week I may put on some New Year’s music — or I might not.

Until then:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!