Friday, 12/20

You know, I'm actually not ashamed to admit which Christmas song I've been listening to over & over this year. A little surprised, but not ashamed.

Every year around this time, it seems as if I mentally grab onto a song and listen to it over and over. As we both know, I listen to songs over & over quite a bit, but only once a year do I do that to holiday music. And while I have no idea how my brain happened to latch onto this particular song, I'm proud (?) to say that this year's winner of “The Song That Jim's Psyche Refused To Let Go Of, Holiday Edition” is...

Taylor Swift's “Christmas Tree Farm”?

Nope; I'm not quite sure why myself. I just know that about a week ago I woke up with the song running through my brain and since then it hasn't left. After listening to it dozens (if not hundreds) of times I' was trying to figure it out. I wondered if it was the optimistic lyrics or the sing-along chorus, but after those dozens of listens, I think I finally put my finger on it.

“Christmas Tree Farm” has been stuck in my brain because of the chimes.

I'm being serious. The chimes, which you might not even notice unless you listen to it dozens (if not hundreds) of times, are actually the backbone of the song. I realized that after I found myself air-chiming along, and each time I listen to it I seem to discover one or two hammer hits that I hadn't heard before.

So if I have to give credit to something for lodging the song in my brain, let's give credit to the chimes and whoever layered them into the backing track. After all, I'm usually air-drumming along to whatever song I listen to over and over again on repeat.

But air-chiming? I have to admit that's a first.

Here you go...get it stuck in your head, too--

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 12/19

Even though you think the difference is big, when you compare the pictures you realize it isn't.

Many of you may recall our non-winter winter last year, a winter where we had a whole 30-some inches of snow instead of our usual 120+ (almost half of that 30-some inches on one day). One year ago today we had no idea just HOW non-winter it would be, although we probably had an inkling when you look at some pictures I took on December 19^th, 2023, showing just HOW non-winter it was--

It was so non-winter, in fact, that on December 19^th I actually wore shorts to work-- 

THAT'S how non-winter it was.

So compared to last year, this winter is a return to normal, right? Well, it is, to an extent. We had a bunch of snow a few weeks ago, but as happens with an increasingly frequency as climate change wrecks havoc on us, it disappeared. Here's an example, starting with one of the pictures I took a year ago today--

And then a picture I shot yesterday of the exact same courtyard--

The sky this year is what we expect in December, but it you look closely the snowfall is not what you'd expect in December. Sure, it's more than it was a year ago, but then anything—literally just a flake of snow—would be more than we had last year. I don't know what that portends for the rest of this winter, but we'll see. I'm doubtful we'll have to have a debate about whether or not we'll have a white or green Christmas, but after last winter I don't think anything's off the table any more.

And the pictures I took a year ago today prove it!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 12/18

Yesterday I talked about what I find when I'm walking here or there. Today I wanna talk about things I see when I'm walking here or there. Specifically, I wanna talk about one thing I see all the time--

Acceleratorists.

Pardon the made-up word “acceleratorist”, but I couldn't think of anything else to describe the people I see several times a day except “acceleratorist”. These are the drivers I see speeding up to a stop sign or a stop light, hammering their brakes before coming to a complete stop, then flooring it when they start again, continuing the cycle at the next stop light or stop sign.

“Acceleratorists”. It's what you get when you have a fetish for accelerator pedal. And that's how I came up with the word.

Now, I know I'm not a normal person, especially when it comes to driving, but I don't get what acceleratorists are doing. Why would I want to speed up to a stop sign, come to a complete stop, then speed up as fast as possible from a dead stop, only to come to a complete stop again in a few blocks when coming to another stop? I'm kind of sure it's not good on your car, I KNOW for sure it causes you to burn through gas a lot quicker than a smooth, steady acceleration, and I'm guessing that you save very few, if any, seconds in your day by doing it.

I just don't get it.

Ever since I've noticed people doing this, I've tried to see if there's a certain “type” that becomes an acceleratorist. But much to my surprise, I haven't been able to. It seems like every demographic subset is represented. I've seen men do it, I've seen women do it, I've seen people in small cars do it, and I've seen people in pickup trucks do it. I've seen people do it in the morning, during the day, and at night. There doesn't seem to be any defining characteristic to an acceleratorist.

They just seem to be everywhere.

Like I said before, I'm in no position to judge acceleratorists. I don't drive (much), and I have no idea why they're doing what they're doing. After all, they may have a good reason for it. All I know is that, on those rare occasions when I do drive, I don't drive like that. Of course, that's just me.

You know—the me who see things, and finds things, while I'm walking everywhere instead of driving.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 12/17

It's amazing what you see and what you find when you don't drive. Today, what I've found.

Walking pretty much everywhere, as I do, you notice things that you wouldn't notice if you're driving here and there. For instance, this past weekend, I found two crumpled up pieces of paper on the ground. One, when uncrumpled, turned out to be a five dollar bill, which bought Loraine and I extra chocolate from the Marquette Food Co-op.

Good thing I was looking down at the ground at that certain moment, right?

The other piece of paper I found was this--

In case you can't read what it says, it states in hand-written script:

“Hi :) my name is David. I've been coming in here the past couple weeks—thats when I first noticed you! I've been trying to think of ways to talk to you...however...I didn't want to bother you at work! Im sorry for this I just think you're sooo cute!”

Wow. I don't know why I found that note on the sidewalk. I don't know if it was a note someone wrote to give to his intended, or if it was written as a script for the guy who wrote it to say out loud. I don't know if the guy who wrote it dropped it, or if the girl (or guy) to whom he intended it tossed it. I don't know the whole story behind it, nor do I know how it ended up on a Front Street sidewalk in Marquette.

I'm just guessing there's an interesting story behind it. What prompted David to write it? Was this something he had tried before, or was it a shot in the dark? Since he was writing it to a person who was working, was it someone working at a business near where I found it, or does it have nothing to do with where the note ended up? And I'm kinda curious—did the note make its way to the person for whom it was intended? Did it work?

Inquiring minds want to know!

I realize the odds are incredibly slim that I'll ever find out the answers to those questions, and that's okay. Sometimes, the story's more interesting, at least in your mind, when you don't know all the answers. However, that note—and the five dollar bill I found—are proof positive that you can come across interesting things when you keep your car turned off and head somewhere on foot.

Tomorrow? An observation based on something I see all the time while out walking.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 12/16

I've said this before, and I'll probably say it again—my life is weird. But in a very, very cool way.

We've been shooting a lot of “High School Bowl”s recently, so much so that we're now on the second or third appearances this season for some teams. And as the year's worn on, I've noticed that some of the students are doing something. Some of them are dressing like me. Some of them are saying that if they could spend an hour with any person, living or dead, they would choose (for some bizarre and inexplicable reason) me. Some want to be in pictures with me. And some even want to draw pictures of me--

I'm not quite sure why, but as Dakota put it while taping Friday, “(t)hose kids really like you, don't they”? They do. I don't know why, but they do. And in a life of increasing weirdness, it's a cool thing. In fact, one of the coaches mentioned that his team was quite excited when we re-scheduled the cancelled taping Friday because, and once again I'm quoting here, “they get to hang out with you”.

And I get to hang out with them.

I have no explanation for what's going on, but maybe it's just one of those things that doesn't need an explanation. I get along with teenagers and they, for whatever reason, get along with me. Maybe it's because I'm just a teenager myself on the inside, or that I treat them as I treat everyone else. I don't know. I guess I just do what I do, and what comes out is the end result.

Yes, my life is weird, but you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 12/13 (!)

I have to go shoot a hastily rescheduled “High School Bowl” in a few minutes (hastily rescheduled because it was canceled during the snow-day-that-didn't-happen-Wednesday, but everyone's available to be in Marquette this morning), so I'm going to leave you with an oldie but a goodie.

But it's thematically similar to what I've been writing about most of this week—Christmas music. So in that respect, I guess, it fits.

Have a great weekend. Back with something new Monday which, I'm thinking, won't deal with Christmas music at all!

8-)

******

(as originally posted 12/23/15)

I wonder how popular The Carpenters would be these days?

That thought entered my mind when Loraine was listening to their “Christmas Portrait” album the other day. If you’ve not heard it, it’s a mix of instrumental and vocal holiday tunes, all segued together into kind of a Christmas symphony, and contains one of the most touching yet melancholy songs of the season ever, “Merry Christmas Darling”. It’s one of those albums that’s gained kind of an iconic status over the years, and that led us to wondering where The Carpenters would be these days, had Karen not died of anorexia in 1983.

Loraine and I, both being children of the 60s & 70s, have the gender-differing views of the duo you’d expect of children of the 60s & 70s. She grew up listening to and enjoying them, while for me The Carpenters were something my mom listened to and became something to which I should to pay little or no attention at all. Yet because Loraine still listens to a song of theirs on occasion, and because she listens to “Christmas Portrait” every holiday season, I find myself exposed to their music more than ever, and I have to admit something that no guy who grew up as a child of the 60s & 70s should ever admit--

They were actually pretty talented.

If you put aside all your pre-conceived notions of The Carpenters as schmaltzy or syrupy or any other sticky adjectives you’d care to conjure, you’d notice two things--that Richard Carpenter, who most of their producing and arranging, really had a flair for melody. And, of course, you’d notice that Karen Carpenter could actually sing, despite the sometimes schmaltzy and syrupy material with which she had to work. You can tell that they both learned a lot from the people who wrote their songs, people like Burt Bacharach, and when you consider that Bacharach is now treated like a musical legend by his younger contemporaries, how would The Carpenters be treated?

Would they still be vital recording artists, having albums produced by people like Jack White or having their songs covered by groups like Arcade Fire? Would they still be touring every year, perhaps performing albums in their entirety like other iconic groups of the 70s? Or would they be stuck playing Branson or Vegas eight months out of the year, and find themselves peddling their music on late night infomercials? After all, it’s a very thin line between kitschy and cool, and I’d be kind of curious to know on which side they’d fall--would they be like Burt Bacharach, or would they end up like, oh, I dunno, Tony Orlando, with or without Dawn?

Sadly, it’s one of those things we’ll never know, although that doesn’t stop some of us from speculating upon it. Just one of those things that runs through your head when you listen to a Christmas album in the week leading up to the holiday. Amazing how things like that work out, isn’t it?

Thursday, 12/12

Who would you rather have been--Chubby Checker or Bobby Helms?

No, I haven’t gone off my rocker, and no, this isn’t just some bizarrely random question. It may be bizarre, but it’s not random. It’s probably not a question you would think of any other time of the year, but it’s certainly not random. But yesterday's blog about my favorite Christmas songs made me think that it's the perfect time to ask the question. And, if it’s okay with you, I’ll explain why.

Both Chubby Checker and Bobby Helms were singers as the 1960s rolled into existence. Now, they were both popular before I was born, but I do have an understanding of what they did and the impact they had in the world of music. For about a year and a half, Chubby Checker was the biggest thing in pop music. He had three number one songs, including one that topped the charts twice (“The Twist”), and was mobbed everywhere he went. If I had to make an analogy, he was kind of like the Taylor Swift of his day, minus the NFL boyfriend. For that year and a half, he was a S-U-P-E-R-S-T-A-R under any definition of the word. Bobby Helms, on the other hand, was never really that famous. He had a few semi-popular country songs, made it onto the pop charts once, was never mobbed, and just kind of disappeared quietly. His stardom certainly wasn’t anywhere near the magnitude of Chubby Checker, but you know what?

If I had to choose between having been Chubby Checker or Bobby Helms, I would’ve chosen Bobby Helms.

While Chubby Checker was the biggest thing in music for a year and a half, we don’t think about him much any more. People don’t listen to his music on a regular basis, and people (like me) born after his reign on the top of the charts probably couldn’t tell any of his songs from any other recorded during that span of time. While Chubby Checker was the biggest star in pop music for a year and a half, nowadays he’s basically forgotten.

Not so Bobby Helms. While he was never a superstar in the musical world, and while he never had a number one song, the one song of his that DID make the pop charts was a little Christmas ditty called “Jingle Bell Rock”. The song actually charted three years in a row in the sixties, has been featured in everything from TV commercials to the movie “Lethal Weapon”, and is instantly recognizable to anyone born after it was released. Bobby Helms may not have been a huge star in his time, and people may not even know who he is today, but unlike any song by Chubby Checker, we sure do know one of his songs.

And THAT’S why, if I had to choose an answer to that bizarrely random question I asked at the beginning of this blog, I’d choose Bobby Helms. How about you?

(jim@wmqt.com)