Christmas

REVIEW: The Christmas TV Companion book [The Film Frontier blog]

/ TY

The Christmas TV Companion:
A Guide to Cult Classics, Strange Specials, & Outrageous Oddities
1701 Press, softcover
Release date: November 10, 2009
Author: Joanna Wilson

The Christmas TV CompanionI cover many subjects here on The Film Frontier. Beyond key ones like Star Trek, Star Wars, Superman, and Elvis Presley, I also give love to, among others, The Twilight Zone, Mystery Science Theater 3000, and Charles Schulz’ Peanuts gang from time-to-time. I like to think this is a rather eclectic combination not soon to be found anywhere else.

To some degree, however, all of these topics and more are covered in The Christmas TV Companion by Joanna Wilson. (Fair warning to Superman fans: the associated reference is just an “also appeared in” credit for Margot Kidder on one page.) The book’s main revelation to me is demonstrating a common thread among all of these topics I previously thought were so diverse: Christmas.

The Christmas TV Companion takes readers on a journey through some of pop-culture’s best and worst Christmas moments. Hold on tight for this ride from the traditional to the blasphemous and every point in between.

Core sections of the book are Macabre, Sci-Fi, Variety, Animation, and Dark. With dozens, perhaps hundreds of productions referenced, Wilson is obviously well-versed on her topic. When reading books like this, I fact check by looking at what the writer states about topics on which I am knowledgeable. Wilson’s Elvis, Star Trek, and Star Wars references are all correct – which leads me to trust her on the multitude of other topics covered.

While some shows warrant a line or two, 1978’s infamous Star Wars Holiday Special (is it possible to write the name of that special without including “infamous” in front?) merits five pages of coverage, including a photo of Harvey Korman and Bea Arthur from the show. The special was actually my first exposure to Star Wars, as a three-year-old. I remember very little of it, as I likely fell asleep – which is probably a good thing.

One of my favorite features of this book is the “Make Your Own Marathon” concept. We geeks have been doing this for years, and Wilson’s suggestions add new and creative elements to setting up such marathons. A Star Trek-themed marathon and an Elvis-themed marathon are among the several she provides. She also includes tips on creating your own based on a subject of your choice.

Fellow Trekkies, I can hear you asking, “The only Christmas scene was in Star Trek Generations. How can you have a Star Trek Christmas marathon?” I will not reveal all, but I will throw you a clue as to how these marathons of loose associations work: A certain Star Trek: The Next Generation actor has also appeared as Ebenezer Scrooge.

The Elvis marathon mentions the 1968 ELVIS television special, which aired during the holidays that year, as well as several other Christmas TV shows that have included Elvis in some fashion. An unfortunate omission was Perry White (Lane Smith)’s appearance as “Santa Elvis” in the 1994 “Season’s Greedings” episode of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Superman even pulls Santa Elvis’ sleigh to deliver toys to orphans. Written by series star Dean Cain, it is one of my favorite episodes of the series.

Very little else is left out, though, and the variety that serves as this book’s strength may also leave your head spinning at times. The Christmas TV Companion works best as a fun reference to thumb through, rather than something to read cover-to-cover. You probably want to keep this book near a computer or notepad, too, as you will find yourself wanting to seek out certain specials or look up more about some topics.

For instance, one of my favorite Christmas songs is “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.” I had no idea until reading this book that the song’s original lyrics were actually quite depressing and changed at the last moment for its first appearance in the Judy Garland movie Meet Me In St. Louis. Curious about the original lyrics? You can find them here. You can bet I will start keeping an eye out for Carol for Another Christmas, Rod Serling’s take on A Christmas Carol that aired in 1964, too.

I must give credit to 1701 Press for including an index. A book like this demands one. A couple of recent Elvis books by other publishers lack indexes, and I was beginning to think they were going out of style.

If you are a Christmas special addict like me, you will be glad to know that Wilson’s current project (of which this book is actually derived) is a “comprehensive encyclopedia of Christmas on TV,” due out next year.

With about 135 pages of content outside of the thorough index, it would be easy to underestimate The Christmas TV Companion. Do not let this book’s seemingly short length fool you, though. Each page is full of information. Often Wilson even covers the margins with more trivia on the various productions, performers, or creative types mentioned. Whether by design or fortuitous accident, The Christmas TV Companion appears just small enough to make a perfect stocking stuffer.

The Christmas TV Companion goes on sale Tuesday. It is available for pre-order on Amazon.

Overall Experience: 9 (out of 10)

(1701 Press provided a review copy of this book free-of-charge.)

Carefully planned randomness [The Film Frontier blog]

/ TY

There was a time when, with rare exception, I only listened to Elvis music. My faulty logic was why listen to anyone else when you can just listen to the best all the time? While I still think Elvis is the greatest, I finally came to realize that variety is the spice of life.

I often refer back to a quote from Harve Bennett (producer of Star Treks II through V) in which he said, if you eat turkey every day, Thanksgiving doesn’t seem so special anymore. Bennett was referring to the effect of the Star Trek: The Next Generation TV series on the success of the Star Trek films, but I find this actually applies to many situations in life. With music, I have found that I appreciate Elvis even more by also listening to the work of others.

I have lately been organizing my music on iTunes. I am not transferring my entire collection over, by any means, but as it stands, I have 908 songs loaded, 365 of which are Elvis. (Hey, that’s one Elvis song for every day of the year.) Elvis released something like 750 different songs in his lifetime, and I have at least one version of all of them. Once you include multiple live versions, alternate takes, and rehearsals, you are talking about thousands of Elvis tracks.

I have found over the years that I most enjoy my music played in a random fashion, especially when mixing artists and genres. Almost like owning your own personal radio station that plays only music you like, but at the whim of an unseen DJ. I just think it is more fun that way than playing straight through on every album.

If I just play those 908 songs on random, then, this means Elvis still comes up more than 40% of the time (and that is going with the very big and wrong assumption that iTunes shuffles them in some kind of even fashion). I wanted to cut Elvis back from 40% to about 15 to 20% without having to delete Elvis songs (or having to add tons more non-Elvis songs).

I started researching playlists and found an incredible, if complicated, solution by someone called “Code Monkey.” In a nutshell, it involves nested smart playlists. It took me a couple of tries to get it to work right (at least on iTunes, I may have to tweak more once I get the smartlists over to an actual iPod), but it was definitely worth the effort.

I have now “programmed” a much better random experience (and no, the irony of that is not lost on me).

Right now, I have iTunes set to play 20% Elvis music, 16% Blues music (excluding Elvis), 30% Country music (again, excluding Elvis), and 24% for all other non-Elvis and non-Christmas music, which includes Rock, Standards, and Oldies. The remaining 10% is for whatever specific songs I definitely want to hear in the rotation, currently Christmas music. To do all of this, I created a total of 23 smartlists.

Do not get me wrong here, though. I play Elvis music far more than 20% of the time. The “20%” is just for use when I’m shuffling other artists into the mix as well. I also have Elvis-only playlists for use when I only want to hear the greatest.

Since it is my job to point out cool stuff to you, here is a link to Code Monkey’s documentation (PDF format) on how to create a similar kind of smartlist system:

Managing Your iPod With Smartlists

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As long as I am pointing out random cool stuff to you, be sure to check out this music video of Elvis singing “Blue Christmas” in duet with Martina McBride, which promotes the new album Elvis Presley Christmas Duets. Find out more information here.

Elvis’ new CDs highlight gospel, Christmas, and love songs [The Elvis Beat newsletter]

/ TY

I was 20 when I wrote this piece back in 1995 for The Elvis Beat #11, my official Elvis Presley Fan Club newsletter.

RCA has issued three new Elvis albums since the last Elvis Beat newsletter.

Elvis Presley: Amazing Grace – His Greatest Sacred Performances is a two-CD set containing over 50 songs from his gospel releases. It also contains a previously unreleased jam session captured in 1972 for Elvis On Tour, including the songs “You Better Run,” “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus,” and “Nearer My God To Thee.”

If Every Day Was Like Christmas contains 24 recordings and, and for the first time, gathers all of his Christmas songs on one CD. It also contains four previously unreleased versions. Some editions of this album include a 3-D Graceland pop-up, featuring the mansion as it is decorated for Christmas.

Elvis’ latest album, Heart & Soul, made its debut in February. It contains previously released love songs from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. There are only two or three songs of real interest to long-time fans. “Love Me Tender” and “I’ve Lost You” are in stereo for the first time. The studio version of “Bridge Over Troubled Water” is without the artificially-dubbed applause used on its original That’s The Way It Is release.

The long anticipated boxed set for The 70s Masters is due to be released by the end of this year.