Garth

Because nobody demanded it, here's my Christmas playlist* on iTunes. Album titles are in italics, individual tracks are in artist - title format. Album tracks are not listed except for various artists compilations. Comments are in brackets:

• Abney Park - Carol of the Bells
  
• Béla Fleck & the Flecktones Jingle All the Way
  
• Bob Rivers - Walkin' 'Round in Women's Underwear
  
• Bob Rivers - Chipmunks Roasting on an Open Fire
  
• The Bomboras - Lil' Drummer Boy
  
• California Guitar Trio Christmas Album [The CGT are disciples of King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp, playing surf-inspired guitar instrumental versions of mostly classical but some pop tunes]
  
• Carla Bley Carla's Christmas Carols [Bley is an avant-garde jazz pianist and bandleader; this album is amazing]
  
• Clockhammer - Here Comes Santa Claus
  
• Commodore 64 - A Commodore Kind of Christmas [Christmas nerdcore rap]
  
• Dale North, Mustin, Nate Cloud, The OneUps - Super Mario World Super Mario's Sleigh Ride OC ReMix
  
• Danny Elfman - Scrooged: Main Titles - Show Time at IBC - Elliot Gives Blood - Walter Ablaze - Wild Cab Ride - Luncheonette - Asylum - Crematorium
  
• Dave Brubeck A Dave Brubeck Christmas
  
• Esquivel Merry Christmas from the Space-Age Bachelor Pad [hi-fi lounge]
  
• The Flaming Lips - Christmas at the Zoo
  
• Joe Meek Vampires, Cowboys, Spacemen & Spooks
  
  
  • The Fabulous Flee-Rekkers - Green Jeans
    
  • Roger LaVern & The Microns - Reindeer Ride
    
  • Roger LaVern & The Microns - Christmas Stocking
  
  
• John Fahey - Christmas Medley: O Tannenbaum/Angels We Have Heard On High/Jingle Bells
  
• Joseph Spance - Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
  
• Kick the Can Crew - Christmas Eve Rap [Japanese Christmas rapping!]
  
• Los Straitjackets 'Tis the Season for Los Straitjackets [Christmas surf guitar]
  
• Loudon Wainwright III - Suddenly It's Christmas
  
• Moon Duo - Silver Bells
  
• Pac-Man The Pac-Man Christmas Album [yes, you read that right]
  
• The Ramones - Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight)
  
• Red Peters - Holy Shit, It's Christmas
  
• Rev Run - Santa Baby (feat. Mase, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Salt 'N Pepa, Onyx, Keith Murray)
  
• Smashing Pumpkins & Radiohead - If There Is A God (Acoustic Christmas '98)
  
• Squirrel Nut Zippers Christmas Caravan
  
• Stan Kenton - What Is A Santa Claus
  
• Sufjan Stevens - Christmas In The Room
  
• Sufjan Stevens - O Holy Night
  
• Sufjan Stevens - That was the Worst Christmas Ever!
  
• Sufjan Stevens - It's Christmas! Let's Be Glad
  
• Sufjan Stevens - Hey Guys! It's Christmas Time
  
• Sufjan Stevens - Get Behind Me, Santa
  
• Sy Mann Switched On Santa! [Christmoog]
  
• The Vandals - Christmas Time For My Penis
  
• The Vandals - A Gun For Christmas
  
• The Vandals - My First Christmas (As A Woman)
  
• Various Artists ( The American Song-Poem Christmas: Daddy, Is Santa Really Six Foot Four? )
  
  
• Various Artists ( A Jazz Christmas )
  
  
• Various Artists ( Thunderdome: The Xmas Edition )
  
  
• Various Artists ( A Very Indie Xmas )
  
  
• Vince Guaraldi Trio A Charlie Brown Christmas
  
• Wesley Willis - Kris Kringle Was a Car Thief [technically not a Christmas song at all, but c'mon]
  
• Wonderful World of Joey - What Sweet Child O' Mine Is this?
  
• Wooden Shjips - O Tannenbaum
  
• Various Artists ( The Edge of Christmas )
  
  
• Various Artists ( The Original Soul Christmas )
  
  
• Various Artists ( We Wish You a Metal Xmas and a Headbanging New Year! )
  
  
  *I should point out that I don't listen to this playlist straight through. Instead, I have smart playlists that select rotating sections of it to mix in with other stuff.

Les Paul, the guitarist best known for inventing the solid-body electric guitar, died of pneumonia on August 13, at age 94. Along with the electric guitar, an invention whose importance should be obvious and can hardly be overstated, he also pioneered overdubbing, multitrack recording, and electronic signal processing effects. Nearly every form of modern popular music is built on these innovations; I think it's safe to say that without Mr. Paul, today's musical landscape would be unrecognizable...and considering the cultural influence of rock, from fashion to mores to the very concept of "rock star", the social and political landscape as well. He's been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the National Inventors Hall of Fame, and the National Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

A consummate entertainer, he played live regularly well into this year, with a residency at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York, and recorded an album as recently as 2005, despite a broken eardrum and arthritis that paralyzed some fingers on both hands. When he shattered his right elbow in 1948, setting it would freeze it in place, never to bend again...so he had it set at an angle so he could continue to play. His work spanned jazz, country, and rock & roll, playing with everyone from Nat King Cole and Bing Crosby to Eric Clapton, Sting, and Chet Atkins.

Back when I used to work in a publisher's warehouse, my boss, an old hippie and deadhead, would play music on the stereo as we worked. One day he put on an old bit from the Les Paul and Mary Ford show, in which Les claimed to have just invented the "gas guitar", which turned out to run on laughing gas, leading to a wild drug trip scene in which he hallucinates that they're in a gondola and Mary sings a gondolier song. That was my introduction to Les Paul the musician, rather than Les Paul the name of a model of guitar. Great fun!

New York Times obituary
Iridium Jazz Club's obituary

I recommend reading both. They're very well written.

RIP Les.

Intro cinema to Rock Band: The Beatles

Pretty damned amazing.

Hey song_of_copper, I found a video of your future child!

(from this article)

I guess this means he's abandoned his rap career.

The creepy Pink Elephants sequence from Disney's Dumbo, sync'ed to a version of the tune by Sun Ra! It doesn't always sync exactly, because the Arkestra extended some bits and shortened others, but it works surprisingly well.

The Dumbo animators clearly owe a great debt to Fleischer Studios and their weird, drugged-out jazz cartoons.

But it was long and probably not that interesting to anybody who wasn't already into it. So, in a nutshell: it was awesome, I had a great time, caught up with people I hadn't seen for a while and made some new friends, got my ass kicked by a man in his 60s, learned a lot, and was really tired by the end.

Now with that out of the way, an awesome video by The Avalanches (no, it's not Frontier Psychiatrist):

Imagine if Pee-Wee Herman went vaguely punk.