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Kitchen Table Kibitzing 12/24/2024: Holiday Achievement Unlocked [1]

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Date: 2024-12-24  

Hasui Kawase: Tokyo Santa (1950)

Good evening, Kibitzers! Merry Christmas and happy Hanukkah!

We had another little puff of snow this morning, almost nothing, but it looked pretty as it fell. There’s still snow on the ground from a few days ago, because it’s been just bitter cold, but that’s due to let up right after Christmas too, so I think the ground will be bare by the end of the week, even before it rains and washes it away. (<This link for nomandates.)

There’s no family gathering going on here tonight (at least as I write — stuff changes fast around here) because Christmas Eve is when the “boys” (they are very large boys now) go to their mother’s*. This is good because it gives me extra time to wrap presents, not to mention sit around with you, without having to put on some kind of elaborate meal. The plan is to have eaten chili by now, and the plan for tomorrow is baked ziti with meatballs and sausage. I am making some balsamic-glazed roasted broccoli and walnuts on the side, because I am an eternal optimist, but I am definitely, let’s say the #1 consumer of green vegetables in this building. [*2 pm: Mom has Covid, it turns out, so no one’s going near there. We may convene here for pizza, so if I am late, I apologize!]

This is week 2 of a three-week KTK effort to unwind my stack of winter-holidays material, before we run out of holidays. We’re pretty much on track, despite YouTube’s efforts to toss me new items I need to include.

Not to start out all negative here, but you need to see Christmas Is Annoying by Keb' Mo', from his 2019 Christmas album Moonlight, Mistletoe & You. I did not succeed in finding out who the cute kids are who play the parents, but I did locate Keb’ Mo’ making the statement, “Many ugly sweaters were purchased by our team,” which I would rate TRUE. [2:12]

The R&B-ish a cappella group Kings Return got their start when their rehearsal videos taking advantage of stairwell acoustics went viral. This new Christmas track has no words, and is so well done: The King’s Nutcracker Suite. [4:21]

In 2006, Ian Anderson & Band appeared on the annual German TV concert broadcast Weihnachten mit dem Bundespräsidenten (Christmas with the President). This is God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, as only Ian Anderson can do it, but there is a playlist of their whole performance. Personnel on the YouTube page. [4:23]

I know I have posted the Rescue Beaver Christmas Dam before, but I love the rescue beaver and wish to post it again. The beaver-rescue people would like us to know they’re not just some asshole keeping a beaver in a house:

This beaver is being raised by wildlife rehabbers after being orphaned as a newborn. Her parents were killed and their dam and lodge destroyed. Beavers are classified as nuisance animals in many US states and can be killed anytime. Beavers need to spend 2 years with their human rehabbers. They need to have lots of opportunities to practice instinctive behaviors. This beaver enjoys playing this game inside the house but lives with the other orphaned beavers outside most of the time. We hope you fall in love! This misunderstood and unique species needs lots of it!

[3:11]

Surely you will have some kind of festive food occasion during the holidays, even if it’s just putting your feet up and watching a seasonal movie with a beverage and snacks. So why have mundane snacks, when you could easily follow Lidia’s advice and have three different kinds of lovely-looking bruschetta? [8:06]

Musician Josep Castanyer Alonso has this to tell us about his channel: I am a cellist in the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. I also play the piano a bit and make videos for fun. Yeah, he plays piano “a bit”. This is All I Want for Christmas Is You in the style of 6 classical composers, and I like it because he explains, via subtitle, how he’s going about playing in the style of each composer, and I also like the affection he obviously has for the composers. [6:51]

You have probably seen the animated Simon's Cat videos before. This is Wreck the Halls: A Christmas Special, and I imagine will make many cat owners nod vigorously. [1:39]

You may or may not recall that, when Letterman was on the air, every year he’d close his last live show before the Christmas break with Darlene Love singing Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), with his house band led by Paul Shaffer. (Here is her first appearance, in 1986.) This year, Jimmy Fallon was kind enough to invite her to his show, to sing the song with Little Steven & The Disciples of Soul and Paul Shaffer. And she does a damn good job for 83, or even for not 83! [4:23]

The Gesualdo Six are a British vocal group from Cambridge who sing music of periods from medieval to modern. Here, they sing Michael Praetorius’ 1609 arrangement of Es Ist ein Ros' entsprungen, in Ely Cathedral in 2017. (This video is on the cathedral’s channel, but they do have their own channel.) [3:24]

George Winston plays Joy, from his album December. (Playlist of the album here.) [3:16]

From the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center: A Night of Klezmer - A Hanukkah Celebration, streamed live on December 13, 2024. [1:01:15]

From the page notes:

Join Klezmer clarinetist Michael Winograd and his band of Brooklyn Klezmorim for an evening of Jewish celebration music, new and old! Winograd [...] is joined by trombonist Daniel Blacksberg, accordionist Will Holshouser, bassist Zoe Guigueno, and from New Jersey, drummer extraordinaire David Licht.

And finally, absolutely hot off the press, another live Kennedy Center Millennium Stage event, one that streamed at noon today. [1:02:30]

Join in our annual All-Star Christmas Eve Jazz Jam, with host and vibraphonist Chuck Redd, drummer Lenny Robinson, pianist Robert Redd, bassist James King, vocalist Sharon Clark, and saxophonist Jacob Chung.

🎄 I made myself a batch of Chef John’s hot buttered rum “batter” earlier this week, and then, as usual, got too busy to actually sit down and drink one. So that is my ambition for this evening as I sit around with you all [ambition subject to change without notice!] What are you up to? Got any good music, funny cat videos, etc.?

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/story/2024/12/24/2293332/-Kitchen-Table-Kibitzing-12-24-2024-Holiday-Achievement-Unlocked

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