Pencil Storm staff, contributors, friends, fans, and rockers, all pick their favorite rock & roll holiday songs!
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Read MoreThe Magic of Christmas - by Wal Ozello
It’s Christmas Eve here at the Pencilstorm offices and as the rest of the staff cleans up after our annual holiday party, I’m sitting down for one last assignment. As a side note, this year’s gift exchange went well for some and not so well for others. While Ricki C. got Springsteen on Broadway (on Vinyl), Scott got an authentic Ace Frehley Guitar Pick and Colin got The Complete Epic Albums Collection by Cheap Trick, my secret Santa was Jeff Hassler, who for some reason thinks I share his adoration for Styx, so he got me one ticket to their show on June 29 at Rose Music Center in Huber Heights. Why one ticket? He’s got the other one. I’ll probably come down with the flu that week and try to trick Ricki that the opening band is Mott The Hoople.
Any who, it’s my job to write the holiday blogs around here and I have to admit that it’s getting harder and harder to write about the magic of Christmas. I mean, have you looked out your window and seen the world we live in? Seriously, how many death and destruction government shutdown RGB is going to die doomsday scenario posts did you see on your Facebook feed before scrolling down to this one? My guess is there was at least 14 different stories. Is Armageddon around the corner? Vegas odds are 4/1 that we’ll see the end of the world in our lifetime. I’d take that bet but how would I cash in?
Here’s the great thing: with Christmas there is hope. In our darkest day of the year, someone lights a candle to shine for the world to see and scream at the top of their lungs, “Just like Andy Dufresne in Shawshank Redemption we can crawl through this sewer of shit and find freedom on the other side.” (Note: I am contractually obligated with Castle Rock Entertainment to mention Shawshank Redemption at least once a year.)
Hope. There is hope, folks, that this world can be a better place. But we can’t just sit in our houses scrolling through Facebook to find it. We have to create it. Let me share a story about my friend, Steve.
Steve’s no Superman but last Friday he was in line at the AMC Lennox to catch the 5:30pm showing of the movie Aquaman when he heard a car horn outside at the intersection in the parking lot. He could see from a distance that a Buick LeSabre was stopped in the middle of the intersection. Steve’s a mechanic and knows that these cars are frequently owned by older people. As he watched the car he saw it creeping forward to the movie theatre sidewalk. This AMC is one of those movie theatre entrances with big glass windows and doors that start at the end of the intersection - directly where the car was slowly heading.
Thinking the car may have an elderly driver that needed some help, Steve headed out to offer assistance. He approached the car, looked in the window and discovered a woman in her 30’s inhaling smoke from what looked like heroin on foil. She seemed higher than a kite. Your reaction here may be what mine probably would be: yell at the druggie woman for putting all these people’s lives in potential danger. Thankfully, that wasn’t Steve’s. He didn’t wanted to freak out the woman and have her accidentally hit the gas and drive through the AMC entrance.
Instead he had the foresight to gently tap on the window and get her to roll it down. Then he calmly reached in the car, put it in park and then took her keys. He called 911 and stayed on the line with the police and EMS to help monitor until the police and paramedics could arrive.
I don’t know if Steve ever got into see Aquaman but he was definitely a hero that night. Probably saved a woman from OD’ing, or worse yet, driving her car into a movie complex to hurt a dozen or so other people. All because he simply went out to see if he could help.
That’s what Christmas is all about: helping others because in the end, we’re all in this together.
The magic of Christmas isn’t in a box wrapped under your tree. It’s in you and me. Be a goddamn Albus Dumbledore Gandalf Merlin 25th Level Wizard this coming year and spread that magic everywhere. That’s what Steve did. Maybe one day we’ll wake up and end up on the beach of Zihuatanejo and forget all this shit ever happened. Until then, be magical.
From all of us here at Pencilstorm, to you and your families: Have a Merry Christmas and happy holidays.
Wal Ozello is a science fiction techno-thriller novelist and the author of Assignment 1989 , Revolution 1990, and Sacrifice 2086. He's the lead singer of the former Columbus rock band Armada. His film work includes directing Dad Can’t Help You Now by Colin Gawel.
Christmas Songs That You Won't Hear At The Mall - by Scott Carr
It's that time of year again. All the stores are playing fifty different versions of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" and "Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire." Out of the thousands of Christmas songs that have been recorded over the years, they always seem to play the same ones over and over again until the Christmas spirit has been sucked out completely. It becomes mind-numbing.
This is the first Christmas season in almost 16 years that I haven't worked in a big box retail environment and I must say it has brought some joy back into my Christmas music listening experience.
I thought since the Pencil Storm staffers are taking some time off for the holidays I would compile a list of some Christmas tunes that you probably won't hear in your local Wally World. Some you may be familiar with and others you probably haven't heard at all.
So, sit back and pour yourself a glass of your favorite Christmas beverage and enjoy the music......
1. Material Issue - Merry Christmas Will Do
Power Pop Christmas perfection from Chicago Illinois' Material Issue. This song was originally featured on a compilation cd called Yuletunes, It's kinda hard to find but worth searching for.
2. The Darkness - Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells End)
Completely over the top and exactly what you want from The Darkness and a great Christmas song.
3. Fountains Of Wayne - I Want An Alien For Christmas
Another Power Pop take on Christmas. Who wouldn't want an alien for Christmas???
4. Ramones - Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight)
Punk rock Christmas classic!
5. Enuff Z Nuff - Happy Holiday
Cool tune from Blue Island Illinois Glam Power Poppers Enuff Z Nuff. The song was originally record for the soundtrack of Home Alone 2 but wasn't used. It found it's way onto the bands Peach Fuzz cd and has become a holiday favorite.
6. Hanoi Rocks - Dead By Xmas (What more could I add to that?)
7. Lillian Axe - Here Is Christmas
Great take on a song written by Ann Wilson of Heart.
8. Shoes - This Christmas
Another one from the Yuletunes Christmas compilation.
9. Eels - Christmas Is Going To The Dogs
This song comes from the soundtrack for the remake of How The Grinch Stole Christmas. The soundtrack turned out much better than the film.
10. The Kinks - Father Christmas
Best Christmas song ever!
11. Billy Squier - Christmas Is The Time To Say I Love You
A personal favorite of mine and I wrote all about it last year. Check it out here.
12. The Three Wise Men (XTC) - Thanks For Christmas
13. Cheap Trick - Come On Christmas/I Want You For Christmas
Hey, it's Cheap Trick, of course they get two entries.....
14. Tom Waits - Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis
Kind of a depressing Christmas tune, but sometimes Christmas is a little depressing...
15. Colin Gawel - Still Love Christmas
It's no easy task to write an original Christmas tune but I think Colin Gawel nailed it.
16. The Tories - Wonderful Life
Technically not a Christmas song but it's lyrics are based on one of the most popular Christmas movies of all time It's A Wonderful Life. It's a crime that more people don't know this song and this band.
Scott Carr is a guitarist who plays in the Columbus, OH bands Radio Tramps and Returning April. Scott is also an avid collector of vinyl records and works at Lost Weekend Records. So...if you are looking for Scott....you'll either find him in a dimly lit bar playing his guitar or in a record store digging for the holy grail.
Christmas Music, Pencilstorm-Style, part one: Christmas Is The Time To Say "I Love You" - by Scott Carr
Today begins Pencilstorm's contributors' take on Holiday Music: various of our regular scribes will be presenting their choices of their favorite Christmas tunes, along with a (hopefully) heartwarming Christmas memory to go along with their choice. (We don't know exactly which contributors, because nobody seems to know how to meet a friggin' deadline around here, and the egg nog is flowing a little more freely around the offices than we might like, if you get my drift.) (Even Ricki C. has been dumping Southern Comfort in the punch-bowl, and we didn't even think he DRANK anymore.) Anyway: here's part one - Scott Carr's take on Billy Squier.
When Colin G. asked the Pencil Storm staff to write a little something about a favorite Christmas memory and tag it with a song, many ideas went through my mind, as Christmas is my favorite time of year and there are a lot of great memories to choose from.
I narrowed it down to the Christmas of 1981. That was the Christmas that I got my first real guitar. My parents bought me a Gibson RD Artist and it was a total surprise to me. I had been desperately wanting this guitar and would make regular visits to the local music store and stare at it for what must have been hours. My mom told me that they couldn't afford to get me a guitar that year because they were buying my older brother Tim a Gibson Les Paul. Tim was six years older than me, was beginning to play clubs and my parents felt like he really needed a nice guitar. Plus he had proved that he was dedicated to his instrument and was going to stick with it. Although I was disappointed, I was really happy that my big brother was getting a kick- ass guitar, that he might occasionally let me play. The thing I didn't know was that my mother was being really sneaky and had told my brother the same story: that he wasn't getting a guitar that year because he already had a decent guitar and I didn't have one at all, so they were getting me that glorious Gibson RD Artist. We were both sworn to secrecy to not tell. So we were both a little disappointed but excited to know that the other was getting a new guitar. In the end we both got new guitars, mom's plan worked beautifully.
So, that ranks as the coolest Christmas memory ever for me.
1981 was also the year that MTV premiered and I think we were the first house on the street to get it. I was obsessed with MTV when we first got it. I couldn't wait to get home from school everyday, turn on the TV and watch hours of music videos. And this was back when all they showed was music videos, if you can believe there was such a time. That December MTV premiered the Billy Squier video for "Christmas Is The Time To Say I Love You" and it featured the whole cast and crew from MTV along with Billy having a jolly good time in the MTV studio. Squier's Don't Say No album had been released earlier that year and "Christmas Is The Time To Say I Love you" was the B-side of the album's fourth single "My Kinda Lover." The song would later be released as an A-side with "White Christmas" on the B-side. Don't Say No was one of my favorite albums of 1981 and Squier's Christmas tune instantly clicked with me. I generally love Christmas songs that rock and Squier delivered one that did just that. Every time I hear "Christmas Is The Time To Say I Love You" I am instantly transported back to 1981 and it brings back the memories of what I would say was the best Christmas ever.....
Check out the video below..........hey.....did anyone notice J.J. Jackson is wearing a Cheap Trick T-shirt?!?!?!!!!
Me with the glorious Gibson RD Artist.