Christmas Eve 2014

Well the Big Day has almost arrived as we find ourselves sitting here at midweek on Christmas Eve.  People are scurrying about taking care of all manor of last minute 'must do' items on their lists.  I have tried to maintain some semblance of the Spirit of Christmas for the duration of the season, mostly by injecting humor into the situation.  I changed my name tag at work to read Gerry AKA Ebeneezer which has sparked some lively interchanges across the counter, all in good fun of course.  Right now I am a bundle of mixed emotions, wanting to celebrate but also looking for a reason to celebrate at all.  What the Hell, let's just say F*** It and celebrate anyway in the traditional Nichevo manner with Music rivaled in Beauty only by the fine examples of Art  in the Male Form to be found below the play list.

I have spent a lot of time checking out the canned play lists and multitude of compilations looking for just the right list for today.  In the end, I decided to make my own Sounds of the Season play list which is comprised of some really excellent renditions of some of my favorite Hymns and Christmas Carols.  Joshua Bell and Branford Marsalis get us started with a terrific jazzed up version of Amazing Grace followed by Pentatonix performing their cool version of Little Drummer Boy.  Then we travel to the Helix in Dublin for a live performance of Hark! The Herald Angels Sing by Celtic Woman before we listen as Aussie cutie David Archuleta fronting the Mormon Tabernacle Choir excels in a live performance of Joy to the World.  David is followed by lady Antebellum singing The First Noel and Josh Groban singing Silent Night. My Mother loved Bill and Gloria Gaither along their 'Family' of Gospel Singers and she absolute loved Christmas, so this next one is in remembrance of my Mother who this year will not brighten Christmas with her presence for the first time in my life. The Gaithers are joined by soloist David Phelps in a most dynamic rendition of O Holy Night.  David is followed by Enya with her hauntingly beautiful performance of Adeste Fideles. Two instrumental pieces conclude this celebration of the Christmas Season: The Piano Guys putting their own magical touch to O Come, O Come, Emmanuel and a Quartet from the Saint Mary's Strings joining Cello Soloist Patrick Stafford in performing Schubert's Ave Maria.  You may continue the celebration over on my tumblr with The Trans-Siberian Orchestra's live performance of the Carol of the Bells.

Then to rival the beauty of the Music as mentioned above, any one of these Sultry Studs serving as Sexy Santa's Helpers should fuel any Santa fantasy you have on your Erotic Christmas Wish List.  Then you might want to check out who has been Naughty...or Nice? as your multiple Hotties of the Day! over on my tumblr.  Thanks for sharing a part of your Holiday with me, join me tomorrow for a very special Sounds of the Seasons and Celebration of Christmas.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!

Sounds of the Season Evening Concert

Welcome to the Weekend and this Special Sounds of the Season Evening Concert.  However before we get to the Evening Concert, let me catch you up a little on the last couple of days since last we spoke.  I was very glad I traded shifts to allow me to stay home and watch the Cowboys play the Bears at Soldier Field in Chicago.  It was a terrific game to watch with plenty of highlight reel worth action on and off the field.  Of course the fact that the Cowboys won 41-28 might have had something to do with my total enjoyment of the game.  (ya think?).  Cowboy RB DeMarco Murray continued his assault on the record books with 179 yards on the ground and another 49 yards on 9 receptions.  The Cowboys literally pounded the Bears into the turf with Murray either running or catching the ball on 69 per cent of the plays the Cowboys ran.  And run they did, all night long.  

In one surprising sequence of events spanning the time from the two minute warning in the first half to midway through the third quarter.  In one remarkable span of 8 offensive snaps ( 4 runs, 4 passes) the Cowboys went from tied at 7 to take a 14-7 halftime lead.  Then scored twice more to go up 28-7 with 6 minutes left in the quarter.  Eventually going up 35-7 before the Bears decided to put on a furious comeback effort with the Bears falling just short at the end.  With the score 41-28, the Bears threatened to make it interesting in the last minutes of the game, driving down the field resolutely towards the Cowboys End Zone.  Then Bad Jay showed up with a minute left in the game throwing a beautiful interception to the Cowboys Orlando Scandrick in the End Zone.  Thus ending the Bears last hope of victory and ensuring a 9th Cowboy victory on the season which is a whole story in itself.   But I have more ground to cover so I best be gettin' on with it.

Needless to say I went to work after the game a very happy camper and had an almost event less night at work, getting off around 7:30.  That was when the Friday from Hell began.  It had to be a conspiracy to keep Uncle Gerry awake from the get go.  I was chillaxin' a bit when I started getting ready for bed.  Then a cacophony of noise erupted outside my window.  Seems it was landscape maintenance day and 'twas the time to trim the hedges.  This took about two hours in our courtyard before the fucking noise finally went away.  So I go to bed and am sleeping peacefully until about 1:11 PM when the exterminator shows up to do an thorough inspection of the premises.  This took nearly an hour and is a story for another day.  I decide to try to go back to bed when the maintenance man shows up to fix the A/C.  Then the phone starts going off and I suddenly have things to do.  So sleep was not happening.  

Anyway I get to work and we have a super busy night with elements of drama and hilarity.  Then of course there were the 3 trucks to deal with too.  The biggest delivery is of course the last of the three, the grocery truck.  Unfortunately for me, the truck broke down and did not get to us until 5 minutes to three, right at the time I was supposed to be finishing.  So I stayed to get the job done, getting off around 4:30 before the Friday from Hell was finally over.  I headed wearily to the house, chillaxed and crashed.  

That brings us to tonight's Special Sounds of the Season Evening Concert.  It is no secret that I love Christmas music, always have, always will.  That does not mean that it always has to be classical or traditional either.  There is lots of good contemporary Christmas classics, some older than others.  But one of my favorite celebrants of the season puts their own special mark on their fusion of the classical/traditional with the contemporary.  No one celebrates Christmas like the Trans Siberian Orchestra whose annual contributions to the wonderment that abounds this time of year really makes for some truly terrific 'joyous noise'!  Tonight's featured selections come from TSO's The Lost Christmas Eve CD.  Included in the play list are :

0:01 Faith Noel
4:32 The Lost Christmas Eve
10:04 Christmas Dreams
14:00 Wizards in Winter
17:04 Remember
20:30 Anno Domine
22:43 Christmas Concerto
23:24 Queen of the Winter Night
26:35 Christmas Nights in Blue
30:53 Christmas Jazz
33:10 Christmas Jam
36:51 Siberian Sleigh Ride
40:00 The Wisdom of Snow
42:00 Wist Liszt (Toy Shop Madness)
45:41 Back to Reason
50:34 Christmas Bell, Carousels, & Time
51:40 What Child is This?
57:36 O' Come All Ye Faithful
59:02 O' Come All Ye Faithful/ O' Holy Night
1:03:22 Christmas Canon Rock
1:08:26 Different Wings

You may also hear TSO's Christmas Eve and Other Stories over on my tumblr.  

Then to stay with the theme for tonight I thought I would put together a collection of Sexy Santas that are sure to provide us all with plenty of Fantasy Fuel for a Saturday night.  Of course, your may drool over my all time favorite Sexy Santa, Ryan Phillipe who is your Hottie of the Day over on my tumblr.  Thanks for sharing a part of your weekend with me.  See you again on Monday for another week of Music, Men & More!  Until next time as always, Enjoy!

A White Christmas with Presents Under the Tree

For only the second time in my lifetime, the City of Fort Worth had a White Christmas.  It was after it had rained all morning but by mid afternoon had changed to one of those medium, swirling snowfalls which seemed to change the world into a white wonderland right before your eyes.  As I stood on my balcony observing the beauty of the snow, I remarked to Will that all we needed now was someone to sing White Christmas.  As we stepped back into the apartment, the first strains of the original Bing Crosby version of White Christmas came on the Internet radio station to which I was listening.  It was eerily coincidental but highly appropriate of that magical moment on a Christmas afternoon.  I got so excited I called both my Mother and my Niece to tell them about it.  Both of them seemed to enjoy the coincidence and its appropriateness.  I found some neat stuff under my tree from around the web that I though I would share with you today starting with this first video of the "Twelve Gays of Christmas" courtesy of and hat tip to John Aravosis over at Americablog:

Then there was this episode of "This American Life" on NPR of Act Two of the Santaland Diaries featuring comedian David Sedaris recounting his two years as a Christmas Elf at Macy's on Herald Square originally broadcast on NPR's Morning Edition in 1996.  Charming and beautifully funny.  Set aside an hour to listen, you won't regret it.  Next comes "A Holiday Message to the LGBT Community" from the "An Enduring Vision" blog that is both poignant and to the point.  This message was followed by Andy Towle of Towleroad.com waxing poetic with "The Dead Sea At Dinner" via DavidMixner.com.  Then comes a touching OpEd from the New York Times by blogger Frank Bruni chronicling "A Father's Journey"  into acceptance of his son and the Father's evolution on Marriage Equality.  

Surely by now you have OD'd on Christmas Music even though it is still only Boxing Day (the day ofter Christmas in most of the present and former British Empire).  So I thought I would bring you this performance by Robert Barto of Lute Sonatas Numbers 45, 7 and 23 by Sylvius Leopold Weiss who wrote over 600 of these Sonatas.  They are not to be confused with the Classical Sonata form as these are more Suites for the Lute as a  solo instrument.

Finally, we have the remainder of this season's Sexy Santas, A Heavenly Angel and other Christmas themed photographs to finish off the Christmas celebration and get ready for the coming New Year of 2013 next Tuesday.  Sorry I am so late in getting this up today, but being the only place open on Christmas is such that it can wear even Superman down, I felt it almost impossible not to take a nap when I did get home from work.  So I did, I took a nap, sue me, lol.  Thanks for your continued loyalty and support.  See you again tomorrow.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!