1952 Rosemary Clooney & Gene Autry – The Night Before Christmas Song.
An old time-y feel to this one.
Dec 16, 2018
Dec 16, 2018
How To Fix A Pot Hole This Time Of Year.
Sturdevant Street in Wilkes-Barre, PA had a problem. A growing problem.
A deep and widening pot hole was in the middle of the street.
Frustrated with the lack of action from the City, Marietta Spak decided to take action.
“I was upstairs in the attic and was looking for more Christmas decorations and thought that would look nice in the hole,” said Spak.
Spak pulled the fake fir from her car. It was her attempt to keep drivers from hitting the hole and bring attention to what she believes is a safety issue.
“It can cause so many problems with these holes. That’s not just a pothole. That’s sinkage, and it’s starting to spider web,” Spak said.
Gary Muchler has lived in this neighborhood for more than 60 years. He and others have only grown more frustrated as the hole grew and grew.
Eventually, a Santa Claus fit in the hole with the tree and then Muchler posed with a watering can for his wife.
“We walked down here. She took a picture. Next thing you know, her phone was blowing up like crazy,” said Muchler.
The City came out and removed the tree and replaced it with a steel plate and says the hole is scheduled to be filled and patched this coming week.
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Dec 15, 2018
Lena Horne – The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You).
One of the smoothest and most beautiful voices of her era. So sweet, so pure, so expressive and dead on each note.
Dec 14, 2018
Before we start this, we want to make clear two things. First, we took no exception to the termination of Palm Bay City Manager Gregg Lynk. Lynk had lost the trust of many people in the City which is bad enough, but his investigation by the FDLE for accepting bribes and kickbacks while City Manager is something that cannot be accepted. (Unless, of course, you are Councilmen Santiago and Anderson who voted to retain Lynk.)
Palm Bay: City Manager Morrell In the Florida Today.
Palm Bay City Manager Lisa Morrell
Secondly, we like Lisa Morrell and thought that she would be a good Interim City Manager. We thought that she should get a chance to prove herself capable of sitting in the “big chair.”
However, we noticed some things that didn’t seem “kosher” right off the bat. When Lynk was removed, Morrell came to the meeting dressed in full professional business attire. We had never seen her dressed that way as her job normally allowed for much less casual attire.
When Morrell was nominated to be the interim City Manager, we knew that she had been spoken to prior to the meeting by one or more Council members.
If that occurred, as we believe it did, it was a violation of the City Charter which in fact limits the contact between Council members and the staff and department heads:
3.052 Interference with administration. Neither the council nor its members shall either direct, interfere, or otherwise deal with city officers and employees who are subject to the direction and supervision of the city manager, except through the city manager.
We had seen this before in Satellite Beach. Interim City Manager Ayn Samuelson was removed from that position and replaced by another Interim City Manager after a long meeting which went past midnight. The person who replaced her was the Police Chief, who had spoken with a Council member that morning contrary to the Satellite Beach City Charter.
On November 21, when Palm Bay removed Gregg Lynk, the City Council nominated and then voted to approve Morrell. The same series of events – the removal of one City Manager and the appointment of another – happened in Satellite Beach. When the City Council voted to appoint Morrell, they violated the Florida statute that requires that anything that needs a vote and accepts public comment must be on the agenda. Just like in Satellite Beach, the City Council failed to meet that obligation. The removal of Lynk was on the agenda. The appointment of an Interim City Manager was not.
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Dec 14, 2018
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White Christmas – Bing Crosby. (The Holiday Inn Version.)
You can’t beat this classic.
While most people associate the song “White Christmas” with the 1954 movie of the same name starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Vera-Ellen, Rosemary Clooney (who played the role of Vera-Ellen’s older sister but in real life was 6 years younger) and Dean Jagger, the first time the song appeared in a movie was the 1942 film “Holiday Inn.”
Holiday Inn starred Crosby, Fred Astaire and Marjorie Reynolds.
A couple of interesting trivia facts include Reynolds’ singing voice being dubbed using the voice of Martha Mears. In addition, the set for Holiday Inn was used again in the making of the film White Christmas. Finally, the song won an Academy Award for “Best Song.” In a twist of fate, the Oscar for the category was presented by Irving Berlin who had actually written the song White Christmas. Berlin became the first presenter to present an Academy Award to himself.
The first public performance of the song was by Bing Crosby, on his NBC radio show The Kraft Music Hall on Christmas Day, 1941; a copy of the recording from the radio program is owned by the estate of Bing Crosby and was loaned to CBS Sunday Morning for their December 25, 2011, program. He subsequently recorded the song with the John Scott Trotter Orchestra and the Ken Darby Singers for Decca Records in just 18 minutes on May 29, 1942, and it was released on July 30 as part of an album of six 78-rpm songs from the film Holiday Inn. At first, Crosby did not see anything special about the song. He just said “I don’t think we have any problems with that one, Irving.”
The song initially performed poorly and was overshadowed by Holiday Inn’s first hit song: “Be Careful, It’s My Heart”. By the end of October 1942, “White Christmas” topped the “Your Hit Parade” chart. It remained in that position until well into the new year. It has often been noted that the mix of melancholy — “just like the ones I used to know” — with comforting images of home — “where the treetops glisten” — resonated especially strongly with listeners during World War II. The Armed Forces Network was flooded with requests for the song. The recording is noted for Crosby’s whistling during the second Chorus
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Dec 13, 2018
Twelve Days Of Christmas – John Denver And the Muppets.
Technically, the “twelve days of Christmas” start on Christmas day and run after Christmas. We have never been much for that tradition, so we are going to put this up on December 13th, with the twelve days ending on…..well… you figure it out.
We have said it before and will say it again: this is our favorite version of this song for a couple of reasons.
The Muppets are not great singers. No matter how you slice it, they would never win a singing competition. That’s what makes their vocals so great. It is as is anyone can sing with Muppets and sound great.
We are a big Fozzie Bear fan for many reasons. No one tries harder to make people laugh and to be loved.
Third, John Denver is just great with the Muppets.
Lastly, once you hear the song, it is really difficult, if not impossible, to hear another version of the song and not sing “ba-dum dum dum” after “five golden rings.” It is a blast to do it.
So here are two versions of John Denver and the Muppets performing the “Twelve Days of Christmas.” The first is the actual television special with the Muppets and Denver, and the second is from an album that was released after the success of the show. (And yes, we still have our copy of that CD.)
The television version:
The CD version:
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Dec 13, 2018
It Could Be Worse. At Least Here Legislators Aren’t Literally Hurling The Constitution At Each Other.
And you think the acrimony between political factions here is bad?
Sri Lanka’s parliament has been disrupted for a second day, with legislators allied to the disputed prime minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa, hurling chairs at police officers and allegedly throwing chilli powder at opposing MPs.
[….]
Security was heavy in parliament on Friday after the previous day’s session had to be abandoned when MPs scuffled inside the chamber, requiring one to be hospitalised. One MP, Palitha Thewarapperuma of the United National party, was seen wielding a knife in Thursday’s fray.
Before the session could even start, MPs allied to Rajapaksa surrounded the Speaker’s ceremonial chair, shouting protests at the knife incident.
[….]
Outside the chamber, MPs Gamini Jayawickrama Perera and Vijitha Herath could be seen rubbing their eyes, with splotches of chilli splattered across their robes.
“They have behaved as beasts, not as human beings,” Herath told reporters outside the chamber.
He wore a large bandage across his forehead, saying he was injured when an opposing lawmaker lobbed a copy of the Sri Lankan constitution at his head.
Kevin Underhill over at Lowering the Bar notes:
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