Posts Tagged Christmas
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December 13, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
Books That Blew My Mind # 9: “Holidays on Ice” by David Sedaris
Holidays On Ice by David Sedaris I’m not really one for Christmas books. But there’s one favourite, one must, every year I read (and now re-read) David Sedaris’ story, The Santaland Diaries. It’s special to me for a couple of reasons – first of all it was my introduction to the world of Sedaris. I […]Archive
December 7, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
Poem: Ever Since Charlie Watts Died I’ve Been Tryin’ To Play Along To Art Pepper’s Walkin’ Blues
The image is of my grandfather walking into our kitchen, dancing – a little soft-shoe, a quick finger-click, he already knew the music – yes, he was In The Mood. That’s how he arrived that Christmas. My first drumkit. I think about that – now and then, and at the moment it’s on my mind […]Archive
April 9, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
Fatman: DVD
Fatman (Blu-Ray) Directors: Eshom and Ian Nelms Madman Elton John has made more bad albums than good. That’s a fact. But of course he still shows the chops, those classic albums have their magical moments and he’s fondly remembered as being, well, ‘good’. To endure one of his worst songs is something, but you can […]Archive
December 20, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Off The Tracks Christmas Hours 2020: Happy Holidays!
Hiya! I don’t ‘blog’ as often as I used to. I mean it’s all blogging at the end of the day. Reviews, poems, columns, essays – they all live here on this site. And they’re all part of a massive blog. And that’s fine. But daily missives are really a part of Facebook now more […]Archive
December 8, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Poem: The Kiwi Way
Yes, there’s been a pandemic, and it’s still going by the way, and yes unemployment is surging, with many Covid casualties and the lockdown creating inertia and many anxieties and even a devious excuse for some workplaces to downscale and milk bailouts then force redundancies; several stores and businesses have simply closed their doors – […]Archive
December 8, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Tori Amos: Christmastide (ep)
Tori Amos Christmastide (ep) Decca (UMO) Tori Amos has released a Christmas EP – it’s a clever bit of holiday-related merch for her fans but this is Christmas-adjacent as much as it is anything resembling true holiday fare. These are original songs, there’s mention of Christmas directly in the title track and there’s clues in […]Archive
December 24, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Josh Rouse: The Holiday Sounds of Josh Rouse
Josh Rouse The Holiday Sounds of Josh Rouse Yep Roc Records If you ever needed to pick a songwriter to get the job done – to always get the job done – like Neil Finn for example, high on the list would have to be Josh Rouse. He’s been making consistently great music across the […]Archive
December 18, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Los Lobos: Llego Navidad
Los Lobos Llego Navidad Rhino Records From collections of Disney songs to old rock’n’roll covers if you need a band to deliver the goods – and reflect their own unique skill and flavour all the while then Los Lobos is a safe bet. So it’s no real surprise they’ve released my favourite new Christmas album […]Archive
December 17, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Shit That’s Good! Crap Albums I Love # 19 – Bob Dylan, “Christmas In The Heart”
Bob Dylan, Christmas In The Heart, 2009 Well it’s time for a Christmas album to make this list – and I think straight away of when Bob Dylan dropped a set of Xmas tunes and everyone was horrified. People that never really listened to Dylan heard his voice, thought it was an ugly croak and […]Archive
December 16, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Poetry at The Fringe – Sunday, 15 December, 2019
For the final session of Poetry at the Fringe for 2019 it was all open-mic, no special guests – no music, no theme – it was all about the regular attendees, with, as always, a few first-timers or long-time watchers, first-time readers. It was a fantastic line-up. Maybe the best open-mic run of the year. […]Archive
December 15, 2019 by Simon Sweetman