• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

Their shamelessness is their super power.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

If you’re gonna whine, it’s time to resign!

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

Mobile Menu

  • 4 Directions VA 2025 Raffle
  • 2025 Activism
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Music / Late Night Open Thread: Musical Interlude

Late Night Open Thread: Musical Interlude

by Anne Laurie|  December 25, 20171:46 am| 28 Comments

This post is in: Music, Open Threads, All we want is life beyond the thunderdome

FacebookTweetEmail

(My favorite Christmas carol, and one written by a Jewish composer. The grocery where Guilherme Assunção currently works is not quite close enough that we shop there, but given the number of small venues around here, I’m hoping to see him on a larger stage someday.)

I’m guessing there are still West Coast jackals wrapping last-minute gifts / finishing the meal prep / waiting for the travel-delayed relatives to show up. Not to mention those in more distant climes, now cleaning up after the big celebration (possibly nursing sunburns to go with the incipient hangovers.

Merry Whatever-Year-End-Celebration, y’all!

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Merry Christmas Eve
Next Post: Monday Morning Open Thread: Merry Xmas (If You Can) »

Reader Interactions

28Comments

  1. 1.

    Ruckus

    December 25, 2017 at 2:05 am

    Here is a little music from a group from Finland that isn’t xmas music but goes with the season Rajaton – Dobbin’s Flowery Vale

  2. 2.

    Ruckus

    December 25, 2017 at 2:07 am

    If you like that here’s another Butterfly.

  3. 3.

    Ninedragonspot

    December 25, 2017 at 2:09 am

    My favorite piece of Christmas music, the opening third of Liszt’s oratorio Christus. Not much in the nineteenth century resembles the gorgeous opening minutes of this work, replete with Gregorian chant, piping shepherds, angels, and marching wise men.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_KWFIl_XR4&sns=em

  4. 4.

    Mnemosyne

    December 25, 2017 at 2:21 am

    I’m not sure I’ve seen this version before, but TCM is showing the 1936 version of A Christmas Carol with Reginald Owen. I’m a little surprised that the dialogue is pretty much verbatim from the book, to a noticeable degree.

    (We can’t get the Apple TV to spit out Shop Around the Corner, so we have TCM on instead.)

  5. 5.

    Mike J

    December 25, 2017 at 2:27 am

    Just finished watching 2015’s A Very Murray Christmas. You always think Bill is nothing but smarm, but in the end he sells you his sincerity.

  6. 6.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    December 25, 2017 at 2:27 am

    https://youtu.be/SPLL6dnybEQ

  7. 7.

    Bruuuuce

    December 25, 2017 at 2:29 am

    There are two Christmas songs to which I will never not listen: Christmas in the Trenches by John McCutcheon and The Christians and The Pagans by Dar Williams.

  8. 8.

    Mnemosyne

    December 25, 2017 at 2:35 am

    @Mike J:

    We really liked that when it came out. Chris Rock makes me laugh really hard every time, and the cameos are terrific.

  9. 9.

    BackwardsE

    December 25, 2017 at 2:49 am

    Another one written (after a fashion) by Jewish composers:

    “…that’s the seven o’clock edition of the news. Good night.”

  10. 10.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    December 25, 2017 at 3:03 am

    “O Holy Night” is this Jewish mama’s favorite carol, too. But I like the French original even more.

    Bonne nuit à tous.

  11. 11.

    NotMax

    December 25, 2017 at 3:18 am

    @Mnemosyne

    Originally was planned with Lionel Barrymore in the lead but he had to bow out for health reasons. Reginald Owen manages to crank out a Scrooge-like character but never seems to fully embrace the role’s essence, a hunched back standing in for a hunched heart; store brand cola compared to Coke or Pepsi.

    And his bald wig is not affixed invisibly – a lot.

    Not a bad version, simply a mediocre one.

    Trivia: A real family affair, with Gene Lockhart as Bob Cratchit, his wife Kathleen as Mrs. Cratchit, and daughter June as one of the Cratchit brood.

  12. 12.

    NotMax

    December 25, 2017 at 3:25 am

    @Mnemosyne

    As you like period costume drama, will mention a personal fave among Xmas movies – John Huston’s final stint as director, The Dead.

  13. 13.

    John Revolta

    December 25, 2017 at 3:35 am

    I was glad to hear you found your ornaments Anne. I know how it is, every one has a memory attached.

    Merry it up, ye jackals all!

  14. 14.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    December 25, 2017 at 3:54 am

    We did our Christmas festivities last night, things turned out well. Everyone seems happy with their gifts and dinner turned out nice(thanks to Adam’s recipe tips). Cleanup will span well in to the morning I fear.

  15. 15.

    opiejeanne

    December 25, 2017 at 4:01 am

    Supper was glorious and we all went out to play in the snow. We got only a few inches of the white stuff but there are several small snowmen sitting on the deck table, we had a snowball fight, we discovered a Tesla stuck back end in the ditch across the street, there are snow angels in the front lawn as well as the word “spotted” and the outline of a huge dick, the result of a pirate gift exchange that featured a can of spotted dick. It’s an English dessert thing and we are all a little wary of it, but will open it in a couple of days and some of us will bravely try some.
    Two of the. gentlemen smoked cigars and polluted the outside world but we all survived. My two daughters and their spouses are staying over and making breakfast, my niece and her husband and my sister headed south to Puyallup Tomorrow our older daughter has tickets for Jumanji in 3-D, not a film I would pay to see in a theater I think but much better than past Christmas Day choices. I doubt that it will be as bloody or disturbing as Django Unchained, which I loved, but damn!

    We have been tasked by the youngest with providing a white Christmas next year,, here at this house, just outside Seattle where snow is never a sure thing. .

  16. 16.

    Bemused Senior

    December 25, 2017 at 4:22 am

    https://youtu.be/oMmhKsU_udw My daughter the singer- songwriter writes a Christmas song. Every year I get Christmas harmony for my present from my two daughters. Not religious but love carols. Maybe ten years of driving the carpool to the San Francisco Girls Chorus was worth it.

  17. 17.

    prostratedragon

    December 25, 2017 at 4:27 am

    “Alleluia”

  18. 18.

    NotMax

    December 25, 2017 at 4:27 am

    Lawdy. People in the neighborhood already testing the New Year’s fireworks. Several door-rattling booms interspersed with lesser ones.

  19. 19.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    December 25, 2017 at 4:37 am

    @NotMax: We’ve had the same here; Nikki, the Cocker Spaniel, is not impressed.

  20. 20.

    opiejeanne

    December 25, 2017 at 6:57 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: For some reason we have not heard from Mr Howitzer tonight.

  21. 21.

    Percysowner

    December 25, 2017 at 8:58 am

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=242&v=j9jbdgZidu8

  22. 22.

    FlyingToaster

    December 25, 2017 at 9:36 am

    Not-at-all-guilty secret: I live walking distance from Russo’s. That kid has sliced pastrami for me. HerrDoktor was there the first time he sang (the one that freaked people out and ended up on ABC). If you’re in the near-Metro-West area (Watertown, Belmont, Newton, Waltham), this is the place to get your deli stuff. Also their prepared foods counter, and cakes from the bakery counter.

  23. 23.

    debg

    December 25, 2017 at 11:55 am

    That young man has a bright future ahead of him. Quite the set of pipes.

  24. 24.

    Groucho48

    December 25, 2017 at 12:08 pm

    I like the Steeleye Spaan version of Gaudete

    https://youtu.be/EDc2FD-vy8M

  25. 25.

    Miss Bianca

    December 25, 2017 at 12:49 pm

    @Groucho48: That one’s my favorite! Maddy Pryor’s “Tapestry of Carols” is my usual go-to for Christmas morning music.

  26. 26.

    Groucho48

    December 25, 2017 at 2:07 pm

    Gotta love her voice!

  27. 27.

    The Golux

    December 25, 2017 at 7:28 pm

    @Groucho48:

    My bandmate from high school, who I shared a mic with (like Paul and George), is the countertenor on this version:

    https://youtu.be/BaTeascyDq8

  28. 28.

    Groucho48

    December 26, 2017 at 12:14 am

    @The Golux:

    Nice!

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

On The Road - way2blue - SINALEI, SAMOA—RESPITE EDITION—FEBRUARY 2025.  (second of five) 8
Image by way2blue (7/16/25)
Donate

Recent Comments

  • Ramona on Unraveling (Open Thread) (Jul 16, 2025 @ 2:01pm)
  • Josie on Open Thread: PEPFAR No Longer on the GOP Chopping Block (Jul 16, 2025 @ 2:01pm)
  • Paul in KY on Unraveling (Open Thread) (Jul 16, 2025 @ 2:00pm)
  • NotMax on Open Thread: PEPFAR No Longer on the GOP Chopping Block (Jul 16, 2025 @ 2:00pm)
  • AWOL on Unraveling (Open Thread) (Jul 16, 2025 @ 1:58pm)

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
No Kings Protests June 14 2025

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

Feeling Defeated?  If We Give Up, It's Game Over

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!