What's up Christmas readers. Well... you're Christmas readers if you're checking this out on the 25^th. If its the day after, please tell me you didn't get an orange in your stocking. No, not the chocolate one you slam and can't break properly, the actual fruit. You know, let's move on.

--- My Christmas at this moment is probably being spent way differently than most of yours. The radiators are cranked on high, I've got a bottle of Baileys a friend gave me this year, and the DVD player is running every holiday special I have from my collection. The Simpsons is a given, as well as the Futurama “X-Mas”. But then there are the oddball episodes, like “Night Of The Meek” from The Twilight Zone, which had Art Carney in it as a hobo Satna. Or that one from Tales From The Crypt, “And All Through the House", where the Santa is an escaped psycho. Though I do prefer the film version with Joan Collins as opposed to Robert Zemeckis' wife in the TV version. Or dare I say it, the Beavis & Butthead Christmas, which as an adult has more charm than flavor, though I still get a chuckle out of the idea of holiday-themed porn. Not to mention the time honored classic... Mystery Science Theater 3000: Santa Claus Conquers The Martians. I don't know why I'm talking about television shows when you've already bought everything for the season, unless you're one of those people who are going to return your gifts for something else tomorrow, in which case... enjoy standing in line.

Christmas has also had a slight geek appeal to me over the years as well. For example: My first exposure to Star Wars wasn't as a film, and wasn't even as a home video... it was as a ten-hour marathon on the USA television network. In one of the fine marker moments that define the term “generational gap”, USA aired all three films back-to-back throughout the day with only commercials for Pepsi and Doritos. Being the uneducated five year old I was at the time I thought it was the greatest miniseries ever produced. Christmas also brought around my first Nintendo, Star Trek II on VHS, and what would eventually end up being owned by my sister... my army of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures. You know, back when they knew how to MAKE action figures. With any luck you're either treating yourself to the same kind of gift, or you've got a youngster experiencing the same thing. ...I wonder if your kids know that James Bond is a film and not a miniseries?

Anyway, I thought since a blog entry would end up falling on the 25^th this year, I should plan something out for you, the readers. I mean why not, right? You pop by and check our stuff out without obligation, you deserve a gift. A little backstory though... In the over ten years of broadcasting work I've always pitched to people in charge that we should do something special on a broadcast either on the Eve or Day. Give the audience something unexpected on a night that they willingly chose to spend with us as opposed to doing anything else with their lives. Like doing away with a sports segment for a night where no athletic competitions are being played anywhere, and contribute that piece of programming to a live musical performance. (Seriously, do you really want to hear what the Jazz need to do to make the Playoffs... five months from now?) The ideal being at the time, or at least the ideal we take for granted, is that those of us in media have the power to reach an audience and hit a nerve. Whether that be for insight or to incite, we can invoke emotion with a simple gesture to a great many... including warmth and joy. But every year the idea has been thoroughly rejected. So this year I decided to forget that plan and just do it here on the blog.

Ladies and gents, I present to you, a couple musical performances from local nu-jazz sensation and our old friends... The Daniel Day Trio. Specially made for us to appear in this blog entry and the website in general, today they'll be performing a couple of tracks off their newly released Christmas album, which you can exclusively download over here. Special thanks to Brent Uberty and Gordon Riving for filming and mixing. And remember to check them out at Gracie's every Thursday night and The Red Door every Saturday night, 9PM-1AM. Go request a good ol' Tool cover from them, plus check out their new album coming in February.



Second video on the way...

Merry Christmas.