about this Christmas song 2

Well, I've done it again. Here's another sampling of a work-in-progress track for my alleged Christmas CD, to be completed somewhere around the year 2014. Again, this is not a finished work, but is something I wanted to record now lest I forget it. There are some rough spots, themes that need to be repeated, others that need trimmed.

But for your possible enjoyment, here is Rise Up Shepheds and Tell It (a medley of the spirituals "Rise Up Shepherds and Follow" and "Go Tell It on the Mountain"). With a tip of the hat to Andrae Crouch, Jack Schrader, John C. Coates, and Fred Bock.

And if you missed the other sample I posted a few weeks ago: about this Christmas song.

Why am I working on this today? Well I should be wrapping presents, especially seeing as I need to be in Elyria by 7:00 all dressed for church and with an overnight bag to stay at my parents' place. But, sometimes the muse demands we set aside time for things such as this, so here we are.

(It also happens that I'm off work today.)

hiatus BROKEN!

Well that didn't last long.

Actually, I still have a few weeks off yet before rehearsals start in late January. I've agreed to be in City of Angels at Brecksville Theatre on the Square. But I have ample justification:

• It'll be done at the end of March, thus still leaving my summer open for The Year of the Coaster
• I've worked with the director before
• I'll mostly be rehearsing only 3 nights a week until production week
• It's a show I've been wanting to do for some time, but is rarely done in community theatre
• Had I auditioned, this is the part I'd have gone for (the quartet)
• I'll be working again with my "wife" from Company, who is also in the quartet and agreed to help unpack my apartment if I did the show :)

And after that, the director also got Stu to be in the show. We haven't worked on a theatrical gig together since Schoolhouse Rock five years ago, and have never actually been in a show together, so that's a cool bonus too.

about this Christmas song

I'm hesitant to post this, for several reasons.

When I was playing through some Christmas music, an idea stuck in my head. I figured out this introduction on the piano but wasn't quite sure what to do with it. My instinct was to go into "I Saw Three Ships," but "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and "O Come All Ye Faithful" wanted their say too.

I've sat down a couple times now and tried to figure out how to make this thing work, and tonight was the closest I've come so far. I felt the need to record it before I forgot it, so that is what we have here: a work-in-progress.

I said back in 2004 that I wanted to make a Christmas CD (using royalty-free tunes), but obviously that hasn't happened. Who knows; maybe that can be a project for 2009: The Year of the Hiatus.

This arrangement will surely be on there, but this is by no means the final version. Next time I might actually have copies of the hymns in front of me so I can remember where the hell these chords are going.

So with that in mind, I present... Some Unnamed Christmas Medley. With a tip of the hat to Lorie Line, Jim Brickman, and Mark Hayes.

apartment Christmas

How does Santa get to the kids who live in apartments? Jeff Dunham has the answer (skip ahead to 4:15).

I didn't realize how much Christmas stuff I'd collected while living with my parents that I had no place to set up. There's a 4-foot aluminum frond Christmas tree from the '50s (with a modern color wheel that's crap) which I used to set up in my room as a kid. But due to space constraints, I hadn't set it up since 2002 or so. That means I never made use of the miniature glass ornaments I bought for it five years ago.

I set it up in my apartment and thought that was all I was going to do for Christmas, but then I got a short strand of lighted roping to put over the entertainment center. Then my parents got me a handmade wreath from the historical society, so that's hanging on the door.

At their house today, I discovered the box of Peanuts ornaments I used to put on the aluminum tree, along with several boxes of large blown glass Peanuts ornaments. And the string of lights and plastic icicles I hung in my college dorm room. And a little animated Christmas-Snoopy-flying-ace-sitting-on-his-doghouse thing.

So I hauled all that crap home with me today and am trying to decide where to put it all. At first I thought I would be satisfied with just the little tree, but now that I have more set up I'm kind of enjoying the Christmassy atmosphere. I've yet to fully unpack or "decorate" the apartment (i.e. hang things on the walls) since I moved in, but now assembling the Christmas stuff is making this place feel more homey.

That, and my mom gave me a bag of her Christmas cookies to take with me. :)