Do you ever get to where all the partridges in pear trees, little drummer boys and downright sappy "Christmas" songs just start to make you wish it was Dec. 26?
Just for the record, I like Christmas music -- when it's done creatively, with some thought put into it, and keeps in the spirit of the season. It's supposed to be a celebration!
There's a couple of albums that have been out for a few years but I think are really good. One is by the a capella group Straight No Chaser called Christmas Cheers. With songs like the "Christmas Can-Can" and "Who Spiked the Eggnog?" it's the perfect antidote to those whose Christmas songs sound more like funeral music than tunes for the happiest of holidays.
A slightly older album that's also good is Squirrel Nut Zippers' Christmas Caravan, with its jazzy take on the holidays.
And of course there's plenty of live music to be found this time of year. The DSO's Christmas concert is good, I hear, or if you can stand it there's a Polyphonic Spree holiday concert, but I think you've already missed it.
But the one to go hear is undoubtedly the Dallas Merry TubaChristmas concert at noon on Christmas Eve at Thanks-Giving Square in downtown Dallas. It's 150 or more tuba and euphonium players, all volunteers, who bring their too-often-overlooked instrument to perform holiday music for whoever shows up. Actually TubaChristmas events are held all over the world, so if you're not in Dallas, go to www.tubachristmas.com to find one nearby.
Everybody thinks of the tuba as just going oom-pah, oom-pah, but in the right hands, it can produce some really cool music. It just might get you back in the holiday spirit!
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