In 1918 the Spanish Flu pandemic hit in three waves – once in the spring, then again in the fall and once again in the new year of 1919. The second wave of the flu was the most deadly, killing more than 195,000 people during that stage of the event. In Western New York State […]
You simply would not believe how many requests we get to feature new Christmas music. From artists known and unknown the month of December is filled with a steady stream of new songs. So why don’t we feature more of them? Honestly? Most of what we receive just isn’t all that great. Musicians tend to […]
We received dozens of notices about new music everyday in November and December. Most come from publicists or new artists themselves. We are grateful to receive them. Occasionally we receive tips on new Christmas music from our readers. We have learned over the years to trust these suggestions. Here is one that came late last […]
Every year now we seem to find new ways to corrupt Thanksgiving. The facts about Thanksgiving have always been kind of inconvenient. It’s true history, meaning and origin has somehow created a state of endless debates. There are debates about stores open on Thanksgiving, debates about how Thanksgiving is taught wrong in schools, debates about […]
A new minimalist short film has been released depicting the birth of Christ in a more Biblical way. The Nativity story has been so romanticized in film, song and the written word for so long it is refreshing to see the story set back in a more original context. The result is a richly human […]
Stress at Christmas is a fact of life. In fact, it could be called a time-honored tradition. In our ongoing exploration of Christmas past we stumbled upon this poem, titled The Christmas Nightmare, written by Carolyn Wells and published in newspapers for Christmas 1900. It could have been written today: On the night before Christmas […]
While America debates Christmas Creep the UK celebrates with early Christmas light displays and an annual contest for the best Christmas commercial. One of the most anticipated ads every year comes from a department store chain called John Lewis, who has a history of schmaltzy yet entertaining commercials. This year’s video introduces a baby fire-breathing […]
Big in the news today, November 14th, is word of a Home Owners Association in Texas making a family remove their Christmas decorations because they are up “too early”. The letter was received by the family on November 4th. That news has kicked off a furious media rush of stories and opinions about Christmas Creep […]
Dean Martin has a new Christmas release. Well, kinda. It’s another posthumous appearance by Dino – yet another “old wine in new bottles” approach to Christmas music. This time, he’s animated. Take a peek…and a listen: This is the latest release in bringing the classics of Christmas music to a whole new generation through animated […]
The media is making a firestorm out of a new holiday outrage some are calling The War on Thanksgiving. Silly as it all seems the rhetoric of politics never has a down season. There are several polarizing modern talking points about Thanksgiving this year: • PETA doesn’t want you eating animals for Thanksgiving…because they are […]
Rehya Stevens is back for Christmas 2019. This year her new offering is featured in the new Disney Christmas flick, Noelle. Titled Tis the Season the song has a retro-pop feel powered by Rehya’s strong vocals. The song is upbeat, traditional and Disneyesque. Rehya sparkles as a Disney princess should. Her 2018 album featured a […]
A new survey is making the rounds on news media today that declares a large percentage of people begin holiday activities much earlier than thought. According to Minted, 43 percent of Americans think it’s suitable to put up holiday decorations before November 1. The poll of 2,000 Americans discovered people start their holiday preparations pretty […]
