It is the Christmas topic people hate to hear about and like even less to discuss: The War on Christmas. And yet it persists — year after year. This year it appears to be championed by presidential candidates. That means we could hear more about it than usual. Before the roar of Christmas debate in […]
Eddie Cantor, a comedian from the 1930s was given a new Christmas song to sing for his radio audience in 1934. Targeted at kids, the songwriters were frustrated at their inability to get it recorded and sold. Record labels thought the appeal too narrow to be successful. Cantor sang it live in a performance that […]
Home Alone celebrates 25 years this Christmas and producers are celebrating in a variety of ways — the latest by announcing that it will make a very limited to return to theaters on November 8th. Over two dates in early November — the 8th and the 11th — you can see Home Alone again on […]
Early last week, James Carroll of Tyler, Texas, came to Billings for the second time in his life. It was an enjoyable visit, but it was hard to top that first one, on Christmas Eve 1954. Carroll was a 23-year-old Army private at the time, just out of basic training at Fort Bliss, Texas, on […]
LeAnn Rimes released a preview today from her upcoming Christmas album titled Today is Christmas. The track is a cover of Kenny Loggins’ Celebrate Me Home, a duet Rimes performs with Gavin DeGraw. Take a listen: The album drops on October 16th and features classics such as Angels We Have Heard on High, Hark the […]
We asked for a modern re-do of A Christmas Carol in the latest episode of the Merry Podcast and at least one of four competing movie studios wants to deliver. Universal Pictures has purchased the rights to a modern re-telling of the Dickens classic and has tabbed Ice Cube as Scrooge in what they promise […]
It is understandable enough to mix up the words now and then — especially if the song you are singing is a 500-year old Christmas carol. But to do it on purpose just to drive people crazy or to get a response — well, that takes talent. The first thing to catch my eye in […]
A new survey by CreditCards.com has media analysts in shock: more than 32 million Americans have already started their Christmas shopping, the survey reveals. That seems to fly in the face of a media-generated figure that 70 percent of Americans are “annoyed” by Christmas creep. Of course — they only surveyed about 1000 people. But […]
There is not a Christmas lover anywhere who does not know well the text of the Christmas story from Luke Chapter 2, from the New Testament. But never have you heard it with such precise storytelling ability as we see in this video of John Rhys-Davies with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir: For as great as […]
Once upon a time it was a great story. 20 years ago the Arkansas family of Jennings Osborne were in trouble: they decorated their home with millions of Christmas lights, irritating their neighbors and creating a traffic nightmare. They went to court and lost. When it seemed like the display was on its last legs […]
Ok, so this is yet another Christmas version of Hallelujah — trust me, it’ll be worth it. This is all without instruments and all men — so be prepared for a powerful performance that will send chills down your spine. They are called Vocal Majority, an all men volunteer group from Dallas:
