Recent Articles
 

 

Christmas Beyond the Blue

BLUES, BLUES CHRISTMAS VOLUME 3 leads this revised and updated review of four essential blues Christmas albums, including last year's DEATH MIGHT BE YOUR SANTA CLAUS
by David McGee
 

 
 

Cuddle Time

This delectable five-song missive--an unassuming but undeniably moving seasonal communiqué--is an affecting followup to Ms. Smith's 2007 Christmas gem, My Holiday.
by David McGee
 

 

 

The Murky Origins & Everlasting Life of ‘Jingle Bells’

In 1850 JAMES LORD PIERPONT, inspired by one-horse open-sleigh races in his home town, wrote a Thanksgiving ditty for his father's Sunday School class. Thus the humble origin of 'Jingle Bells.'
by David McGee
 

 
 

BEYOND TOMORROW (1940)

In DEEP ROOTS THEATER: a charming holiday movie, BEYOND TOMORROW. Three elderly industrialists killed in an airplane crash return to earth as ghosts to help reunite a young couple whom they initially brought together. Plus: Pop...
by David McGee
 

 

 

Very Mary Indeed

Unquestionably the top new Christmas release of 2013, A MARY CHRISTMAS, the DAVID FOSTER-produced holiday long player from MARY J. BLIGE, is an instant soul Christmas classic.
by David McGee
 

 
 

The Yuletide Report From the Chairman of the Board

Revised and updated, this appraisal of Frank Sinatra's Christmas recordings as an art form unto themselves was first published in TheBluegrassSpecial.com in 2008.
by David McGee
 

 

 

The Mythic Weight Of Phil Spector’s Christmas Gift: A Semicentennial Reflection

November 22, 1963, was a horrible day for the nation, and for PHIL SPECTOR, a personal disaster as well, as his ambitious Christmas album arrived and was promptly forgotten. A semicentennial look back ensues.
by David McGee
 

 
 

John Bradshaw Knows What Makes Our Cats Tick (And Purr, For That Matter)

What makes cats tick? International cat expert and best selling author JOHN BRADSHAW offers his theories in this new book, CAT SENSE, and talks felines with our DUNCAN STRAUSS.
by David McGee
 

 

 

The Game of Love

BEFORE THE WORLD WAS MADE Brennen Leigh & Noel McKay B&N In a world festering with male-female duos, Austin’s Brennen Leigh & Noel McKay have some clear advantages over the competition. For starters, their dress i...
by David McGee
 

 
 

Beyond the So-Called First Thanksgiving: 5 Children’s Books That Set the Record Straight

Five new books offer young readers a more nuanced, and accurate, account of the so-called First Thanksgiving. While Thanksgiving is a good time to grab people’s attention about Wampanoag-European interactions, it does not ne...
by David McGee