Chelsea Bennett: ‘White Christmas’
Posted: 12.24.2010 Filed under: 2010, Chelsea Bennett 2 Comments »
Hello, faithful Sound Round readers! As I immerse myself in various writing projects and family gatherings, I realize that I have yet to write a Christmas-related review for an album. I had juggled between reviewing The Jethro Tull Christmas Album or Barenaked For The Holidays, but time slipped away from me and excuse excuse excuse. But I didn’t want to not write something for Christmas, and so salvation was delivered to me earlier this morning when I got an email from my very good friend Chelsea Bennett. I’ve been friends with Chelsea for going on eight years, when we met on a website we both belonged to, and our friendship blossomed from there; frequently, she would send me recordings that she had done on the ukulele, an instrument I absolutely adore, including one about her boyfriend (and my own good friend) Cameron, and an absolutely lovely recording of Pete Townshend’s ‘Let My Love Open The Door’.
Her email this morning contained a recording of Irving Berlin’s ‘White Christmas’, done on the ukulele with glockenspiel accompaniments. With her friend Hannah Wiser on vocal harmonies, it really is a sweet and lovely song; while I’m no fan of the constant barrage of Christmas music starting in October, and have done my best to avoid it at all costs by constantly blasting Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Chelsea has done what she does best by softening my hardened and cynical mood for the holidays.
The artwork included here was drawn by Chelsea, too; click on the image, or just click here, to listen to ‘White Christmas’. And may this year’s Christmas be lovely and white for all.
See you in 2011!
Wave A White Flag
Posted: 12.10.2010 Filed under: 2010, and so on, announcement, apologia, Elvis Costello, of interest, self-indulgence, something completely different, writing endeavors Leave a comment »Unsurprisingly, as I worked more and more on my book, I realized that my finish date of December 15th was far too ambitious. Well, it could have worked, but it would have meant no sleep and no social life for a month, and I would have been alright with that too, except I have, y’know, a job. But I found myself rushing through entries just because I wanted to get something done, which really isn’t the way to work. I’d rather miss my (arbitrary and self-imposed) deadline and have something of quality instead of try to get everything done in a mad panic, and have the quality slip.
So yeah, that whole December 15th thing isn’t gonna happen.
HOWEVER, I have a new, more realistic finish date for my book, which is February 13th, 2011. That gives me two months to work at my leisure, and maybe even write an album review or two in the meantime. But I make no promises!
