And a Happy New Year!

Here’s my virtual Christmas card to all readers of Riverside Green. As you can see, I opted out of being in this year’s picture, and I think we’re all better off for it. I apologize for my absence from this blog as of late, although some of you may have considered that my gift to you.

As I reflect on the holiday season, I tend to count my blessings, as we all do. The thing that we can all be happy about is that, as of today, there’s no more Christmas music for another eleven months. Christmas music is, without doubt, the worst of all music. It’s the only music that is entirely upfront about its commercial intent—Taylor Swift can’t even pretend that she’s making an artistic statement with her rendition of “Last Christmas.” She’s singing somebody else’s lyrics over some canned background music that’s Straight Outta Nashville. The only possible reason for a singer/musician to make a Christmas record is to make cash. That’s it. In some ways, it’s actually a bit refreshing, to not have to pretend that pop music has any integrity.

However, if you want to get ahead of the game for next year, might I recommend that you go out and get Duke Ellington’s Three Suites? Not only will you get Ellington’s marvelous arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, you’ll also get his treatment of Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite (which I was fortunate enough to perform while accompanying the Ohio State Dance department in college) and an original work, Zweet Zursday, which is a sort of musical companion to Steinbeck’s Sweet Thursday. It’s also available on Spotify, of course. If you simply must listen to Christmas music, at least listen to something good. While I have no doubt that recording the Nutcracker Suite was a cash grab on the Duke’s part, the music swings as hard as anything he ever recorded, and the arrangements are innovative.

Unfortunately, my scale says 178 on it, which is far away from the 165 I need to be by the time the American Endurance Racing season opener at Watkins Glen arrives on April 22nd, so I must throw in my P90X3 disc and get going. Thanks for hanging out with us all year.