big apple, tranky doo, cultural transmission in dance and nerdy jazz fans

Look out: this post is a bit crapworthy. I think I’ve found my idea for the article, but it needs some work. But I just had to wack this down now while it’s on my mind (and just before I ping ding to the Laundry to see a band and do some dancing). My current mission is to learn the tranky doo routine. I am crap at learning routines. Yesterday I spent an hour and half trying to learn this version of the tranky doo (because I love Manu), and only figured out three phrases. That’s some sad arse transcription/learning on my part. These stoods (in that clip) would probably have learnt that routine in an hour or hour and a half.
Doing a little youtube browsing today (as one does when one is waiting for one’s Squeeze to get up), I discovered the following neat clip:

That’s the Silver Shadows (whose members include Todd & Naomi, Skye & Frida, Andy & Nina, Peter & Caitlin – all young, ‘famous’ dancers of the type generally referred to as rock stars) there, performing a routine at the midwest lindy fest. Now, that’s some seriously excellent lindy hopping there (and you can see more of the Silver Shadows if you do a search for them on youtube – their 2005 ULHS performance was amazing), but even more interestingly, that’s some seriously excellent use of music there.
Have a look at the following clip, but more importantly, have a listen to this clip.
You’ll notice (well, you might), that the riff that pops up at about 1.29mins is repeated in the track on that first Silver Shadows clip (at about 1.44 – when the crowd goes utterly nuts). I’m not really sure, but that sounds like an edited combination of songs on the Silver Shadows clip (I could be wrong though). Even if it’s not an edited collection of songs and is one single song referencing all those other important songs, this is still important stuff.
Historically, various riffs would pop up in a range of popular jazz songs across bands and often across moments in time during theh 20s, 30s and 40s – the ‘swing era’ (as that’s my era of interest). Individual musicians would play a particular solo, or a particular bit of melody/arrangement would be reproduced in another song, elsewhere.
This is very textual poaching stuff – jazz was all about the ‘cut and paste’ or ‘sampling’ deal.
The thing that makes this Silver Shadows routine so fascinating (and so wonderful) is the way they’ve combined various bits of iconic dance routines, to a song (or song-melange) which combines iconic combinations of notes and arrangements.
If you’re not familiar with the songs, or with the choreography of these iconic routines (and if you do a search of ‘whitey’s lindy hoppers’ and ‘harlem congaroos’ you’ll find the original sections of film on youtube), you won’t recognise this stuff in the Silver Shadows’ choreography.
That they began with the song Savoy (by Lucky Millinder I think), which is named for the famous Savoy Ballroom where the Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers were based (and which is credited as the birthplace of lindy hop), and this is a fairly nice indication of where they go with the routine and their particular style of lindy hop. These are pretty solid recreationist doods, digging ‘authentic’ music and lindy.
So when you watch that clip, you see the dancers pull out a bit of the Big Apple routine from the film Keep Punchin’. And to make this moment of intertextuality/cultural transmission/textual poaching even more wonderful, that routine in the original film (as choreographed by Frankie Manning for a combination of Whitey’s Lindy Hopper dancers) also includes parts of the Tranky Doo.
And here’s Al Minns and Leon James (more Savoy dancers) doing the Tranky Doo (note the references to Marshall Stearns, who wrote the important book on African American jazz dance Jazz Dance):

And because it’s difficult to see Al and Leon properly in that footage, check out Mike and Nina (Nina is in the Silver Shadows) doing a demonstration of the Tranky Doo steps here:

The Tranky Doo is another piece of choreography from this early era of lindy hop, one that’s become a bit popular with young swing dancers today.
And to round all of this off, the Big Apple is a dance with its roots in Africa. Here’s a big chunk of my thesis about Big Apples:

John F. Szwed and Morton Marks (32) discuss the importance of called dances in African American musical history, noting the relationship between dance and musical form. Dancers were challenged by callers to perform the called steps to the best of their ability in the earliest moments of black appropriations of European folk dances. Credible performances required dancers not only be familiar with named steps, but also be able to perform them immediately, and often with variations on the step that still maintained a recognised structure. This discussion echoes a tradition from earliest African dance. Hazard-Gordon notes that “the challenge posed by the fiddler-caller, familiar to West Africans, calls upon the dancer to perform difficult combinations of steps. The best performers are those who can meet the challenge while maintaining control and coolness” (Jookin’ 21).
Malone and others draw clear connections between the ring dances of Africa, the ring Shouts of African American gospel churches and with ring dances of the 20s and 30s such as the Big Apple. The Ring Shout was a slaves’ reworking of ancient African ritual, remade to accord with European religious expectations. Performed in a ring, most often in churches or religious services, Ring Shouts placed an emphasis on innovative interpretations of set moves (Stearns and Stearns 27). The Big Apple, popular in the 1920s and 30s and choreographed by New York dancer Frankie Manning, reworked the Ring Shout with new, formal choreography and was performed in a circle by partnered and solo dancers. A range of other ‘Apples’ were popular throughout the period, and are today in contemporary swing culture, joined by new pieces such as the Japanese swing dancers’ ‘Fuji Apple’ and unchoreographed version.
In their simplest forms, ‘Apples’ are ‘called’, requiring dancers to perform steps chosen and demonstrated by a leader, a role that is shared by all in the circle. The more complex and famous Apples were more strictly choreographed – as with the Big Apple – but individuals’ executions of these set steps were always marked by individual style and variation often with a competitive edge. Despite the constraints of called dances, Big Apples in swing dance maintained a strong sense of improvisation and a valuing of innovation. The proving of a dancer’s skill lay not only in their recognising the step called, but in their interpretation and performance of that step. Footage of Frankie Manning’s dance troupe the Hot Chocolates performing his Big Apple (Keep Punchin’ 1939), is still consulted by dancers today, and aptly demonstrates the importance of individual creative styling of choreographed steps in this historical moment.

I think the reason that I get all excited about these sorts of things, is that these connections between archival film, historical African American vernacular dance, jazz music forms and practice and so on are fascilitated by the internet (my use of youtube just there was pretty important), yet are also dependent on access to archival film footage, the instruction of surviving dancers from the 1930s, individual dancers getting together now to work on this stuff (and the Silvers Shadows’ dancers are from all over the US and include Frida from Sweden), and then (perhaps most importantly), dancers in the audience (whether there on the night or later online) recognisingall this cross-referencing and clever textual poaching.
This is community media use and practice in action. And, I think, one of the most exciting parts of using dancers as a case study: here are some doods using digitial media in really complex and sophisticated ways, yet with this technology always subsidiary to the embodied dance act. The communal embodied dance act.
Useful references:
Peter and the crew discuss the big apple on jassdance.org

not the sharpest knife in the drawer




Flying

Originally uploaded by carlosluis.

I’m always the last to latch onto cool things – you can guarantee something’s no longer cool if I’ve suddenly discovered it.

I don’t know if anyone else is as interested in flickr as I am (well, except for Jean of course), but if you’re a flickr person (and I’ve noticed that a great deal of the people who’s blogs I read are), then you might be interested in the flickr blog. My timing is perfect, of course – flickr went down, just as I discover all sorts of interesting groups and photos and things to look at. This photo is one of them.
There’s another neat one here.

very un-cultural studies of me

I’ve been writing a bit about women and blues music and dance lately, my ideas fed in part by my research for the thesis, but also (and perhaps more importantly), stimulated by my own experiences as a woman in the swing dance community.
I’ve been asked to do a guest spot on a fairly spec online culture blog, writing specifically about my own research. I’ve had a bit of a think about it, not much, I must admit, as I’ve been a bit distracted, and really, I just can’t seem to put anything together in my head. I mean, I have no idea what I’d like to write about. I’ve kind of got stage fright. This is the first mass-public airing of my work where I’m likely to get/see immediate feedback (in the form of comments), and unlike academic journals or conference papers, I feel there’s a bit of pressure to write well and accessibly. I do think that the format is quite different – shorter, lots of linkage, etc etc.
And while I just know that this is a fabulous opportunity, I can’t seem to put my ideas together.
I’d quite like to do something like this hot and cool entry (with some tidying and a more coherent structure and, well point), but I’m not sure how to start.
I actually got to the hot/cool entry by way of this entry on women, blues and dance, which developed from this (fairly ordinary) entry on the same topic. And of course, that was a response to Kate‘s responses to a CD I sent her with a copy of a blues set I did a few weeks ago.
Of course, for me the most interesting part of this whole chain of thinking is the fact that we began with a set list posted on the internet, which is something I have started doing recently as a replacement for the fairly fizzly thread on the Swing Talk board where we did list our set lists ages ago, but which has recently fallen out of favour.
I found that thread particularly useful as a beginner DJ – I could see what sorts of songs different DJs in Australia are playing, the ways they’re combining them, and then (perhaps even more interesting) I could read their own comments on the sets and how they went. I read that thread in conjunction with this DJ bubs thread (which gets interesting on the second page) and the Swing DJs board, where I’m too scared to post. And of course, I also spent a great deal of time clicking between amazon.com (or cduniverse.com) and allmusic (a site which used to be better) for sound clips and musicans’ bios respectively. Radio programs like Hey Mr Jesse, which are only delivered online as podcasts have recently become really important to me (I don’t think it’s a coincidence, as Jesse has been producing this show since January 2006 and I started DJing in February of this year).
Talking about DJing in person, with real, live DJs has played a suprisingly small part in my learning to DJ. I think this is in part because I prefer to dance when I’m not DJing, dance venues generally aren’t too good for talking about DJ, and I’m not really interested in getting together to talk DJing – I’d rather talk about other crap. I do discuss levels and technology when I’m DJing or when someone else is DJing – I ask knowledgeable friends questions like “why does that sound like shit?” and then do a little hypothetical problem solving.
These were the sorts of resources that I was using to help me learn how to DJ. I was full of ideas about DJing (in part prompted by my thesis work and chapter on DJing, but not entirely – I found that most of my theoretical ideas about DJing were actually bullshit and needed to be revised post-practical experience), and feeling creative and inspired. The fact that DJing is nine tenths compulsive CD collecting and song cataloguing no doubt helped me along (I can stop whenever I want. I don’t have a problem. I don’t need to organise things. No way).
Posting set lists (and posting my discussions of them), getting feedback from more experienced DJs, and learning about DJing from reading their posts, in combination with all those other sources helped me get a handle on DJing. I must add, without the practical experience of DJing, none of these things would have been any good to me at all. And of course, most of my ideas about DJing and how to DJ are in turn fostered by my own dance experience – both in Melbourne over the years and overseas – and and by listening and dancing to other DJs’ sets.
I think it’s also important to note that all this online toing and froing is a really interesting aspect of swing DJs’ activities generally – I wrote about this in the chapter on DJing. Because we live so far apart (particularly in Australia), the internet has developed as a fabulous tool for networking between DJs, for the development of skills (and increasingly for me), networking with event organisers for scoring gigs. Travel has also been important, as it gives me a chance to touch base with DJs from out of town.
And, of course, I have to make note of the fact that I know only one female DJ from out of state who has a decent amount of experience and comes out dancing regularly or posts on Swing Talk. Here in Melbourne, there are far more female DJs than in other scenes, in part (I think) as a result of the recent ‘opening up’ of DJing at major venues like CBD (which has so many sets to fill each month and has been organised by people who have been clearly interested in expanding the DJing base in Melbourne), and (to a degree), the importance of buddying between new DJs. Glancing over the DJing roster for CBD in January, I can see that six out of the eight DJs rostered on are female. I also note that of those eight DJs, there are only perhaps two who I’d make an effort to go dancing for. Of all these DJs, most tend to play far beyond the limits of ‘swinging jazz’, with only three (myself included) playing (almost exclusively) swinging jazz from the 1930s-50s.
I have wondered if the serious emphasis on the cultural (and material) capital required for playing swinging jazz is exclusive – does it discourage women? I would suspect so. The largely exclusive language of sites like Swing DJs requires a fair bit of dancing (and listening) experience, and most of the DJs on this one sample list have only a couple of years dancing experience. The least proficient have also travelled the least (and travel, of course, demands lots of dosh). On a further note, only two of the DJs on this list are determinedly not interested in acquiring their music by illegal or file-sharing means. They are, also, the ones with the greatest interest in swinging jazz.
How do I feel about all this? I think it’s quite clear (as I wrote in my thesis) that becoming a ‘good’ DJ (and I think that ability is a combination firstly (and most importantly) of DJing ability – combining songs, keeping the floor full, ranging across a variety of moods and styles – and musicall collection – playing swinging jazz) is restricted to those with the time, money and opportunity to invest. I feel uneasy with my personal insistence that ‘good DJs’ are those who play swinging jazz, even though I know that playing unswing results in inevitable adjustments to lindy hop technique (most of which I think are not good – they result in a simpler, musically and techically less interesting dance). I feel (on some level) that I should be ok with DJs playing unswing, as unswing is more accessible and therefore a means by which more women (and less financially well off DJs) can get access to the DJing role.
I have written at length about the ways in which the ‘recreationist’ imperative of many swing dancers is a discomforting (and selective) use of history which (as I have said before) neglects the darker parts of African American history and eventually recreates scary gender stuff.
So how am I to contribute to DJing discourse when I find so many bits of it so difficult?
There is the option of using ‘buddying’ to encourage new dancers to discover swinging jazz. But that feels condescending – who am I to tell people what ‘good’ music is, especially when many of them are patently not interested in this historical stuff? And really, when the whole history of African American vernacular dance is about cultural relevence, why should I encourage dancers (and DJs) away from the pop music of their day?
I might choose to give copies of the sorts of music I really like to other DJs – how else to be sure I get to dance to the music I like? I have reservations about this on the basis of IP, but also because I have found (in the past), that sharing really good songs with one person will see them spread out, diseminated to other dancers and DJs until I find that dancers are using that song (and that version of that song) to perform routines for paid gigs. And it’s even more frustrating to find that the artists’ name and recording details have dropped from the song, so it is circulating only as a digital, nameless file.
On the one hand, this is interesting stuff. On the other, it concerns me because (particularly when these are living artists), there are musicians being screwed. I will not go as far as some other DJs and say that I resent this illicit circulation because I’m losing some sort of cred as the ‘discoverer’ of this song who ‘brings it to the dancers’ (I’m not that naive or that arrogant – this is pop music, doods). Nor will I say that I resent this because other DJs play this song, so robbing me of my ‘ace in the hole’ crowd pleaser (and attendant status as ‘awesome DJ’), mostly because it’s cool for other DJs to hear a song, ask what it’s called, say “that frickin’ rocks”, hunt it out on itunes or amazon, then play it when they next DJ (and I get to dance to that song when they play it). That doesn’t worry me. It’s more that the song is circulated as a burnt disc or shared file, with the song title, artist, recording year and musicians’ details stripped from it. It also worries me that while I might share a song or songs as a gift, other DJs and dancers compile CDs which they then sell to others. That worries me.
As a dancer, it’s frustrating when DJs simply take a ‘found’ or ‘exchanged’ or ‘gifted’ song and play it to death, without exploring that artist’s other work. I hear one version of (for example) C Jam Blues by the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and I think ‘yes – now we’re going to hear more swinging jazz. Finally. No more bullshit unswing that makes for crap dancing’ (and as a dancer, that’s how I think – I have no tolerance for unswing. I want to lindy hop to swinging jazz). But that song ends up just as one drop in anotherwise intolerable sea of overplayed pap played in clunky, unpleasant combinations that make for a night of shit dancing.
So I am in kind of a bind. My feminist instincts say ‘fight the power’ and ‘information (and music) wants to be free’. But my dancer instincts say ‘play some good frickin’ music, and learn to DJ well’.
This post has rambled on far longer than I had intended. And far beyond the original point that I wanted to make. And I kind of think it’s become a bit of a tirade against local media production and use practices in Melbourne swing culture. Which is very un-cultural studies of me.

i’m comin’ virginia

I’m currently really loving the song I’m Coming Virginia, penned by Donald Heywood and Marion Cook, recorded by a whole range of people, from Django Reinhardt to Fletcher Henderson.
I’m still loving the Maxine Sullivan version from this album (you can listen to bits of the song here). I think it’s a minor key thing. But Sullivan’s version is really just the beginning.
I’m also quite taken by a 1927 Fletcher Henderson version (Sullivan’s is 1956), though there’s a really big tempo shift (Henderson’s is about 200bpm, Sullivan’s 110bpm), and quite a serious difference in mood – Sullivan’s is mellow and laid back, Henderson’s (though mellow for much of his stuff in this period) is pretty well pre-swing and very up-and-down feeling (ie makes you want to charleston rather than swing out like a groover).
I also have a version by Sidney Bechet which I quite like, and I’m pretty well partial to another 1927 version, this time by Frank Trumbauer and his Orchestra with Bix Beiderbecke. This one, while the same year as Henderson’s, is really far more serious. You can hear the New Orleans funereal march echoes in this version (which is actually called I’m Coming Home Virginia and comes from this album). This one sits on about 132bpm.
I’m Coming Virginia is really the best song.
I think my favourite thing about it is the way it’s spelt on both my Henderson albums – I’m Coming Virgina.

solomon douglas’ swingtet’s swingmatism and the basie mosaic set!

I scored with two bits of music for christmas.
First, a friend’s band’s album: the Solomon Douglas Swingtet‘s album Swingmatism from The Squeeze’s mother, and second, The Basie Mosaic set from The Squeeze.
Both are, of course, really fricking great. It’s unfortunate, though, that Sol’s album arrived with the Basie one – they’re working (in a very general way) in the same sort of style* as the new testament Basie on the Mosaic set, and really, it’s cruel to set the two head to head. Basie wins, of course.
CDcover_small.jpg But Sol’s album really is very good – if this band was playing regularly in my city I’d be a very happy lindy hopper indeed. They’re certainly better than the B# Big Band who are the closest thing Melbourne has in comparison, and I prefer them to the JW Swing Orchestra, who are our other major swinging big band (there are others, but these are the only dancer-oriented/dancer-trained bands).
For lindy hoppers, this album is definitely worth the cash**.
…I’m try to write an even partially coherent discussion of this album, but I’m feeling a bit scatty.
Actually, my feelings about this album are mixed. Firstly, I really appreciate it as a present – it was a very thoughtful gift, and definitely something I really like. Well chosen, mother of The Squeeze (and Squeeze).
Secondly, as a general into-music type person, I like it very much. I like to support current day swinging bands, especially ones like Sol’s, where the band is led by a dancer, and tailors its sets specifically for dancers. I can also really appreciate this album as a dancer – this is some fun shit.
Thirdly, as a DJ, this is some good stuff. The version of the Big Apple Contest is a bit of a score, and there are some really nice songs on the album.
But, fourthly, as a picky, DJ nerd wench, I’m not sure this is my cup of tea. It’s a little hi-fi/new testament for my liking (though I MUST admit that it wanders through a fair old range of musical territory – there’s a nice version of Black and Tan Fantasy, for example), and I’m not sure how often I’d play this for my own pleasure at home. I do, however, really really like songs like Funky Blues – it feels like this is where it’s at.
As a picky DJ, I’m wondering when I’d play many of these songs. I’m not sure I’d choose this version of Shiny Stockings, for example, when there are so many wonderful versions by people like Basie, which really are fabulous. I’d definitely spin that version of the Big Apple song, though, and I might play a few of the other tracks to win over a few of the groover/US-favouring dancers in our scene. But I’m not sure if I’d play things from it if I was compiling my ideal set. Having said that, when do we ever get to play our ‘ideal’ sets?
So, thinking sensibly, this is one of those albums (like Mora’s Modern Rhythmists’) which is great for getting the pickier hi-fi dancers interested in proper swing-era bands: this is some shit-hot recreationist work. I’d put this CD on my sneak list. Which, of course, makes this a very useful album indeed.This is a band we should support by buying the album, as these guys are the bread and butter of swing dancing – without wonderful live bands who put such effort into their live sets and recordings, many local scenes would founder in their early days, and we’d really miss this sort of superior big band action at our big balls and major events.
I do regret the fact that I’ve been listening to this with the Basie set at the same time. There simply is no comparison. Which is a shame, as I do think Sol has done fabulous work, and I don’t doubt the band live are frickin awesome.
229.jpg The other CD I scored was the fabulous 8-CD Mosaic set. The Squeeze is the sneakiest beast on earth. In town doing our christmas shopping the other week, he suggested popping in to Basement Discs (where I’d seen this set) for a bit of browsing. I poo-pooed the idea in favour of goal-oriented shopping. He later (or had already – I’m not sure which) popped in to pick this up himself. And I scored big time.
This is one fabulous collection of new testament Basie action. There are some fricking awesome versions of lindy hopping favourites (including another version of Jive at Five for my collection), all in fantastic quality. I’m not the hugest late testament Basie fan, but this is such a great, solid collection of the dood’s work in the 1950s, I’m really very happy to have it. This was a period where Basie had some pretty shit-hot musicians on hand, working a band who were really cooking together. I can’t get over the quality. Though most of this later Basie stuff is pretty good quality, this is a really, really nice collection.
As I’ve already said, it’s a shame I first heard Sol’s band in such close proximity to this set.
But I do think that the two are complementary and definitely very nice additions to any lindy hopper (let alone DJ)’s collection. The Basie set is, however, a massive luxury, and Sol’s CD is far more accessible and practical for small-time collectors.
At the end of the day, I’m very very happy with these two presents – I couldn’t have asked for anything better…. though this Basie set has me hankering for the Peggy Lee set, which I do not need! 184.jpg
*As in they’re hi-fi, have a kind of late testament sound, etc.
**Incidentally, when I asked The Squeeze if I could use his paypal account to buy this album the other day, he declared “no way – I’m not wasting paypal dollars on that guy’s band”, and then immediately sneaked off to coordinate its purchase with his mother. This album is, of course, very Squeeze like, and he does actually think it was worth spending paypal dollars on this album. Even if they were his mother’s paypal dollars.

trifle = go

We made the trifle and it was wonderful!
I made custard for the very first time (and it was amazingly light, fluffy and lovely), we used lots of lovely fresh berries (though I’d have used even more, and forgot a few of the things in the fridge – fresh figs, blueberries, etc), I forgot the jam layer (but we decided it wasn’t necessary as it would’ve made this even sweeter, and we liked the tartness of the fruit), we used lovely local Taswegian plum liqueur stuff instead of kirsch on the cake layer, we had to use bodgy bought cake for the bottom layer because we only decided to make the trifle at the last minute, but it was all GREAT.
Now I will have to make it with old sponge cake (for historical accuracy), or perhaps a dryer cake/bread base.
Follow the links from this photo on my flickr account to see a sort-of/abridged fewd bio.

pav, you’re the BEST! This recipe has convinced me trifle is worth my time: no jelly! No urky rum or cooking sherry! No sloppy custard! No runny cream! No canned fruit! YAY!

christmas meme

via pav’s cat.
I am really enjoying having endless time to just sit online and talk and write crap. The last six months of insane teaching and busyness have made me realise what a luxery doing a phd is – you get to sit about and write and read and write and rewrite and edit as much as you like. I miss it all ready.
The nicest thing about this holiday with the ps is that we’re all superbusy people (The Squeeze does crazy late night systems admin support stuff, the mother … mothers and stuff, the father is a busy suepracademic) and we’re all really enjoying doing nothing. The father’s family are big on sitting about and talking and enjoying each other’s company. There’s been some shouting, but not as much as usual, and not me. Surpisingly. I have a history of Big Shouting, but as I pointed out to The Squeeze, we don’t shout at each other (though I do shout, generally, and sometimes in his direction. But not angrily), so it was actually strange to find my parents shouting at each other strange. But it wasn’t angry shouting – just kind of loud emoting.
Because it’s that time of year (and pav says it’s ok to be in the Spirit), here’s the most useful advise I’ve had all year:
The Squeeze said (when I was busy being worried about some nasty and insensitive comments from acquaintances):
think less about people you don’t like, and more about people you do like.
Or (the hardcore version)
think less about the people you hate (just give them a punch in the bum and fuck off) and more about the people you love.
It was the best advice ever.
But on to the meme.
1) Do you have a tree, and if so what is hanging on it?
Some nice white lights, some red/gold/green baubles. It’s a fake tree, but it looks nice.
2) What’s the most successful bit of Christmas cooking you’ve done so far?
Mince tarts!
3) And the least successful?
Fried rice with herbs. Boring boring boring. Too dry. Dumb. Waste of nice prawns and pink ling (that’s a fish).
4) Which bit of your Christmas shopping are you happiest with?
The p’s present: it’s one of those amazing toilet seats that’s clear plastic but with wonderfully tacky sea shells and things inside it. They will LOVE IT. Especially the father.
5) Have you opened any of your presents yet? What was it / were they?
Nope.
6) Do you have any bad Christmas associations that will have to be tackled?
Well, family stuff with my sister in law. But that’s largely sorted. Because she’s in Brisvegas and I’m in Hobart.
7) What’s your favourite carol? Why?
The Holly and the Ivy (I think it’s called that), because it’s really nice to sing. But the other day I discovered that the tune of Deck the Halls works really nicely with all sorts of lyrics, especialy when you’re riding your bike.
8) Which part of your Christmas plans is most likely to go awry?
Turkey. It can suck if it’s over cooked.
We are also flying back to Melbourne Boxing Day for dinner with The Squeeze’s mothers and grandfather. That could be a bit tiring.
9) What’s your most favourite thing about Christmas?
I like the hardcore food (cooking, more like).
I like coming down to Tasmania.
I like the way The Squeeze is really relaxed and fun.
10) What’s your least favourite thing about it?
Spending so much money on crap (though we have become less present-centered since the year the mother was really ill. We had only a couple of days after she came out of hospital to get presents, and because we were all kind of preoccupied, we didn’t fuss about presents or food too majory – we were more mellow and just spent time enjoying each other’s company and plain old counting our blessings.
It feels like we now spend less time fretting about crap like whether we got people good enough presents or will have a ‘proper’ christmas (something that always seems on the mother’s (English) mind).
Now we just do nice things. And I like that. We’ve also learnt to really enjoy grownup christmases without kids…so I guess this is mostly a story about the good things about christmas.
11) What Christmassy thing have you seen or heard in the street or on the teeve or in the blogosphere that has
(a) touched your heart
Ummm a version of ‘from little things big things grow’ being sung by Paul Kelly. Not quite Archie Roach, pav, but still, it’s a wonderful song.
(b) hit a nerve
…nothing?
or (c) made you want to barf?
I felt a little nausious afte eating too much last night.
12) Who do you wish you had contacted to say Happy Christmas but haven’t so far?
Most everyone. I have been super slack this past six months, generally. I owe my friends some communication.