There is No Escape

I’m sure that it will come as little surprise to most of you when I say that this is the time of year I wish I was back in the States. I really wish I could spend the season with my family and friends. However, I will admit that I was looking forward to the absence of one aspect of the Christmas season in America – the music.

That’s right, I confess. I don’t like Christmas music. And now that you’ve discovered you have been reading the thoughts and observations of a veritable monster, I’ll try to assuage your horror a little and clarify that I really just don’t like commercial Christmas music. The Pussycat Dolls, Alice Cooper, and John Waters may have some… interesting perspectives on the meaning of Christmas, but I’m okay with never, ever hearing them. Does the Barenaked Ladies’ Christmas album really fill a niche that the market was lacking?

And I’ve got nothing against the more traditional music of the season, but I have no desire to listen to Faith Hill, Celine Dion, or Brian McKnight’s musical stylings (acrobatics) applied to them. In fact, I don’t even want to listen to artists that I do like sing Christmas music - Johnny Cash, Roberta Flack, Frank Sinatra - I’m talking to you. Why do artists feel like they have to do a holiday album to complete their discography? The minor offenders who only contribute a song or two to a compilation disc (U2, Annie Lennox) must bear their guilt as well, though I suppose it can be mitigated if the album is for charity.

Now we come to the Bing Crosby / Rosemary Clooney genre of Christmas music. This is tolerable, though not necessarily my favorite. To be honest, I really only want to hear Crosby crooning “White Christmas” if I’m watching the movie.

Well, now that I have thoroughly appalled you with my dislike of Christmas music, I should explain why I have confessed my deep, dark secret. As I was saying, I was really looking forward to the absence of Christmas music here in Japan, especially the obnoxious commercial holiday music most restaurants and stores play. Given the fact that I have worked in restaurants and retail stores for most of the last 12 years, the untold trauma I have suffered… So, you can only imagine my horror when, a few weeks ago, I was walking through the home center store to purchase a space heater (Have I mentioned that central heating seems to be verboten here in Japan?), and over the speakers I hear a muzak version of Wham!’s “Last Christmas.” Oh, the humanity! I now live in fear. I know it is only a matter of time before I’m assaulted with Mariah Carey belting out “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”

But I do have some appreciation for holiday music, I promise. Here are a few albums that always find their way into my playlist during the season.

1. Tchaikovsky’ s 1892 The Nutcracker: Narada Artists; 1990
2. Handel’s 1741 Messiah: The Academy of Ancient Music, directed by Christopher Hogwood; 1991
3. December: George Winston; 1990

See? There is hope for me yet.

But, since I can’t be with my family during the holidays, I’m turning to my old comforts to remind me of home –

Recent DVD viewing – Normally, around this time of the time, I get the yen to watch Citizen Kane, the greatest movie ever made. Yeah, I know, I’m such a film geek. But since I don’t have it here with me, I've settled for Touch of Evil. The screenplay isn’t that good, but the direction and cinematography is masterful and Orson Welles is, as always, absolutely brilliant.

Current reading material – Ernest Hemingway’s The Complete Short Stories: The Finca – Vigia Edition. If I were stranded on a deserted isle and could only have one book, this would be it. I will never get tired of these stories and each time I read them, I discover something new. “Big Two-Hearted River: Parts 1 & 2” are my favorites, though each and every story touches something in me.

Album currently playing on my IPOD – The Beatles’ 1966 Revolver. From the startling opening chords of “Taxman” to the beautiful melancholy of “For No One” to the wonderfully child-like “Yellow Submarine,” I am enrapt in warm comfort.

- Jenny