And In Our World of Plenty...

This week my friend RJP mentioned that during his visit to South Bend last weekend, as he enjoyed a pint or two or three in some little pub after OT and the final win by that team at that big giant school (Catholic Disneyland...), he heard the song: "All I Want for Christmas, Is You..." And he pondered a moment, posing the question:...Christmas in October? Too soon? Uh...yeah...I'd say so. Apparently though, the Holidays start earlier and earlier each year. I am as guilty as anyone...I have already asked Amber to pick a date for the Holiday Secrets & Lies/Cookies & Cocktails bash so that I could write it on my calendar and start working on my recipe. And, you know, I am fully aware that we haven't even made it to Halloween and The Knolls neighborhood Snack-o-Lantern trick-or-treat extravaganza...you know, where we parents park our a**es around the cooler, throw back a few Sam Adams' Octoberfest lagers and spooky treats; or troll the streets delighting in some chardonnay hidden inside a keg cup while our costumed children run wild down Martom and across Village and back around Pathway Manor and up Sunset collecting gobs and gobs of candy that I will eventually toss so that I cease to ingest even one more Mr. Goodbar or Reese's Peanut Butter Cup or Baby Ruth (ever notice that no one eats Baby Ruth ever any other time of year...no one ever hits Krauzers or the Deli Mart for one of those...nah, we all go right for the Snickers and the Butterfinger and the Kit Kats...but at Halloween those bad boys come out of hiding and everyone is clamoring for them...it's true, watch your friends this year when a Baby Ruth pops up in the candy bowl...usually two grown men end up wrestling for it...). Ahh...Halloween in The Knolls...now that is a fine celebration...

But I digress....back to The Holidays...

...when RJP posed his question, I began to think back to the songs that signify the coming of the season to me. Of course there is the Love Actually soundtrack (oh...ouch...love, loss, pain and true love coming to find you and bring you home on Christmas Eve...forget the soundtrack, I need to get that DVD back in rotation asap...). And anyway, you know, I am not one to listen to those December "all Christmas, all the time" radio programming

stunts...in fact, hearing Burl Ives (Have a holly jolly Christmas!) blasting at 7 a.m. as I defrost the little blue Jag's windshield would put me in an even fouler mood than the chilly wind and

grey skies possibly could... So I usually stick to mixed CD's from All Saints Day on through New Year's Day/Ellie's Birthday...

But...ok...I will admit it...there is one classic Christmas tune that just stops me dead in my tracks and lifts my Holiday spirits

exponentially...all while bringing me back to the great socially conscious Holiday heyday of my youth...the mid-80's.... Yes, kids...I think you know where I am going with this....you know from the minute the first chime rings...and then, the deeply sincere lines sung by this odd conglomeration of British male vocalists...all leading up to the pinnacle....

"And tonight thank god it's them, instead of yooooooouuuu....!!!!"

Yay! Yay! Yay, Bono and that signature verse...rocking it out with Band Aid and Ethiopian famine relief. Yay!!! And I hear it and there we are, back in '84 and of course then I know...we all know...It's Christmastime (at all)!!!

Oh...don't even try to tell me that "Do They Know It's Christmas?" doesn't kick some serious a**...holidays or not. So...I hit youtube.com right away and found the video and I watched it over and over and over. And I realized in my viewing that this year is in fact the 25th anniversary of the song's recording and release...can it be?? Can the '80's be that far behind us? So then my jealous and possessive six year old (who told me this past Friday, after I enjoyed some Cabernet in front of ADP's new outdoor fireplace, that I smelled like an omelet...or

something else delicious to eat. I

mean...the kid just owns my heart...I want

nothing more than to be delicious...my life's goal)...anyway, he asked me all about the scraggly '80's artists and why they were singing all together and who they were and where were they now...and as I played the

song over and over again for Will, I named all these Brits -- a percentage of which, by the way, my friend John pointed out, subsequently either served time for false imprisonment (hey Boy George) or lewd and lascivious behavior (talking to you George Michael) or have been addicted to H or crank or something equally low rent and dirty...I left that info out as I recounted the mission of Band Aid to my son. But back then, back in '84, this posse of London/sort of poppy/Euro/New Wave artists all had it going on...you know, there was Paul Young (did he have any other hits? who was he?) on lead vocal and then Simon LeBon and Sting and Phil Collins and Bob Geldof and Banana-effin-rama and the other

Duran Duran guys and damn, if it wasn't that dude

from Spandau Ballet...(This much is true-hoo-hoo...). And it was all kind of scrappy and shoestring and kind of thrown together...and somehow the pride of Hackensack, Kool & the Gang, were included, which always lifts the elegance factor...but it was so genuine and these artists seemed to believe in what they were doing....believed their efforts would save African children. And they became models of rock 'n roll benevolence and activism and philanthropic gestures packaged in combat boots and tranny pink lipstick and orange mohawks. How beautiful.

Ok...so then...inadvertently..."Do they Know It's Christmas?" and Band Aid became the model for and distant older cousin to USA for Africa...and as we winced a little through the glossy, highly produced and bloated copycat American version, "We Are The World"...with it's big Stateside superstars and fancy studio and legendary producer and those vocal gymnastics by

Stevie Wonder and then there's that part with Bruce...and his voice is amazing, but in the video he kind of reminds me a little of Dirk Diggler, if you know what I mean...go look at the video and then tell me I am wrong. But Steve Perry (Oooohhhh...there's a choice we're making, we're saving our own liiiiiives...) -- genius...genius as always. Now talk about a

flashback...when I hit youtube to view that little gem I felt like I was looking at footage of some hidden wax museum filled with '80's relics...Kim Carnes? James Ingram? Kenny Loggins? Huey Lewis? Jeffrey Osborne (On the Wings of Love...!!)? And wtf with Dan Akyroyd in the chorus scenes? But you know...regardless of the quasi-questionable cache of timeless talent and star power, the message was still a good

one...even if USA was a little late to the party -- scamming off Bob Geldof's genuine, spontaneous altruism -- "We Are The World" was still a beautiful gesture too.

And so you know, I kind of tuned out once the whole thing took off like wildfire and they decided to produce that big Live Aid concert...you know, that simultaneous trans-Atlantic concert with acts like Elvis Costello, Tears for Fears, U2, Queen, David Bowie, The Who, Elton John with Wham! (Holy Mother, that is some sort of gay paradise right there...) and of course, the great icon, Rick Springfield with his perennial obsessive

stalker, girlfriend-stealing classic, "Jessie's Girl." And Madonna was new on the scene, so her performance was all the rage... and in a publicity stunt like no other before in history, Phil Collins performed live in London and then flew on the Concorde to the US and performed live on drums with Led Zeppelin in Philadelphia as well...80's excess rules! All that extra bling and sparkle was a little lost on me....for me, it was always the original scruffy London production, that Bob Geldof brainchild, that was close to my heart.

So in watching the Band Aid video now, as an adult, I felt like I

was peeking inside this little bubble, this little petri dish that held in isolation a brief moment in time. The moment that we -- my Gen X brothers and sisters, I mean --the moment that we became socially aware...the moment that we realized our pop idols had brains and hearts and the need to use their gifts and talents to do good too. So, I can see why the song still makes me all tingly inside when I hear those opening chimes...it's the onslaught of the

true Christmas spirit...the joy of giving and the goodness it brings.

So, with that in mind...even though it isn't even Halloween yet, keep that Christmas spirit in your heart and remember me and

my girlfriends this weekend...walking 40 miles, the

lot of us...the Jugheads...and think of our girl Kathy (who deserves her own star-studded video song, I might add...) whom we support in our weekend away with the girls....walking, talking, chatting...maybe a white wine lunch worked in along the route...(please? can we?). Keep us in your thoughts and pray that the weekend is dry and sunny and there are no twisted ankles or pulled hamstrings or creaky glutes (that'll be my cross to bear, no doubt...)....and that the experience is all that we hope for.

xo, my loves....S

Photo 1: Halloween at Christmas? Christmas before Halloween...whatever, as long as there is candy and gifts!

Photo 2: Oh...maybe that's why grown men fight over the elusive Baby Ruth...salty, sweet, yummy and x-rated...

Photo 3: She said I'm cuuuute!

Photo 4: Sting, Bono and Simon LeBon: "and the Christmas bells that ring there are the clanging chimes of doom..."

Photo 5: Feed the World!

Photo 6: Caught in the act of something lewd, lascivious or illegal...miss the old you, George...

Photo 7: USA for Africa shows those bedraggled Brits how to gloss it up...

Photo 8 - 11: 1. Latzy, Kathy, Lisa, Chris; 2. Mary, Susan, Wendy; 3. Dana, Sam; 4. Helen, Me and Pina....Adults, Gen Xers, Best Friends and Jugheads in various states of joy and excitement pre-Walk....Stay tuned for Walk coverage next week...betting the photos won't be quite as pretty....