Sorry to disappoint, but this Sunday is New Year's Eve and Jazz90.1 has "holiday programming" scheduled for the whole day...so no 2 On The Aisle!
However, the following Sunday (Jan. 7th), I'll be back with a co-host, my daughter Bellisant. So do tune in for that. We'll be up to our usual falderol (however you spell it), and much fun will no doubt ensue. :)
Meanwhile HAPPY 2024, which sounds quite Star Trek date-ish to me, and I'll keep saving that seat for ya!
Now! Now! Now...it's TIME. The Holidaze have descended. Das Tannenbaum ist UP. The poinsettias are pointing. Chestnuts are roasting (check the oven timer!), nog is getting more and more nogged, and the bank account has been shrink/shrank/shrunk to adequately provide for much gifting. Ready, set, go!
And that's what we're doing this Sunday. It's the Chocked-Full-of-Christmas Edition of 2 On The Aisle, and it's live, baby! I haven't had a Christmas Eve on a Sunday show EVER before. Seems like I'm often traveling to hinterlands afar on this holiday OR it falls on a Tuesday or something. But the stars have aligned (if not my bite) to allow for some Holiday Broadway (plus Holiday Hollywood and pop and Dr. Demento) to go LIVE on 2 On The Aisle.
I cannot wait.
What do YOU do on Christmas Eve afternoon? Prep those 7 Fishes? Furiously wrap? String popcorn (man, am I old school)? Defrost? Truss a tur-duck-en? Well, any and all of those chores can be done to the tune of Jazz90.1. It might just make the toughest tur-duck-en truss easier. Lots of White Christmas tunes, Plaid Tidings, a bit of Babs, Leslie, The Dukes Of Hazzard (WT...???), Eartha, Pearl, Allan...they'll all show up.
All this to say, Happy and Merry and Cheers for a fantastic holiday, whatever you celebrate, and HOWEVER you celebrate. Thanks so much for a year of listening (and donating) to Jazz90.1...and may 2024 be all merry and bright (with Broadway lights) for YOU! :)
Happy Holidays (Brian D'arcy James, Jeffry Denman, Irving Berlin's White Christmas)
Holiday Season (Tom Wopat, John Schneider, Home For Christmas)
We Need A Little Christmas (Angela Lansbury, Frankie Michaels, Jane Connell, Sab Shimono, Mame)
Five Pound Box Of Money (Pearl Bailey)
Hey Santa! (Straight No Chaser, Christmas Cheers)
Christmas Island (Leon Redbone, Christmas Island)
(I'm Spending) Hanukkah In Santa Monica (Tom Lehrer, The Conducted Tom Lehrer)
Blue Xmas (Bob Dorough, The Miles Davis Sextet)
Nothin' For Christmas (Eartha Kitt)
Sisters (Rosemary Clooney, Trudy Erwin, Christmas)
The Best Things (Happen When You're Dancing)(Danny Kaye, White Christmas)
Snow (Danny Kaye, Bing Crosby, Peggy Lee, Trudy Erwin, White Christmas)
Count Your Blessings (Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, White Christmas)
Love, You Didn't Do Right By Me (Rosemary Clooney, White Christmas)
White Christmas (Company, White Christmas)
Christmas Is My Favorite Time Of Year (Norbert Leo Butz, Aaron Tveit, Catch Me If You Can)
Hard Candy Christmas (Ensemble, The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas)
Lovers On Christmas Eve (James Naughton, Joanna Gleason, I Love My Wife)
Santa Claus Is Back In Town (Elvis Presley)
Santa Claus Is Back In Town (Straight No Chaser, Christmas Cheers)
Christmas Eve (Nathan Lane, Ensemble, Sherry!)
Happy Holiday (Bing Crosby, Holiday Inn)
Pine Cones And Holly Berries (Laurence Naismith, Here's Love)
Let It Snow (Ensemble, Holiday In Plaid)
Twelve Days to Christmas (Ensemble, She Loves Me)
The Twelve Gifts Of Christmas (Allan Sherman, For Swingin' Livers Only)
The 12 Days Of Christmas (Straight No Chaser, Christmas Cheers)
Baby, It's Cold Outside (John Schneider, Tom Wopat, Home For Christmas)
Who Spiked The Eggnog? (Straight No Chaser, Christmas Cheers)
Talk Christmas/Cool Yule (Ensemble, Holiday In Plaid)
Christmas Dragnet (Stan Freberg, Daws Butler, Dr. Demento Presents The Greatest Christmas Novelty CD Of All Time)
I'll Be Home For Christmas (Leslie Odom, Jr., Simply Christmas)
Christmas Mem'ries (Barbra Streisand, Christmas Memories)
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (Judy Garland, Meet Me In St. Louis)
Okay, so...I brought out the Santa and Mrs. Claus salt & pepper set. And okay, I brought out the Lowe's (on discount) wreath that's been marking time under my Memory Foam. And okay, I bought that $7 holly-berry candy dish, found my Santa hat, and have successfully sent out 17 holiday cards. Baby steps, maybe, but I feel rather proud of myself.
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Oh, and 1 more quart of vegan eggnog scored.
This week, we'll bide our time...one more program til that Christmas extravaganza on Dec. 24th. THIS edition is all about those musical animals: Tigers, Lions, Dogs, Elephants, Squid, even Worms! They will all have their turn in the spotlight this Sunday. I drew the line at Doctor Doolittle, even though it DOES fit pretty perfectly. I just can't tolerate that one. But with that exception, we'll have our full of Disney and Snoopy and "Oz" and SpongeBob. It's fun, it's fierce (note Lions!), it's a little icky (note Worms!), but overall quite the Musical Menagerie. Hey, I think we just found the title for this fauna-esque edition. :)
Also, perhaps it'll stop raining (and glooming) and you'll want to make your way down to the ROC Holiday Village, where you can grab a mug of cocoa from the likes of Jazz90.1. I'll be there (at our very own booth) prior to 2 On The Aisle on the morning of the 17th, as I am "Volunteer #2", slinging hot chocolate and (hopefully) marshmallows. I've never been to this "Village", but it's supposed to be fun, especially if we can program nice Snow Globey weather, with White Christmas playing in the background. Shake your snow sticks at the sky (but gently, cuz we don't need a blizzard)!
And remember to tune in to that Christmas Edition on the 24th! We'll be simply chock-full (and I do love chocks!) of holiday music and musicals, so put that on your calendar and smoke it. Til then! :)
Tiger Rag (Ensemble, Bullets Over Broadway)
If I Were King Of The Forest (Bert Lahr, The Wizard Of Oz)
The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Lebo M., The Lion King)
Mean Ole Lion (Ted Ross, The Wiz)
Hakuna Matata (Max Casella, Tom Alan Robbins, The Lion King)
Ev'rybody Wants To Be A Cat (Scatman Crothers, Phil Harris, The Aristocats)
The Siamese Cat Song (Peggy Lee, Lady And The Tramp)
Alley Cat (Instrumental, Bent Fabric)
Pet Me Poppa (Vivian Blaine, Hot Box Girls, Guys And Dolls)
Snoopy (Bill Hinnant, You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown)
He's A Tramp (Peggy Lee, Lady And The Tramp)
Where Did That Little Dog Go? (Terry Kerwin, Snoopy! The Musical)
Be Like The Bluebird (Mickey Deems, Anything Goes)
Feed The Birds (Julie Andrews, Mary Poppins)
Oh, Sing Sweet Nightingale (Ilene Woods, Rhoda Williams, Cinderella)
I've Gotta Crow (Mary Martin, Peter Pan)
When I See An Elephant Fly (Cliff Edwards and the Hall Johnson Choir, Dumbo)
Pink Elephants On Parade (Instrumental, Dumbo)
The Pink Panther Theme (The Sportsmen, The Pink Panther)
Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer (Straight No Chaser, Christmas Cheers)
Don't Monkey With Broadway (Fred Astaire, George Murphy, Broadway Melody Of 1940)
I Wanna Be Like You (Louie Prima, Phil Harris, Bruce Reitherman, The Jungle Book)
Monkeys And Playbills (Susan Blackwell, Heidi Blickenstaff, [title of show])
Catfish (Jim Wann, Mark Hardwick, Ensemble, Pump Boys And Dinettes)
Les Poisson (Rene Auberjonois, The Little Mermaid)
Whale Of A Tale (Kirk Douglas, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea)
(The Legend Of) Miss Baltimore Crabs (Linda Hart, Hairspray)
Be My Little Baby Bumblebee (Doris Day)
Inchworm (Danny Kaye, Hans Christian Andersen)
Don't Be The Bunny (John Cullum, Urinetown)
The Work Song (Jimmy McDonald, Cinderella)
I'm Coming Out Of My Shell (Frank Vlastnik, A Year With Frog And Toad)
I'm Not A Loser (Gavin Lee, SpongeBob Square Pants)
Little Green Snake (Jackie Gleason, Take Me Along)
The Frogs (The Frogs, The Frogs)
When You Wish Upon A Star (Cliff Edwards, Pinocchio)
Animal Crackers In My Soup (Shirley Temple, Curly Top)
The Holiday To Do List is growing. Menus to concoct, gifts to (sustainably?) wrap, decorations to find (hey, I only have 2 closets in this house, how deep can they be buried?), and that TREE that is only 2 feet taller than my ceiling!?! What was I thinking? It'll take up half of my living room. Either the tree gets trimmed or I chuck my couch. (Who needs a couch. Elves can sit anywhere.)
Multiply the height and girth of this specimen by 10 and you have MY tree.
So I'm finally getting into a bit of the Christmas-y mood around here (and the spiked eggnog doesn't hurt). Snow would help, too, as opposed to this "dank tarn of Auber" weather, but NYS-ers can't be choosers. Maybe it'll be a Brown Christmas, Bing.
Meanwhile, amidst all the fah and the lah, there are a bevy of Broadway Birthdays to salute around here. I always feel a bit sorry for those Sagittarians who most likely end up squelching their special days into the holi-days..."Oh, here's a slightly larger present, for BOTH your birthday annnnnnd Kwanzaa!" That kind of squelch. Overshadowed. Short-changed.
Sammy's birthday (above with Paula Wayne) is Dec. 8th...
and Frank's (below with Betty Garrett) is Dec. 12th.
So we'll make amends. Sammy Davis, Jr. (who did 2 Broadway shows, BTW) and Frank Sinatra (who did 0 Broadway shows, BTW) both have birthdays this coming week. As do the lyricists Ira Gershwin and Lew Brown. Annnnd it's the opening anniversary of City Of Angels, My Favorite Year, and Swing! That means a heckuva lot of confetti and cake and huzzahs. Maybe we can think of it as a warm up session pre- all those holiday parties.
And Swing! premiered on Dec. 9, 1999.
And remember: The Christmas Edition of 2 On The Aisle premiers on the 24th, okay? Annnnnd on January 7th, Bellisant (demon child from Philly) will return to join me for another co-hosting edition. Hot damn. They always soup up the show, right? So just always tune in, because you don't want to miss anything Broadway. :)))
You're A Builder Upper (Christopher Fitzgerald, Jessica Stone, Life Begins At 8:40)
Welcome To Brooklyn (Evan Pappas, Lainie Kazan, Tim Curry, Ensemble, My Favorite Year)
Manhattan (Tim Curry, My Favorite Year)
My Favorite Year (Evan Pappas, Company, My Favorite Year)
I'll Be Glad When You're Dead (You Rascal, You)(Sammy Davis, Jr., Rufus T Jones For President)
Too Close For Comfort (Sammy Davis, Jr., Mr. Wonderful)
Night Song (Sammy Davis, Jr., Golden Boy)
Don't Forget About 127th Street (Sammy Davis, Jr., Johnny Brown, Golden Boy)
Subway Directions/Ride Through The Night (Sydney Chaplain, Carol Lawrence, Subways Are For Sleeping)
Strange Duet (Orson Bean, Phyllis Newman, Subways Are For Sleeping)
Be A Santa (Sydney Chaplin, Ensemble, Subways Are For Sleeping)
Button Up Your Overcoat (Helen Kane)
Life Is Just A Bowl Of Cherries (Walter Harrah & Friends)
Birth Of The Blues (Keely Smith, Louie Prima)
You're Awful (Frank Sinatra, Betty Garrett, On The Town)
Time After Time (Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Durante, It Happened In Brooklyn)
If You Knew Susie (Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Anchors Aweigh)
You'll Get Yours (Frank Sinatra)
Seesaw (Company, Seesaw)
We've Got It (Ken Howard, Seesaw)
Chapter 54, Number 1909 (Tommy Tune, Ken Howard, Michele Lee, Seesaw)
They Can't Take That Away From Me (Harry Groener, Crazy For You)
The Man That Got Away (Judy Garland, A Star Is Born)
Long Ago (And Far Away) (Ann Hampton Callaway, Jazz Goes To The Movies)
Prologue - Theme From City Of Angels (James Naughton, Ensemble, City Of Angels)
Lost And Found (Rachel York, City Of Angels)
Double Talk Walk (Gregg Edelman, City Of Angels)
With Every Breath I Take (Kay McClelland, City Of Angels)
Blues In The Night (Ann Hampton Callaway, Swing!)
In The Mood/Don't Sit Under The Apple Tree (Company, Swing!)
