Noir Dame Blog

Retro-inspired culture and media – audio drama, classic TV and film

So, once you’re done listening to our holiday rarity playlists on Youtube, what else can you dig that’s retro-fied for Christmas? Here’s a list of some of the great original and classic audio dramas, and retro swing and jazz shows, plus a wonderful classic ’60s pop documentary, airing on local stations. All stations stream off the web; all times local.

Northern California’s Northstate Public Radio will be playing “Hep to the Holidays”, groovy classic jazz, on Christmas Night.

Washington DC’s WAMU plays the “Retro Cocktail Hour Christmas Party” (lots of Christmas lounge!) at 2 pm Christmas Eve, and “The Big Broadcast: Christmas Eve” (OTR fun) starting at 8 pm also on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day, listen to the Colonial Radio Christmas Special at 1 pm, followed by The Colonial Radio’s “A Christmas Carol” and Quicksilver Radio’s “The Blue Carbuncle” – a Sherlock Holmes Christmas tale – airing at 2 and 3 pm respectively, and then “Christmas Day Recollections” – more classic radio drama – at 8 pm. They also air “A Car Talk Christmas”. Not retro – unless you count the guys themselves – but still worth catching!

Indiana’s NIPR is playing Quicksilver’s “A Christmas Carol” at 6 pm Christmas Eve.

Kentucky’s WFPL is playing “A Christmas Gift for You,” the documentary story of the penultimate Christmas rock album of the ’60s, at noon on Christmas Day. Features a lot of insight into the 1963 winter creation – known as one of the best Christmas albums of all time – made with Darlene Love, Bob B. Soxx, the Ronettes and Crystals.

North Carolina’s WCQS airs “A 40s Radio Christmas” at 2 pm, “Hep to the Holidays” at 10 pm on Christmas Eve, and a “Retro Cocktail Hour Christmas” on 9 pm, Christmas Night.

Northern Michigan’s Public 90 is airing “The Retro Cocktail Hour Christmas” on Sunday the 27th, at 3 pm.

Oklahoma’s KGOU is airing “Hep to the Holidays” when the clock strikes midnight, Christmas Eve (12 AM). Christmas morning at 8:30, a “Car Talk Christmas Carol” will be airing; at 10 am catch the “Retro Cocktail Hour Christmas Hour”.

Virginia’s WHRV is airing “A Christmas Carol” at 12 noon on Christmas Day, followed by “One Silent Night,” Walter Cronkite’s narration of the Christmas armistice. At 3 pm, it airs “A Christmas Gift for You”.

Wyoming Public Radio airs “The Retro Cocktail Hour Christmas Party” at 12 noon on Christmas Eve.

Want to hear something right now? Check out SOMAFM’s streaming Christmas Lounge -mp3 feed here, pls (Windows Media) here. Don’t forget to donate!

Christmas music. Some people hate it, most of us love it, but we get tired of hearing the same fifteen songs being recorded and rerecorded by different artists and overplayed on the radio. So I went on a hunt. Thanks to the generosity of folks who have placed rare gems on the web, I’ve collected a stack of fun videos that are not the same fifteen songs about Christmas, New Year’s, and enjoying the winter holidays… not the ones typically played in the US (the UK and Ireland seem to rotate more of their music, so some of the tracks may be more familiar to anyone reading in those countries!) They’ve been assembled into playlists, so you can crank up the volume on your computer speakers, or play it on your phone. All in all, it’s well over two hours of music. Consider it just one of our presents back to you!

There are fifteen interesting tracks from the 1940s you may not know as well here, bookended by the Andrews Sisters, who sing both “Christmas Island” and the “Merry Christmas Polka”.

And here’s a list of lesser-known 1950s Christmas and other holiday tunes, such as Stan Freberg’s “Green Christmas,” Gracie Fields’ “Little Donkey,” Joni James’ “Nina Non,” Cathy and Elliot Lewis (of OTR / radio drama fame) wishing us “Happy Holidays”, and Louis Armstrong’s “Cool Yule”.

The tracks spanning the 1960s, and into 1970 proper, are a wide range of musical styles, and show a little of what was going on in the world then. Some tracks include The Marcels’ “Merry Twistmas,” Paul and Paula’s “Holiday Hootenanny”, Bing Crosby’s fun “Christmas Dinner Country Style”, Buck Owens’ “Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy,” and yes, the Royal Guardsmen’s “Snoopy’s Christmas”. This last was a sequel to “Snoopy vs. the Red Baron,” and reflects the real-life Christmas armistice of World War I.

Then this grouping, of the 1970s and 1980s, which contains as just a smattering, Jethro Tull’s “Ring Out Solstice Bells,” David Essex’s “A Winter’s Tale”, Da Yooper’s “Rusty Chevrolet,” Jona Lewie’s “Stop the Cavalry”, Boney M’s “Zion’s Daughter”, Chris de Burgh’s “A Spaceman Came Travelling,” Merle Haggard’s “Santa Claus and Popcorn,” Sting’s “Gabriel’s Message,” “What Can You Get a Wookiee for Christmas”, and “Santa Claus Must Be Polish” by Bobby Vee. It also has one cheat: it ends with “Christmas Wrapping,” by the Waitresses. While it’s been covered by the Spice Girls and by the Donnas, it’s still an offbeat classic, and while it hits heavy rotation in some markets, others don’t play it so often. This is an interesting article that goes into the “how” of “Christmas Wrapping” – hosted on the songwriter’s website.

Among the casualties of Ike, as many retro fans know already, was the Balinese Room, a Galveston island institution that had survived Hurricanes Alicia and Carla, but could not withstand Ike, despite its “Category 2″ designation. It was one of the first things we learned about, after our mandatory evacuation to Dallas, and watching the chaos unfold on television. The Balinese, of course, had been home to Frank Sinatra and many “old school” performers over the years, and was rumored to be a fave of Sinatra’s tougher buddies. Later, it had inspired a song by ZZ Top and most recently sponsored live performances – funk, rock, though we held out hope for more traditional music. One thing for sure, it was a beautiful sight whenever we were in town.

Owner Scott Arnold says he is willing to entertain “serious” proposals from investors to rebuild at the site, but is more likely planning to create a themed-club and museum on Market Street, near the historic Strand, in a building he owns there. Even this is positive news – as the equally famed Hollywood Dinner Club never came back from Galveston’s past. Meanwhile, the Texas Historical Commission has people on site who are combing through the wreckage for anything they can salvage. If you have heard of someone who managed to take artifacts away from the debris, as a souvenir, please get in touch with Lori Schwarz at the City of Galveston, or contact Scott Arnold directly through the Balinese Room website.

Meanwhile, there’s more happy news regarding the historic hotel of Tremont House, which fortunately survived Ike with minimal flood damage, along with several other treasures of Galveston Island, like the Hotel Galvez, which was created after the 1900 storm (to learn more about the history of this event, we also highly recommend Isaac’s Storm.) Meanwhile, the Galveston Historic Foundation is accepting donations to help rebuild damage after the storm.

The Harbor House at Pier 21 received damage from high waters, which implies that the neighboring Pier 21 theater, which showed a dramatic reenactment of the 1900 Storm, as well as a movie about Galveston’s pirate past, also may have been damaged. Only Galveston residents have been allowed to return on a limited basis, and as of yet, we’ve heard nothing regarding other historic and retro-themed beauties in town – like the hot pink retro apartments across from the Bank of America on Market Street (between Frost Bank and the Galveston Historical Museum) and La King’s Confectionary, the ice cream shop with 1920s’ era fixtures and old-fashioned shelves for their candy. The confectionary is raised off the ground of the Strand, but it’s unclear from photos how high the flooding was in the area. A picture on Preservation Nation shows the Strand’s flooding, including at Colonel Bubbie’s army-navy surplus store.

Nice to see that Mad Men has been honored by the Emmys for its excellent work. It’s now made history as the first basic cable show to win best series.

Interestingly, too, two old-school performers who began to make their names around the time of Mad Men also won trophies – Don Rickles for his Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project, and Tommy Smothers, who was honored for his lacerating wit on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.

According to Tom O’Neil, Mad Men producer Matthew Weiner was displeased that none of his actors were tapped to hand out awards, due to their cable status. Considering the considerable chops shown each week by this cast, and their nomination for SAG awards, well… he’s got something there!

And hey, if you’re a Mad Men fan looking to celebrate, you could do no better than the hilarious poster here created by Nobody’s Sweetheart.

You don’t have to be a New Yorker to be concerned about the imminent closure of Astroland, Coney Island’s remaining amusement park. Though, sheesh, I do remember when Brooklyn was the affordable part of the city!

Astroland was carrying on the proud tradition of Luna Park, which was Coney Island’s main park until it burned down in 1944.

In some ways, it’s a retread of other closures: a city loses an accessible park that attracted folks for decades – like Detroit’s Boblo Island, Houston’s Astroworld (closed in 2005) or Tennessee’s Opryland and Libertyland. Astroworld, as it happens, was sold by Six Flags because they expected a rich payday of $100-150 million. It sold for about $77 million. Hmm.

Owner Carol Albert has been engaged in a battle of brinksmanship with a company called Thor Equities, and its mogul Joseph Sitt. Albert sold (possibly under some pressure by the city) the land beneath Astroland to Thor, who shrunk the amount of space for public amusements from 15 to 9 acres, apparently hoping to build more condos on the waterfront. Albert has been having difficulty getting Sitt to agree to a renewal of their business lease, and decided to shut down on Friday, sixty-six years after her father-in-law first opened the park.

While Coney has seen some better years, it’s the only game in town for many New Yorkers. As a non-New Yorker, I can barely scratch the surface of a very complicated situation. Read instead the stories in the New York Times, blog Kinetic Carnival, the grassroots Save Coney Island group, Blog gowanuslounge.com and the Brooklyn Paper.

Fans of 1970s Coney flick The Warriors should know, though – the Wonder Wheel ain’t going no place, as it’s already been given historic preservation status. Still, Astroland can’t be preserved and improved? Can you dig it?