Here We Go Again

[Modernistfan]

Well, Thanksgiving was one day ago and the turkey is barely cold and, already, the local station, KUSC-FM, has already decided to junk up their programming with all sorts of holiday slop.
I just fired this note off to them on their comment line:

​With the holiday season starting, I urgently request you to seriously rethink your
holiday programming. You seem not to realize that a substantial fraction of your audience does not even celebrate Christmas in any manner. Of the remainder of your audience that does celebrate Christmas in some way, I suspect that the vast majority would want to hear real Christmas-themed music on your station rather than the sort of junk that is piped into every overcrowded mall in America. By "real Christmas-themed music," I am referring to such works as Bach's "Christmas Oratorio," Honegger's "Un Cantate de Noel," Berlioz's "L'Enfance du Christ," and many others, which I can readily listen to without caring about the theology behind them (I happen to be Jewish). However, for you to play such trash as "classical" arrangements of "Jingle Bells" or "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" patronizes your listeners and insults their intelligence. Please reconsider.

Yes, they played "Jingle Bells" and "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" today. I shudder to think about what is coming up. I shall post any answers that I receive.

[CharmNewton]

If you're signed up for Spotify or another service with a good coverage of classical music why not make your self a playlist and listen to what you want. I listened to the Rothenberger Lulu on Spotify as well as sampled some of Leonard Bernstein's piano music on a recent DG download only collection. I'm sure if your tastes run to Xenakis, Boulez or Stockhausen they probably have some of that too, although I didn't take the time to search.

Spotify is free, but the free version contains ads, although they never interrupt a long movement with an ad. They'd probably like some empirical data on who really listens to modern music.

You have options to satisfy your tastes. KUSC probably knows their audience better than you.

John

[david johnson]

If you are truly lucky, someone will play the Jessica Simpson Christmas album for you … non-stop

[jserraglio]

why not make your self a playlist and listen to what you want.

Currently listening to this wonderful online holiday-bash playlist centered on NYC:

01) The Four Knights - What Are You Doin New Year's Eve 1947
02) Anne Shelton - Crystal Ball 1953
03) Teddy Wilson & Billie Holiday - I Wished On The Moon 1935
04) Ethel Waters - Moon Glow 1934
05) Greta Keller - I Believe In Miracles 1935
06) Hal Kemp (Skinnay Ennis, voc.) - Got A Date With an Angel 1937
07) Art Jarrett - Dinner At Eight 1933
08) Ozzie Nelson - About A Quarter to Nine 1935
09) Fats Waller - Got a Brand New Suit 1935
10) The Dorsey Brothers - Top Hat White Tie And Tails 1935
11) Blanche Calloway - I'm Getting Myself Ready for You 1931
12) Bill Samuels Trio - Let Me Off Uptown 1949
13) Bob Howard - Formal Night in Harlem 1937
14) Ray Noble (the Merry Macs, voc) - Slumming On Park Avenue 1937
15) Jan Garber (Maxwell Covert, voc.) - Puttin on The Ritz 1930
16) The Boswell Sisters - Forty-Second Street 1933
17) Xavier Cugat - Rhumba At the Waldorf 1947
18) Harry James (Kitty Kallen, voc.) - 11.60 P.M. 1945
19) Beryl Davis - Auld Lang Syne 1948
20) Lonnie Johnson - Happy New Year, Darling 1947
21) Clarence Williams - Whoop It Up 1929
22) Joe Venuti (Slim Fortier, voc.) - One Minute to One 12-29-33
23) Muggsy Spanier - Two O'Clock Jump 1942
24) The Miltones - 3 O'Clock In The Morning 1947
25) Harry Reser (Tom Stacks, voc.) - Oh Baby What a Night 1929
26) Bob Crosby (with the Dorsey Brothers Orch.) - Lullaby of Broadway 1935
27) Jack Denny (Scrappy Lamber, voc.) - At The Peep Of Dawn i Love You 1929
28) Henry Red Allen - Goodnight My Lucky Day 1937
29) The Norman Luboff Choir - Goodnight Ladies 1955
30) Vivien Leigh & Robert Taylor (from the Waterloo Bridge ST) - Auld Lang Syne 1940

[John F]

I doubt that Modernistfan would go for that.

[Modernistfan]

Actually, I would go for that. I love some of that stuff, especially Fats Waller (even though I am now actually listening to Olivier Messiaen's "Et Exspecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum.") That music is presented for what it is and does not insult the listener's intelligence the way the junk on KUSC does.