Roger O Green

Kennedy Center Honors 2025

George Strait, KISS, Michael Crawford, Gloria Gaynor, Sly Stallone.

The Kennedy Center Honors 2025 took place on Sunday, December 7. As people who follow the blog may know, I almost always watch the program when it’s broadcast on CBS; this year it’s scheduled for Tuesday, December 23. This year, though, is… different.

In an article in The Atlantic [behind a paywall], Alexandra Petri wrote: “For as long as I can remember, I have been obsessed with the Kennedy Center Honors, a strange, D.C.-based entertainment-awards show where four celebrities you’ve heard of (and one you should have) wear medals, sit in a special box at the Kennedy Center with the president, and receive some form of artistic tribute. Unlike other awards shows, which honor celebrities of the present, these celebrate a lifetime of achievements.” What she said.

The five

I don’t have a strong problem with the awardees. Sylvester Stallone, I’ve seen in five Rocky-related films, though no Rambo flicks, and he’s still a working actor.

I have a George Strait greatest-hits album – here’s the first cut – titled Ten Strait Hits, whose simplicity appeals to me. He is “the only act in history to have a Top 10 hit every year for over three decades. Offstage, Strait’s philanthropy has raised tens of millions of dollars for military and children’s causes, including the Jenifer Strait Foundation to preserve the memory of their daughter, and presenting 127 mortgage-free homes to wounded veterans through the Military Warriors Support Foundation.”

I know the least about Gloria Gaynor, whose “legendary career spans over 50 years, never losing momentum. The 2x Grammy winner has achieved global stardom with hit songs in the charts in all five decades. She has also shared her talent through roles in film, television, and on the Broadway stage.” Well, except for that song, which is an anthem.

Michael Crawford, I know for one thing, which he has apparently done very well. “Best known for originating the role of the Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera, Crawford’s legendary performance captivated audiences in London’s West End, on Broadway, and in Los Angeles.” He is “one of the most celebrated performers of his generation, with an illustrious career spanning theatre, television, film, and music.”

Makeup

The only KISS music I own is on a couple of compilation albums. But I used to own a couple of Marvel comics featuring the group. “Kiss, one of the most successful Gold Record Award–winning groups in American history, has sold over 100 million albums worldwide. Rising from New York’s rock scene to the pinnacle of rock royalty, they’ve earned countless awards, including induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame [in 2014].”

The KCH only inducts folks who were living as of the selection date. Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Peter Criss, and the late lead guitarist, Ace Frehley, who died in October, were awarded. This is similar to the Grateful Dead last year, when Mickey Hart, Billy Kreutzmann, Bobby Weir, and the late Phil Lesh (d. Oct 2024) were selected.

By the way, the KCH bios pages were far more robust in previous years.

Previously, the host was someone such as Walter Cronkite, Caroline Kennedy, Stephen Colbert, Glenn Close, and Queen Latifah. This year, it’s FOTUS.

This is (mostly) not a political rant. It’s not that he’s taken over the Kennedy Center, though that’s problematic. It’s that I can’t stand the sound of the man’s voice. His self-serving prattle – at the medal ceremony, he mispronounced “Stallone” twice – bugs me. Maybe I’ll record the show and fast-forward through him. Or mute him. Or something.

Oh, and how will he deal with it when CBS edits the broadcast, which they always do, and some of his yammer is cut out? Will he sue CBS? Again? (See 60 Minutes.)

I do like to see the look of wonder and surprise when the honorees are feted by their colleagues. Sigh!

How Christmas Songs Have Evolved

nostalgic, joyous, and even romantic

Over a decade ago, Alice Zhao wrote, How Christmas Songs Have Evolved Over Time. More recently, I saw a chart that said essentially the same thing: most popular Christmas songs were written before 1980, Mariah Carey notwithstanding.

Cole Haddon wrote in his 5AM StoryTalk: “I have zero mathematical evidence to support this, but I’d wager 99% of the Christmas songs we listen to every season were composed between 1800 and 1970. What happened to kill the Christmas song? Was it the death of the big band era and the songwriters who fueled it, and the musicals centered around its superstar performers? Was it the death of relentless optimism in the West that succeeded World War II? “

He wanted his readers to muse on the prompt: What makes a great Christmas song anymore?

These songs are from the last season or two:

Merry Christmas Darling – Rebecca Jade. I’ve seen her sing live a half dozen times!

Christmas In The City – Pentatonix

Merry Christmas – Ed Sheeran & Elton John, which I didn’t know about until Haddon referenced it. It “manages to be nostalgic, joyous, and even romantic as it subtly calls for us to come together and be grateful for surviving a global pandemic. I adore it.”

Winter Wonderland – Ellen, Charlotte, and Melisa. Ellen, the bass player, has a YouTube channel showcasing her skills, dating back to when she was nine.

The rest are earlier.

The Holly and the Ivy – Steeleye Span. I bought a Span box set during COVID.

Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy – Bing Crosby/David Bowie. Unless you’re of a certain age, you might not realize how bizarre this 1977 pairing was. And by the time the program aired, Bing had been deceased for over a month.

O Tannebaum – Nat King Cole. My mother’s favorite singer, singing in German!

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas – Tony Bennett. Tony was one of the great comeback stories.

Sleigh Ride – Ella Fitzgerald. I have a CD with this song

O Come, O Come Emmanuel – Whitney Houston. Backed by a one-man group (Mervyn Warren from Take 6)

We Need A Little Christmas – Angela Landsbury, from the Broadway musical Mame.

Children, Go Where I Send Thee – Natalie Merchant

What Child Is This – Vanessa Williams

The Coventry Carol – Alison Moyet. The last three songs are from A Very Special Christmas, Vol. 3 (1997), Vol. 2 (1992), and Vol. 1 (1987), respectively.

Check out Kelly’s A Daily Dose of Christmas and Coverville 1561: A Very Coverville Christmas Volume 21

Also, Mark Evanier has seasonal content most every day this month, starting with My Simple Christmas Wish by Christine Pedi.

Holiday tradition

Playing Santa Does Strange Things to a Man. What It Did to Bob Rutan Was Even Stranger.

Damn it, Chevrolet, you’re not supposed to make me cry … again …

Sixty Years Ago, When Instruments Were Played in Space for the First Time, It Was ‘Jingle Bells’ All the Way. Astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra delighted mission control with their rendition of the Christmas classic.

The CPKC Holiday Train 2025 crossing at the Cohoes-Waterford Bridge

Dec. rambling: empathy

Peter Spraugue and Rebecca Jade

Empathy is the new Christian battleground (I’m pro-empathy)

The casino-fication of news: New partnerships between the prediction market Kalshi and cable TV networks will transform every news event into a betting opportunity.

Why Pregnant Black Women Are Routinely Ignored in American Hospitals

Polypharmacy Is a Real Issue. Dismantling Public Health Won’t Fix It. — A healthy society needs more than just “quick fixes.”

As California Limits Water Use, People in Prison Face Punishment for Showering

Australia just enacted the world’s first social media ban for children under 16 years old.

African leaders convene to recognize and seek reparations for colonial-era crimes

Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. ADOPTED 10 December 1984 BY UN General Assembly resolution 39/46

Black History Has the Power to Ignite Movements. That’s Why the Right Fears It.

Remembering the heroes and the villains of World AIDS Day

A teenager redrew the Alabama voting map – and it’s now state law

Legendary Architect Frank Gehry Has Passed Away—These Are His 10 Most Iconic Designs

This Stunning Image Shows a Skydiver Falling Across the Face of the Sun. “The Fall of Icarus” – Andrew McCarthy, Cosmic Background

The Unlikely Story of an E-mail Time Machine

Drop-Off Day for A Shooting Star

At least 31 languages have a word very similar to ‘huh?’

Archaeologists Find Evidence of a Bronze City in Kazakhstan

Now I Know: The Cost of Being a Simpsons Superfan and A Free Race Ticket, With Ups and Downs, and The Book That Got Americans Hanged and The Worst of the Best is Still Pretty Amazing, and Let’s Have a Book Burning? and The Country of Cookie Dough

“Underinclusive”

A MAGA National Security Strategy; the document, which you should try to read if you can stomach it

Boat strikes: War crime or “fake news” hoax?

How he flipped America’s race conversation

Hepatitis B Vaccine Recommendation For Children Changed By CDC As Academy Of Pediatrics Opposes Decision

U.S. Wants to Scrutinize Foreign Tourists’ Social Media History. Even visitors from countries like Britain and France, whose citizens don’t need visas, would have to share five years’ worth of social media.

Get ready to consume more forever chemicals.

Daily Show: Immigration Double Standard and Jordan Klepper’s Give the Man a Prize

War on ‘woke’ comes for … fonts?

Is sleepy Donald the new ‘Sleepy Joe’?

New poll paints a grim picture of a nation under financial strain

MUSIC

Nowhere Man – Peter Sprague, featuring Rebecca Jade

Song For Bob Dylan – David Bowie

Song to Woody – Bob Dylan

Girl From the North Country – Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash

Beautiful Strangers – Mavis Staples

The Gadabout, Part II – Bryce Dessner from the Train Dreams soundtrack from the Netflix film

It’s Beginning To Look Like F This and RFK! -Randy Rainbow Song Parodies

Alex Chilton – The Replacements

La Mer by Claude Debussy

David Byrne: Tiny Desk Concert, 1 Dec 2025

Bees by Jerskin Fendrix from the motion picture Bugonia

Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way – Waylon Jennings

The Fountains of Rome by Ottorino Respighi.

Peg – Steely Dan

New Directive – Nine Inch Nails from the movie TRON: Ares

Coverville 1559: The 22nd Annual Beatles Thanksgiving Cover Story and 1560: The Alex Chilton Cover Story

From the soundtrack to One Battle After Another by Jonny Greenwood

Jackie Wilson Said (I’m in Heaven When You Smile) – Van Morrison

By the River, the second movement of the ‘Florida Suite’ by Frederick Delius (1862-1934)

J. Eric Smith’s Best Albums and Best Music Videos of 2025

One of my favorite companies, Joel Whitburn’s Record Research, has a future.

Seattle-based musician and chocolatier Aaron Lindstrom wanted to create a space that combined his two passions: chocolate and music. Cocoa Legato is a unique bean-to-bar chocolate factory and café that hosts live music performances and focuses on producing naturally vegan dark chocolate. 12/01/2025

Sunday Stealing — Catherine’s Questions

THINK

“Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

“Catherine called her blog Marvel Not a Girl, and while I don’t know for sure, it’s believed she came up with these questions herself.”

Catherine’s Questions

1) What one word describes your personality?

Apparently, it is enigmatic. Certainly not everyone, but some people think they know me better than they actually do, attributing motives to my behaviors that had indeed never occurred to me.

2) What’s the best way to get on your good side?

I believe the THINK Acronym for Kinder and More Effective Communications online definitely applies to dealing with me in person (or online).

Is it TRUE? Don’t spew gossip and theory as fact. Specifically, don’t say bad things about, say, FOTUS that are untrue, thinking this will ingratiate you to me; it will not.

Is it HELPFUL? When I think, “why did you say/do THAT?” that’s what I’m talking about.

Is it INSPIRING? My father used to say A LOT, “It is better to remain silent and appear ignorant than to speak and remove any doubt.” The quote was almost certainly not from Abraham Lincoln or Mark Twain; here is the backstory.

Is it NECESSARY? Some people fear silence.

Is it KIND? I sent a recent email reprimanding someone I thought was being snarkily unkind to me in person a few hours earlier. Some people operate on snark; I find it utterly exhausting.

Elephant Talk – King Crimson

3) What person do you feel most comfortable with?

Someone who doesn’t feel that filling every second with conversation is necessary.

Talk, it’s all talkToo much talkSmall talkTalk that trashExpressions, editorials, explanations, exclamations, exaggerationsIt’s all talk

4) Do you handle criticism well?

It depends on a) the legitimacy and b) the manner of the criticism.

5) Are you the type to tell someone, if asked, that their pants DO make them look fat?

If they REALLY want to know, I guess so.

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

Dick Van Dyke is 100

bupkis

Dick Van Dyke is 100. I have loved DVD since I watched his 1961-1966 show, which I wrote about at length here. And I loved sharing my DVDS DVD set with my daughter. Here are my favorite episodes. I know more than bupkis about the show.

But I saw him in many other programs, including his many appearances on The Carol Burnett Show, the Diagnosis: Murder series, the movie Night at the Museum, and even the New Dick Van Dyke Show, a lesser offering than the first series.

I adored his small part as old man Mr. Dawes in Mary Poppins Returns (2018), reprising a role he played in the original movie, with a lot of makeup no longer needed in the latter.

A movie I saw on television, more than once, was Cold Turkey (1971). “Hoping for positive publicity, a tobacco company offers $25 million to any American town that quits smoking for 30 days. Amid the media frenzy, Eagle Rock, Iowa, accepts the challenge–and the company’s PR man tries to sabotage the effort.” It was directed and co-written by Norman Lear.

I watched Dick Van Dyke: 98 Years of Magic two years ago, plus several other game show/variety show/special programs.

Other voices

In his 2017 documentary film, ‘If You’re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast,’ Carl Reiner had his old friends Lear and DVD come over to be interviewed by CBS Sunday Morning’s Tracy Smith. Dick has said publicly that he misses his old friends. Lear and Reiner are gone, as are almost all of his DVDS co-stars.

Here’s one of Ken Levine’s favorite episodes. Mark Evanier saw a taping of a show when he was a kid, and links to his TEN favorite episodes, and notes the comic book.

In December 2024, Kelly Sedinger linked to a couple of Dick Van Dyke Christmas-related pieces. One was the December 18, 1963, The DVDS episode of The Alan Brady Show Presents. I remember that episode extraordinarily well. As I recall, someone – Carl Reiner or maybe producer Sheldon Leonard – was resisting doing a holiday show until he realized that he could show it every year, which turned out to be two more years.

99-Year-Old Dick Van Dyke Reacts to His Life in Photos: ‘Mary Poppins,’ ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.’ American Masters on PBS will be saluting him in an episode that debuted yesterday.

All My Love – Coldplay

Happy birthday, Dick Van Dyke!