A Very Christmas Special Airs Tonight

For the third year running, I'm forsaking family and friends to bring you the perfect soundtrack for Christmas Eve. A Very Christmas Special starts at 5PM Eastern and runs until midnight. In other words, it ain't over 'til the fat man is sliding down your chimney.

This year's show opens with music for the kids, including The Six Million Dollar Man in 4 exciting Christmas adventures. I'll be tracking Santa's 1968 flight path with the nice NORAD folks and presenting the 1976 Veteran's Administration Christmas Program (featuring President Gerald Ford) at around 7PM. After that, it's a mix of rock, pop and jazz to guide you through your Christmas Eve, with Bono's annual reading of "Driving to Midnight Mass" at 11:45. Lots of ghosts from Christmas past in the mix, including The Beatles, The J's with Jamie, Dragnet, Kevin Mahogany, Dave Brubeck, and Burt Bacharach.

I hope you'll join me for some or all of the show. Jingle Bell Rock your way over to WFMU's Beware of the Blog too, where you can get a copy of Kevin Byrne's great live performance of "Suddenly It's Christmas" from The Last Temptation of Christmas show on December 10.

This is my last show of the year, as I'll be hosting a New Year's Eve show with Joe Wong and Brian Kiley (head writer of Conan O'Brien) at the Amazing Things Arts Center in Framingham, Massachusetts. Make some time on New Year's Eve to check this one out, if you can.

So until 2009, best wishes for the end of the year you want and hopes for a happy 2009.

Got Gifts?

Finished your shopping yet? Hear It Wow is here to help, as tonight's show will feature songs loaded with gift ideas for everyone on your list, all in a shiny package topped with jingle bells. Money and sex seem to top the wish lists of many musicians. At least that's what they write songs about.

It kicks off at 7PM Eastern on 91.5 FM in Boston. Or tune in to our CD-quality free Web stream at wmfo.org.

If you're looking for the gift of downloads, don't forget that audio links on this blog will be back in four days, just in time to load up on Disco Noel or the Greater Bostonians. You'll also find many iPod-worthy gems in my posts on WFMU's Beware of the Blog.

What Are You Doing Christmas Eve?
Whether you're trimming the tree, wrapping gifts, or just crashing from all the holiday hecticity, you'll want to have your radio or browser pointed to WMFO for my third annual Christmas Eve marathon. It starts at 5PM this year and runs until midnight, featuring all the classic Christmas tracks and my favorite finds from around the Web.

The Gift of a Podcast

For those who missed it, this year's Last Temptation of Christmas 4, my annual holiday music battle with fellow WMFO DJ Paul Day, was the best one yet. Rather than listen to me chat about it, why not enjoy it for yourself? Here's the WMFO archive, available in two parts:

Part 1

Part 2

There's zero chance of this running out of bandwidth, because we've got a lot of it. Our online archives overlap by a few minutes, so there's a bit of the previous show at the start of Part 1. Don't let the choppy audio at the start concern you--we had a misbehaving CD on the air. After that, it's all good. Enjoy.

EDIT: The links have been removed as our live archive has already been updated. I'll see about posting a podcast, should some interest appear in the Comments.

Bye-Bye Bandwidth, and the Best Show of the Year

First off, it seems that Web sleuths have again located Disco Noel on this site, because my bandwidth has suddenly been run dry. I can't do anything to fix that. Please don't ask. The counter will be reset on December 21, which will give everyone a chance to rush over at once and grab the album.

On Wednesday, December 10, I'll be posting More Christmas Disco at WFMU's Beware of the Blog. Look for it around 3PM.

Best Show of the Year...
...is an award I'm not likely to win, but if you hear only one episode of Hear It Wow in your entire life, make it this week's show.

Four years ago, when I was a mere cohost on a talk show, Paul Day and I got into an argument over who had the better taste in Christmas music. Every year since, we've thrown down in true holiday style with local celebrity judges to decide the winner. This year's show features Robby Roadsteamer and comic Tony Moschetto making the calls, and Paul and I have been busily making our playlists and checking them twice to ensure that only the coolest, hippest, or strangest songs make the cut. Past years have featured the Sex Pistols, A Toolbox Christmas, the Jingle Cats, Kay Martin, Albert Brooks, and the Christmas Macarena.

This year, we've got...wait, I can't say, because Paul reads this. But there is a very special surprise on tap. Tune it in from 7 to 9PM on December 10 at 91.5 FM in Boston, or on the Web at wmfo.org, where you'll find free streaming broadcasts for Mac and PC.