Happy Groove Year!

Happy New Year!

It's 8.30 am and everyone here at Danne and Helena's country home is fast asleep. Even Bruce the poodle. Everyone that is except for my darling daughter who is wide awake and ready to rock. She is very miffed with me that I won't turn the stereo on so that she can dance. She was boogieing down till 2 am and now wants more! DJ Daddy is not going to oblige!


Is this what the Scots call first footing?

Garrulus pops in!

A new visitor to Grandma's garden this morning: a jay. The Swedish name is nötskrika and it has the wonderful latin name garrulus glandarius. Bright sunshine and blue sky and everything looks very beautiful except the thermometer. Minus 13! Brrrrr!

Garrulus pops in!

A new visitor to Grandma's garden this morning: a jay. The Swedish name is nötskrika and it has the wonderful latin name garrulus glandarius. Bright sunshine and blue sky and everything looks very beautiful except the thermometer. Minus 13! Brrrrr!

Xmas Party - Xmas Day!

Merry Xmas everybody!

The snow continues and the populace of N. Öland have been advised not to make any journeys that are not strictly necessary. We should have gone Maria, Ulrika's sister for Xmas lunch. But down her way, snowdrifts are 2 metres high! Kai got a Wii for Xmas so he is not complaining.

Today's song is probably one of the best Xmas songs ever: Wizzard's I wish it could be Xmas every day.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoxQ4Ul_DME

One great explosion of joyfulness about the festive season. Magnificent!


Off now to the forest to leave some food for the deer.

John and Gary's Xmas party! Day 24: Xmas Eve

Merry Xmas everybody! Greetings from a very snowy Öland!

This morning Kai and I had to be dug out of a snowdrift by a tractor. It sounds a lot more dramatic than it was. A lady who was driving around as a home help had got snowed in before we arrived and she'd already called The Man With The Snow Clearing Tractor. When they saw us, I bet the locals were thinking: Bloody tourists sholdn't come in the winter!

Traffic conditions are dreadful! Only fools and reindeer are out on the roads.
Today's song is deeply ironic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRYPWlyU_Zk

If Bing tried singing this song at T Centralen or Heathrow this year, I suspect he'd be lynched on the spot!

John and Gary's Xmas party! Day 23: Thursday 23 December

One of the delights of eating breakfast at Grandma Stina's is watching the dining going on at the bird table just outside the kitchen window. It's busier than MacDonalds. Lots of tits and the that elegant ittle bird, the nuthatch.

It seems we were not the only one watching the diners. I saw a whopping great bird of prey swooping over the garden. Planning its next meal?

And now the mighty Sharon Jones and her Dap Kings explain an anomaly of urban architecture: There ain't no chimneys in the projects.

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dbh5Caj2q-_w&h=5bc67

John and Gary's Xmas Party Day 22: Wednesday 22nd December

Arrived at Grandma Stina's at 23.00 last night after a 12 hour drive down which was not at all the nightmare we had feared. The worse moment was when there was suddenly a Xmas tree rolling around on the motorway in front of us. Temperatures in Småland were minus 16 so we were glad not to have any problems. Here on Öland it's a balmy minus and very beautiful. Clear blue sky.

The worse thing about the journey was that Kai insisted on listening to Mr Hanky the Xmas Poo about 20 times. So that of course is the Xmas song for today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCPOowojiC0

It's a wonderful song but after 20 times one begins to suffer from dire ear!

Reading on Facebook about all the chaos being experienced by pals in England.A lot of Xmasses are not going to be as planned this year due to closed airports etc.

Today we are off to the forest to find a Xmas tree for Grandma Stina.

John and Gary's Xmas party! Day 21: Tuesday 21 December

I'm sure you've all heard Tom Waits's version of this song so here's that very talented Canadian, Neko Case, doing a cover.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgTPo4zRI2Q

Full of Xmas cheer. Not!

John and Gary's Xmas party! Day 20: Monday 20 December

Seattle radio DJ Bob Rivers does wonderful pastiches of Xmas songs. Here he is Dreaming of a White Trash Xmas!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u_c1oyaClU

Hilarious!

John and Gary's Xmas party! Day 19: Sunday19 December

A beautiful Swedish hymn today by a capella maestros The Real Group.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMe7oqZKdK8&feature=related

(I was trying to find a version of Nu tändas tusen juleljus (A thousand Xmas lights are being lit) that we sung at Mollie Brown's christening yesterday but wasn't really happy with any versions that I came across.)

John and Gary's Xmas party! Day 18: Saturday 18 December

One of my favourite songs this Xmas. No Doubt with a cover of The Vandals' Oi to the world. A fine Xmas message: Oi to the punks and oi to the skins and oi to the world and everybody in it!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoL1Uxwk6vc


And if you haven't heard it, don't miss The Vandals' My first Xmas a woman:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xqvQOvE0vA

Stressmas!

Ulrika is getting really stressed about Xmas and I just don't see what the problem is. There's not that much to do.

"But what about buying presents??"

"Don't worry about that!" I reassure her. "Santa fixes all that. That's what he's there for. We've all written our letters to the North Pole so on Xmas Eve we should be in for some pleasant surprises!"

What a marvelous chap he is!

John and Gary's Xmas party! Day 17: Friday 17 December

No apologies for treating you to another classic song by a great artist. Ella Fitzgerald gets her chops around The Christmas Song from her classic 1960 album Ella wishes you a swinging Christmas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGtiLouJWuU

Sounded wonderful then. It still does!

The song was written in 1944 by Mel Torm and Bob Wells in the middle of a very hot summer and made famous of course by Nat King Cole. It has been covered by every singer on the planet.

Here's Twisted Sister's version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY7l6DyMJo0

From the sublime to the ridiculous! Poor Nat must be turning in his grave!

Lucia in the sky with diamonds?

It was Lucia here on Monday. A big day. Ulrika went to watch Zoe and her nursery pals singing out in the snow: very picturesque. I drew the short straw and went to watch Kai's class at school.

Kai just hates singing in a choir: he wants to be the lead singer. If you can imagine Johny Rotten or Mick Jagger performing with the Westminster Abbey Boys Choir, you get some idea what it's like.

I was nervous!!What would he do this time? Break into an improvised rap? Moon at the parents? Climb up on the amps?

This time I was lucky. He behaved himself for once. he marched in his Santa outfit and then sat moodily on the floor. Some artists sing into their beards. He took his off and gazed at it meaningfully for 10 minutes, rather like a popstar who has been roped into some kind of naff event.

His message was clear. This frivolity is not for me. I am an artiste.I am suffering for my art.

Seven years old and he's already giving Mozza a run for his money!

John and Gary's Xmas party! Day 16: Thursday 16 December

One of the great Xmas songs. Sung by one of the great soul voices.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Axq1zNyYD8U

Aaron Neville could sing the New Orleans telephone directory and it would be magic.

There's lots more Aaron on YouTube so just cook a big pot of gumbo y'all and enjoy!

John and Gary's Xmas party! Day 15: Wednesday15 December

Shameless nostalgia today! Danish duo Nina and Frederick's big hit from the early 60s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qudi6JqE-M

Fredrik, aka Baron Von Pallandt, came to a very sticky end. From singing about donkeys, he became a drug mule for an Australian crime syndicate and was murdered in the Philippines in 1994.

This song, by the way, was recently covered by wonderful Scottish indiekids Camera Obscura.

I put this on the Farrow family musical Xmas card, much to the delight of Corinne in Valencia who hadn't heard it for donkeys' years.Her partner, Andrew, was more enthusisatic about the song I'd found about a psychopathic Santa!

Santa. With claws!

Juha sent me this gem. A portrait of Rudolf's boss before Disney got hold of him?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkyqODDF-LU

If this is what the Finnish Santa is like, I'm certainly not taking my kids anywhere near his magic grotto in Turku !

Here's a useful link:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1401143/

I feel Tarantino should remake this with a big Hollywood budget! Inglorious Santas?

John and Gary's Xmas party! Day 14: Tuesday 14 December

We have received hundreds of irate emails from Watson Language's business partners. The message has been very clear: we want metal!!
So here, to put things right, is Lemmy juggernauting his way through the old Chuck Berry classic Run Run Randolph.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsqC6HRS8Lc

So, bang those heads! Mosh that pit!

I'll confess that with me a little metal goes quite a long way.

One thing that fascinates me is how heavy metal has become so very mainstream in recent years. I'm old enough to remember when it was a really underground scene: dodgy satanists carrying out dark deeds in murky pubs in Birmingham. Nowadays it's loved by everyone: bank maagers,prime ministers, nobel prize winners. Metal has become completely socially acceptable.

My unspeakable son, who is 7 years old, started our day this morning with a blast of Lordi.

John and Gary's Xmas party! Day 13: Monday 13 December

It's the Santa Lucia celebrations here in Sweden today so we had to have a song related to this wonderful tradition. Here's rising star of the Swedish folk scene, Sofia Karlsson, in very fine voice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgfT905gUGM

Lots more clips of folk in white nighties on YouTube if those of you outside Sweden want to see what we'll be doing here today.

Here's one of them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mk0FyZqNp5Q

John and Gary's Xmas party! Day 12: Sunday 12 December

One of my absolute favourite Xmas songs today> Christmas in paradise by Mary Gauthier.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbfeclelJuI

Duncan and I saw here in Stockholm recently along with the very talented Tanja Elisabeth and, as always, she was marvelous.

She was proud to announce that she'd recently won an award as Nashville's number one gay singer-songwriter!

Xmas quiz

Here's a Xmas quiz to brighten up your day.Just one question:

Who is this person?

he lives in a very cold place in the far north

he works only about one day a year

his home is chock-a-block with toys

many people when they hear about him, refuse to believe he actually exists

he's fat and always jolly and loves children and animals

his long suffering wife has to listen to Jingle bells and Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer all year round.

Got it yet?

OK. Here's a clue. His employer supports Burnleyy F.C:

Ho ho ho!

John and Gary's Xmas party! Day 11: Saturday 11 December

Some fine Swedish indie rock today from Hello Saferide:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gJ0iqJ3Tuk

Annika Norlin really is one of Sweden's most talented songwriters. She performs in English as Hello Saferide and in Swedish as Säkert (whose album Facit was one of the best of 2011).

I discovered this little gem from Nisse Hansson's 50 Festive Favourites in Dagens Nyheter:

http://www.dn.se/kultur-noje/musik/har-ar-julens-basta-latar-1.1223647

Take a browse through that and your Xmas holiday will be saved! Many of the songs have a Spotify link.

John and Gary's Xmas party! Day 10: Friday 10 December

Here's a song that would get any Xmas party going by the fabulous Tractors.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3QZcyyVuE4&feature=related


With all the delays on the Swedish railways, I suspect Santa is more likely to stick his sleigh!

John and Gary's Xmas party! Day 9: Thursday 9 December

Across the Baltic today for some beautiful a capella singing from Finland's pride Rajaton.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBhqQqTK8mg&playnext=1&list=PL3EAA68E2840B2FDF&index=45


Thanks to Juha in Turku for telling me about them.

If it's a really cold winter, you could actually drive to Finland over the ice!

John and Gary's Xmas party! Day 8: Wednesday 8 December

An Asian Xmas today: Itsuka No Merry Christmas (A Xmas Day in memories) by the Japanese band B'z who have sold millions of albums. Very Big in Japan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QATKfOQbn3g

It's from a film soundtrack so there's even a decent video sequence.

And here as a special treat is a cover version of today's song by Japanese superstar Ayumi Hamasaki:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm8fkioPlLg&feature=related

Thanks to that Wise Man of Pop,Nils Hansson, who tipped me off about B'z. Don't miss his 50 Best Xmas songs in today's DN!

John and Gary's Xmas Party! Day 7: Tuesday 7 December

A wonderful rendition of the the Boar's Head Carol by stalwarts of the British folkrock scene, Steeleye Span


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVwr5B6VQZk

The carol dates back to the 15th century, if not earlier.It tells of the tradition of the sacrificing of a boar at Xmas,the head of which was put on the Xmas table. It all sounds pleasantly pagan to me.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boar%27s_Head_Carol

Sweeping the nation?

I like to think I have my finger somewhere near the pulse of things (on the arm if not actually on the wrist), so I was a tad shocked by the front page headline on the City freesheet: Everybody loves Finnish tango.

Are Olavi Virtu tribute concerts selling out Globen?

Are naisentanssi clubs popping up like mushrooms?

Is there a new sensation sweeping the nation?

Much though I love Finnish tango, I do feel that this was perhaps a tad hyberbolic.

Talking of Sweeping the nation, that's the name of this fab blogspot which has four hours of fab indie Xmas music to download. A real labour of love.


http://sweepingthenation.blogspot.com/2007/12/very-sweeping-christmas-complete.html

It would be impolite to say no!

Oh Lawdy!

Ian and Astrid came over for a bite of supper yesterday.

Mr Dunn brought a gift: a CD of Xmas music from Taiwan by Ying-ying Shih. Bet you're all jealous!

Kai and Zoe seemed singularly unimpressed. They grabbed a ghetto blasterette and retreated to their bedroom to play Lordi. Loud! Kids, eh? Long hair! Loud music! Disgraceful!

John and Gary's Xmas Party! Day 6: Monday 6 December

Xmas is a time for being with your family. Xmas is a time for giving.

Here's singer and comedian,Red Peters, with a darned fine little country and western ditty: You ain't getting shit for Xmas:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srHM2sIll68

John and Gary's Xmas Party! Day 5: Sunday 5 December

A Xmas carol from the Ukraine today. It's from Joy to the World, the excellent new Xmas album by Pink Martini, a 12 piece band from Portland, Oregon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj6dSQqjFlQ

They describe their sound as "music of the world without being world music" and their sophisticated albums are always a wonderful smörgasbord of different styles.

Frozen dads

Tor Tychodad and I had to stand around this afternoon while Kai, Elivira and Tycho clambered around on a large mound of snow.

Temperature was minus 10 and despite the fact that we were warmly dressed we were obliged to move around to keep from freezing. This resulted in what must have looked like a display of traditional Same dancing!

I'm just grateful that Kai hasn't yet taken up a sport involving me spending long hours standing around on the touchline.

John and Gary's Xmas Party! Day 4: Saturday 4 December

Here's one of my favourite Xmas songs of all time: Maybe this Christmas by Canadian singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BAByJQGAIg

Here he is performing it live in the office of a Spanish newspaper!

Short, sweet and completely to the point.

The geisha from Ipanema?

It will be of no interest to any of you, but I'm going to tell you anyway!

My Xmas album discovery of the day yesterday was Lisa Ono, a Japanese jazz guitarist who has done two Xmas albums. In Portuguese, bossa nova style!


http://www.amazon.com/Boas-Festas-2-Feliz-Natal/dp/B00061QXPO

Sounds pretty grim, but actually it's rather well done and agreeable in a mellow way.

All of which which gets me wondering what Japanese kids make of Santa-San. The Japanese have embraced other aspects of Western life such as baseball, so surely the fat chap gets a look in?

As an ancient and very venerable gentleman, surely he is highly revered?

Do they think he lives in Sweden or Finland?

Do they have chimneys in Tokyo?

I will investigate further!

John and Gary's Xmas Party! Day 3: Friday 3 December.

Here's Yorkshire's pride and major star of the English folk scene, Kate Rusby, extolling the delights of wassailing:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRn3iL--VUs

It's from her 2008 Xmas album Sweet Bells.

Wassailing is rather an old tradition, rather like carol-singing The poor would go to the lord of the manor and sing and be rewarded with Yuletide food and drink.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wassailing

John Timpane interviews Rickie Lee Jones

My old university pal, John Timpane, gotto interview Ms Jones. Cool!

http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20101129_Rickie_Lee_Jones_on_Bix__Billie_and_the_art_of_song.html

Björn again

There's nothing worse than the fervour of the convert! And this is particularly true of the born-again Viking.

This morning, Ulrika very sensibly wanted to take the metro to deliver Kai to school. But I wouldn't hear of it. Darling, it's a lovely morning,I insisted. It'll be a lovely walk. So off they trudged. In temperatures of minus 15. Invigorating!

I stayed at home and had a cuppa.

John and Gary's Xmas Party! Day 2: Thursday 2 December

It's minus 15 out there this morning! So some West Indian Xmas sunshine is just what's needed.

Here's The De Paur Chorus, featuring a young Harry Belafonte, from the 1958 album Calypso Christmas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvkWm4YluCo

I read a fascinating interview with Harry a while back. What an amazing life that man has led. And those old recordings like Matilda and Hold the line still cut it.

Kai loves this song.

Xmas Party ! Day One: Wednesday 1 December

We're kicking things off in a fairly mellow way.

Here's our first clip, that brilliant recluse, Ms Bush, making a rare live performance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZiadb3bpOI

Magic indeed!

An even more interesting treat would be Kate and her idol Rolf Harris doing a Xmas duet together! I'll get looking!

Welcome to John and Gary's Xmas Party!

Siberian snow storms! Hundreds of Xmas presents to buy and wrap! Mince pies and gingerbread to bake! Xmas can be so very stressful.

Today children will all start to open the doors of their advent calendars, and stuff their faces with chocolate. But why should the kids have all the fun at Xmas time?

So every day from today until Xmas, Gary and I are going to post a succulent Xmas titbit (both here and on the Watson Language page on Bacefook) to help grown-ups get through the Xmas season

Musical favourites - old and new. Vintage comedy. Film clips that have amused us. Basically anything that takes our fancy that we like and think you will too.

Hopefully this to be pretty interactive. So do feel free to post your own links, comments and suggestions.

And as we are a pair of polygluttons, there is no need for you to post in English. Swedish, Finnish, Spanish, French, German, Mandarin, Latin: all will do equally well.

Enjoy!