You ever notice how the last 10 days of every year are always jam-packed with events and holidays? You start with the awesome Winter Solstice, then Xmas Eve and Xmas Day (sometimes there are years, like this year, when Hannukah falls around that same 10-day period), and then it’s New Year’s Eve. There are countries around the globe which have other holidays they observe in those last 10 days of the year as well (Canada’s Boxing Day comes to mind, prolly because Bob & Doug McKenzie remind me about it every year I listen to their version of “The Twelve Days Of Christmas,” from their 1981 comedy album, THE GREAT WHITE NORTH).
Bob & Doug McKenzie, celebrating the Twelve Days Of Christmas in The Great White North, 1981.
I can’t vouch for any other countries, but for as long as I can remember, here in the U.S. anyway, until about 6:00pm Xmas Eve (and to borrow from the brilliant NBC TV show, THE GOOD PLACE), it’s a forking shirtshow. I’m sure Mary’s Boy Child, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself didn’t have that in mind about Xmas back in the day. But, like clockwork, once Xmas is over, and for the last six days of the year, it goes from everything Xmas to everything revisited from the past year — a parade of seemingly endless lists featuring the best and worst of everything from the year almost gone by.
But, December 31, 2019 will not only be the end the year, it’s the end of the decade as well. And, for me, this decade had some moments, both good and bad…
In this past decade, I lost the best job I ever had (so far), followed by unemployment for the first time in my life, and later temp work (which led to the job I’m currently in, as of this writing, anyway).
The poster for the last regular STUCK IN THE 80s show, 2.12.2017.
The 2010s saw the end of my long-running radio show, STUCK IN THE 80s, after nearly 21 years, with a celebration on my 50th birthday where Maryhope, Jedi Master Shawn Emerick and I braved the Valentine’s weekend blizzard of 2017, the three of us shared the air for one more time together, shut down the station after the show, and I even got to “drop the mic.”
Shawn Emerick, Maryhope and me, WMPG-FM, 2.12.2017, being STUCK IN THE 80s together one more time.
The last couple of years, though, and this year in particular, have been among the hardest in my life. In mid-December 2017, I lost my biological baby brother, Mark. In early October of this year, my adopted baby brother Jonn, such an incredible spirit, the father of two amazing girls (ages 11 and 7), and a two-time Iraq war veteran, died unexpectedly at just 32. And, in early July 2019, one of the strongest and most incredible and loving men I’ve ever known, Maryhope’s dad, Dennis, passed away, surrounded by family from all over. I haven’t properly written blog posts about them yet, and I promise there will be blog posts, or long distance dedications, if you will, on the way in the New Year dedicated to Jonn and Dennis.
Me and my brother Jonn and one of my favorite photos of the two of us, from Thanksgiving 2017.
The high point of the 2010s, though, for me, is finding the love of my life after a 50-year search, and she was right there the whole time — my best friend, Maryhope. She has inspired me in so many ways, from getting me into new (old) music to writing this blog, from embracing my inner hippie to running again for the first time in decades (inspiring my training for a 5K for the first time in my life); from eating better, getting me to try yoga, meditation and tea (and loving all of it) to being at my lowest weight in 24 years. She is the light in my life and the love of my life, and to borrow from a sweet, amazing song by Ben Folds, I am the luckiest.
Me and Maryhope, Pine Point, Scarborough, Maine, 10.24.2019.
This past decade, I’ve had the best New Year’s Eves of my entire life — with Maryhope. A couple of years ago, for New Year’s Eve 2017, we even took over the WMPG airwaves for eight-and-a-half hours that night, though it didn’t start out that way. We were only supposed to be on the air for four hours, I believe, in our old time slots on Sunday night, but then other hosts asked if we would fill in for them too. Four hours turned into six, then to eight-and-a-half, which put us 90 minutes into 2018! In all the years I’ve been on the radio, I’ve had the most fun (and done my best work) on the air with Maryhope. We had a such a great time making radio and ringing in the New Year on the air.
The 2017 poster for our epic 8 1/2 hour New Year’s Dance Party welcoming in 2018.
It’s the subject of ringing in the New Year that inspired me to write one more blog post this year, which itself is inspired by one of my favorite songs by England’s XTC that really was the perfect choice: “Sacrificial Bonfire” from the 1986 Todd Rundgren-produced masterpiece, SKYLARKING.
It took awhile, but over the years, I grew to love the music of XTC, and while “Dear God” may have inspired me (and many others) to buy the album, 33 years later, SKYLARKING remains as one of my all-time favorite albums, though interestingly enough, not for “Dear God” (which wasn’t on the original album release).
NERDY CHART FACT: Out of the 14 albums XTC released between 1978 and 2000 (including two albums by the XTC side project, The Dukes Of Stratosphear), SKYLARKING is still often regarded today as their best album, but strangely enough, it’s their lowest-charting album in the U.K., spending only a week on the U.K. album chart at No. 90. Here in the U.S., SKYLARKING peaked at a respectable No. 70 on the BILLBOARD album chart, but three of their other albums – 1980’s BLACK SEA, 1982’s ENGLISH SETTLEMENT, and 1989’s ORANGES & LEMONS, all charted higher.
NERDY TUBE-ULAR FUN FACTS: XTC co-founder and drummer Terry Chambers left the band in 1982, and for stepping in on drums for SKYLARKING was Prairie Prince, the drummer for The Tubes. Prairie Prince was credited on the album as “the part of the time bomb,” while special thanks were given to The Tubes themselves (“who let us use their amplifiers”).
Vocalist and guitarist Andy Partridge wrote most of the songs on SKYLARKING, while bassist and vocalist Colin Moulding wrote five songs, including the album’s gorgeous closer, “Sacrificial Bonfire.”
The first 10 seconds of the song starts with a soft echo of subtle, yet prominent pounding drums which grow louder with each second, and segues into a beautiful, Pagan-inspired guitar bit that Colin Moulding described in a 1998 interview as “a a touch of ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ and a bit of Arthur Brown’s ‘Fire’ in it, I suppose. But I wasn’t moralizing. It was just that this was an evil piece of music and good would triumph over it.”
Todd Rundgren added a stunning eight-piece string arrangement to the song, and Andy Partridge, in the same 1998 interview, agreed: “It was a good ending to the album, fading deep into the night. It just leaves you in blackness with the slightest hint that dawn is coming.”
I keep coming back to the lines “Change must be earned / Sacrificial bonfire must burn / Burn up the old / Ring in the new / Burn up the old, ring in the new…”
2019 had some truly amazing moments in it, like going to New York with Maryhope the first weekend in January and seeing Strawberry Fields, The Met, The Cloisters and unintentionally being part of a street dance routine near Times Square, but overall it was a hard year. For me, I think “Sacrificial Bonfire” exudes hope that when you “burn up the old” and “ring in the New,” or “reign in the good” and “banish the bad,” there’s that strong chance, that strong belief, that strong, deep feeling inside you that the next year will be better. And I believe that, I really do.
So, let’s go to take the advice from the boys out of Swindon, “burn up the old” and “ring in the New,” and I truly wish that your 2020 is full of hope and excitement and peace, a new U.S. president, and a much-belated Rock Hall nod for Cyndi Lauper (for starters), and to borrow from John Lennon, who would have been 80 in 2020, I hope it’s a good one, without any fear…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiVhg2_aVtg
XTC, 1986, from L to R: Dave Gregory, Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding.
FOREVER YOUNG 