¡Feliz Navidad!

(First an apology. My illustrations using YouTube videos have ads that you have to endure for a few seconds before you can dismiss them. YouTube needs to make money, after all.)

Years ago I was bewildered by the popularity of José Feliciano's Christmas tune "Feliz Navidad." It has a catchy tune and two lines that are repeated over and over and over.

A web site that gives us songs' lyrics gives us this:

Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad

Prospero Año y Felicidad.

Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad

Prospero Año y Felicidad.

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas

From the bottom of my heart.

[Repeats]

"Repeats" is putting it mildly. 

The song got a lot of airplay when it was new. I didn't really like it then but the rest of the world seemed to love it. It came back year after year. I was hoping the interest in the song would wane and we could get back to more complex Christmas tunes.

I made a game of my bewilderment. I deemed a successful Christmas season as one when I didn't hear that tune played even once. It is difficult to avoid. Shopping malls play Christmas carols and you can't avoid shopping malls at Christmastime.

Its popularity spread...it's not just for shopping malls anymore. It has invaded classical radio. It can't be avoided. The Three Tenors™ sang a version of it. They livened it up a bit with some extra lines. Plácido gives us the line "I want to wish you a Merry Christmas with lots of presents to make you happy!" It doesn't help. It's a dull song even when given superstar treatment.

Christmas 2012 is not a success. I got to hear a very sappy rendition of it today in the bathroom of the restaurant we had lunch at today. Today is still September.

I don't think I have gone a year without hearing the song since I invented my game. Sigh.

Turtle Tchotchke Tuesday

A coaster we got at SeaWorld from the gift shop of Turtle Reef.

Turtle Tchotchke Tuesday

A pottery turtle by Ryan Roller.

Its underside.

Turtle Tchotchke Tuesday

A ceramic candle holder.

Turtle Tchotchke Tuesday

A Red-eared Slider made of nanoblocks (2¼ inches long).

Peggy gave me this while we were visiting New Mexico.

Cohen the Violinist, 2012

The 2013 edition is HERE.

It's Labor Day weekend! Ms. Magic Meryle Cohen, Cohen the Violinist, published her annual celebration today. Here's this year's edition of her story (click on it to see it better, you might need to open it in another window if you have a low-resolution monitor).

I didn't make it over to see Magic Meryle this year. When some of my family were visiting, we were hoping to go to the Oceanside Sunset Market where she plays the first Thursday's of each month. (You should visit her yourself when you have the chance!) The problem was that they were going to be leaving early that Friday morning and we had had a rather busy week. They needed a rest so we stayed home to let them relax.

As she mentions in her story, I have uploaded several videos of her to YouTube. For your convenience, here they are.

I visited Magic Meryle at the Sunset Market and recorded a 20 minute performance of hers. Here it is in four segments.









Rosie O'Donnell had a show on OWN for a while. Rosie had a segment where she had a crew visit some of Rosie's fans. Magic Meryle was the first such fan segment shown on her show. I got an email from Magic Meryle telling me of her appearance but she didn't know when it would air. I managed to record her episode and get her a DVD of it. Here's her appearance on Rosie's show.


As I said, if you're ever in Oceanside on the first Thursday evening of the month you should stop by the Oceanside Sunset Market when Magic Meryle performs. She might not be there right at the start of the market. Give her time to show up. You'll be glad you did!