Those Godless Americans

Today is December 26th. In Finland and in much of the civilized world it is the second Christmas Day. Read the following Wikipedia article, please!

St. Stephen's Day/ The Second Christmas Day.

Today was supposed to be one of those rare days when I could actually sleep late, take it easy and enjoy the the peace, good will and quiet usually associated with Christmas. However, I was rudely awakened at 8:30am by loud banging and strange swirling machinery sounds. Usually ear damaging noises in my neighborhood can be explained by my neighbors using their leaf blowers, but this was something else. Two houses down a huge group of roofers were removing the roofing shingles! WTF?!?!

   I really should not be that surprised about this, as I do live in the United States - a country that does dot celebrate the Second Christmas Day. That is strange, because most American politicians (especially the Southern and the conservative ones) claim that the US is a christian country. In most of the civilized world Christmas (the birthday of our savior) is such a big holiday, that one day observation just isn't enough. So if the United States really is a christian country, please prove it! Stay home on December 26th and let me sleep!

P.S. In Finland (and many other civilized countries) we have two Easter days also.

In spite of my rude awakening this morning I still have some Christmas Spirit left. Therefore I am attaching a link to a cool new Christmas song that My friend Markojuhani Rautavaara and Kuunkuiskaajat (a folk duo) made.

Kuunkuiskaajat ja Markojuhani Rautavaara: Koko Maailmassa Rauha

As I pointed out in my last blog entry Marko was the lead singer in Kärsäräkä (Snoutsnot).

Last summer when I was in Finland we started to talk about possible Kärsäräkä re-union.

The re-union plans are starting to look good, even though we haven't been able to locate our bass player Olli yet.

I hate "The Little Drummer Boy"

This is the time of the year when we are supposed to have peace on earth and good will among men. At least this is how things are supposed to be, but in the real world things very rarely work out that way. No, I am not talking about Vladimir Putin or ISIS or the sad state of international or domestic affairs. I am talking about a much bigger problem: I am talking about "The Little Drummer Boy" - that horrendous song that we hear every year during Christmas time.
   Every time I hear that song I get violently ill and I get the uncontrollable urge to destroy the closest radio or CD-player with an axe. So far my co-workers have managed to hold me down during my destructive impulses and no property has been damaged and no lives have been lost. So far...
   You might ask, "What is wrong with this song?"  Well, it is plain stupid and annoying. I think the worst part for me is that "Pa rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum" part. If I hear that I get painful dry heaves. "Pa rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum, ".... I guess that is how non-drummers describe drum sound.
   The other problem of course is that you don't play drums next to sleeping newborns. Or any newborn for that matter. When my daughters were babies I didn't play drums next to them. If someone else had tried to play drums next to them I would have destroyed their drums with an axe.
   Every time I talk about how I hate this song I always get the same response from people:
"Well, you must like that Bing Crosby/David Bowie version". No, I don't. I hate that too!
This is the season to be jolly. This is not the season to listen to crappy songs.

If you want to hear some great Christmas songs, there are plenty to choose from.
Here are a couple of examples: 

John Lennon Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
It is not a traditional  Christmas song, but it is a classic and it gets better every year. 
We miss you John.

This next one is sung in Finnish, so if you don't speak Finnish you won't understand the lyrics, but it is my all time favorite. The Words were written By Zacharias Topelius (1818 -1898) , a Finnish author, poet, educator etc. Jean Sibelius wrote the music in 1895. 
Sibelius, of course, could do no wrong. Even if you don't speak Finnish you will still be able to enjoy the melody. Topelius wrote the lyrics in Swedish and they were translated to Finnish in 1909, probably by Martti Korpilahti. Here we have a couple of versions:
First one sung by Jorma Hynninen, a Finnish baritone.

Jorma Hynninen "En Etsi valtaa Loistoa"

The next one is sung by Rajaton, a Finnish choral/accapella group. This is a cool version also.

Rajaton "En Etsi Valtaa Loistoa"

And here is my friend and a longtime partner-in-crime Markojuhani Rautavaara singing the same song. This guy was the lead singer of Kärsäräkä (Snoutsnot) from 1972 to 1980.

Markojuhani Rautavaara "En Etsi Valtaa Loistoa"

The singer doesn't seek power, glory or gold. He/she wants peace on earth and light into the darkness. I found a relatively good English translation a few days ago, but now I can't find it. If I come across it again I will post it here.

Happy Christmas everybody.

Cool songs from 1980's

Thanks to YouTube I recently discovered a couple of cool songs that I hadn't heard in a long, long time.

The first one was a song called "The Price"  by Twisted Sister. It turns out  that this song was some kind of a minor hit for them. Well, I never heard this song on the radio, but I did hear it when I saw Twisted Sister at the Orpheum Theatre in Boston. I don't remember the year, but it was in the 1980's. Parts of  this song has been playing in my head ever since. Luckily a couple of months ago I finally found out the name of the song. You should pay attention to the vocals. Dee Snider  is one of those heavy metal/hard rock singers who can actually sing. A cool song.

The other cool song is "Out of the Darkness" by Little Steven (Steven Van Zandt from Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band). In this case I actually re-discovered this song, because I bought this song on a 45. I also saw Little Steven play this song in Helsinki sometime in the -80's. Little Steven left the E-Street Band at the height of their career and started doing his own thing.  A cool song.

Interesting piece of trivia about these two songs. Both Jay Jay French of Twisted Sister and Little Steven play Guild X-79 guitar on these videos. I don't think this fact alone made these songs cool, but it certainly didn't hurt either.

                                        http://www.vintageguitarandbass.com/guild/X79.php

Little Steven didn't just go solo; he also became the conscience of the rock world. In 1985 
he organized the Artist United Against Apartheid project and recorded a song called "Sun City" (named after a "for whites only" resort in South Africa). By doing this he brought attention to the South African Apartheid problem in the 1980's when president Reagan refused to take action. As I already mentioned in my very first blog entry I was boycotting Mohegan Sun Casino for years after Apartheid had ended. Mohegan Sun is owned and operated by the same company that owned Sun City.

Here is the Artists United against Apartheid song.