Time to talk about another Christmas song, one a day until December 25. “Christmas Must Be Tonight” by The Band is so much better than you’d expect from a song stuck at the end of side one on their 1977 odds-and-ends album, “Islands.” This was their last album for Capitol Records, scraped-together leftovers so the soundtrack for “The Last Waltz” could come out on Warner Brothers.
I’ve got a deep collection of Christmas albums that started around 2005 when I was writing for a website that doesn’t exist anymore. Record companies would send us free copies of new Christmas releases in exchange for reviews. We were always hungry for content, so it was a fair trade. We might have even given “VeggieTales – The Incredible Singing Christmas Tree” an ironic spin.
I’ve added to the collection with my own money each year and I’m going to highlight some of my favorites between now and December 25. Let’s start with a Christmas song that’s huge in the UK – so popular that it comes back onto the charts every year since 2007, but it’s mostly unknown in the US. “I Wish it Could Be Christmas Every Day” was originally released by the glam band Wizzard in 1973.
Look up there at the top of That Guy on TV and you’ll see this is my “Blog, Resume, and Hootenanny.” I had to make two decisions when coming up with that. The oxford comma was easy, but what funny word was I going to use for “party” or “celebration?”
I briefly considered “chautauqua” because it has all those funny K’s. “Shindig,” “wingding,” and “saturnalia” all made the short list even though they aren’t as komedic. But then, I found a new word to me – “beanfeast.”
According to everyone’s favorite semi-reliable source, Wikipedia, “beanfeast” means “informal term for a celebratory meal or party.” Often, it’s a party thrown by a boss and ties back to the holiday Twelfth Night. One serving of dessert had a small prize in it. The one who bit into the prize was “King” for the night. The trinket could be metal or pottery, but a big dried bean would be cheaper and easier on the teeth. If that also sounds like a New Orleans king cake, you’re right. The king cake evolved from Twelfth Night.
As a word, “beanfeast” is more popular in the UK than the USA. In “Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory,” Veruca Salt starts her song with the word, not long before the bad egg goes down the chute.
I briefly considered “clambake” too, but finally went with “hootenanny.” “Oo” sounds are funny too.
I should write more about the career of singer and songwriter Dan Hartman, but here’s something quick. Dan’s most famous solo song is “I Can Dream About You” from the “Streets of Fire” soundtrack, hitting #6 in 1984. This is the version you heard on the radio and the video I remember from MTV. That’s Dan’s voice, though in the movie, you’d hear singer Winston Ford. The person who looks like he’s singing isn’t Hartman or Ford. That’s actor Stoney Jackson, who you can also spot in Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” video and Disney’s 1994 “Angels in the Outfield.” The “back-up singers” are actors Robert Townsend, Mykelti Williamson, and Grand L. Bush.
There’s a second version of the video where you see Hartman’s face. The movie clip is playing on TVs in a bar and Hartman is the bartender.
So that’s the face behind the voice, but there’s also a song you hear on classic rock radio all the time, and never realized it was written and sung by Dan Hartman. That’s because the band is named for someone else. Here’s Dan and The Edgar Winter Group, around 1973 and “Free Ride.”
As a songwriter and producer, Dan Hartman worked with everyone from The Plasmatics to James Brown to Disney, co-writing a song for “Oliver & Company.” Dan Hartman died in 1994, just 43, of an AIDS-related brain tumor.
I’ll admit it. I like Bazooka bubble gum. Sure, it’s a little pink brick, but it reminds me of being a kid and it’s pretty good for blowing bubbles. The other, softer brands – you need to chew longer and get the sugar out before they’re ready to go.
I usually grab a bag of Bazooka every few months in the candy section of Big Lots or a 99-cent shop. I just spotted this “throwback” packaging at Publix, but I see it’s been on the market for about a year. Throwback is more expensive per piece, but it saved me a trip. I really like the Bazooka cherry flavor, but that’s hard to find and may now be “Cherry Berry.”
Bazooka dropped the famous Bazooka Joe comics in 2013, but brought them back in 2019. Some fortunes are new, but the comics are the “best of” the ‘70s and ‘80s. Let’s just say they don’t write them like that any more.
So what is the flavor of Bazooka bubble gum? Or really, any bubble gum? It varies, but the basic recipe is strawberry and banana with each brand maybe mixing in some cherry, fruit punch, lemon, orange or other fruit flavors.
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About John
John Graham is That Guy on TV – an Emmy-winning producer/writer/host and owner of Mosquito County Productions, based in Orlando, FL.
Over the years, John has produced YouTube videos with millions of views, worked with Muppets and Princesses, won two regional Emmys for travel reporting, interviewed celebs from Ariana Grande to Hillbilly Jim, and done thousands of live news broadcasts. (You know it’s me writing this, right?)
Get ahold of me at John@thatguyontv.com