December is not my favourite month.  Daylight is scarce, Howling Winds, and X-mas hype.  Christmas music seems to have a polarizing effect on some people.  What is too much, too soon.?  Some X-mas songs do have some magic while others are vapid exercises in futility.  John Lennon, Bruce Cockburn, The Band, Greg Lake and many others have recorded some seasonal tracks that have stood the test of time.  The Smithereens put out a fun X-mas album in 2007.  Some X-mas songs should be put out of their misery with a stake of Holly through the heart….

In watching the student demonstrations in California the other day, I thought they might be protesting war, or perhaps the latest increase in hungry Americans, or maybe corporate greed. But no: it turns out they were protesting that college is going to cost them more.

Students at the University of California in Los Angeles chanted, marched and finally took over some buildings by chaining the doors shut. They looked so upset and mad that it reminded me of some of the sixties Vietnam War protests. So when I found out that all this was over an increase in tuition because California is going broke, I felt a little let down.

Although you really can’t compare protesting what some thought was an unjust war with an increase in your college bill, the two are related through self-interest. A lot of the students who were against the war in the sixties and early seventies just did not want to get involved in something that could get them killed. The all-volunteer army took away that fear, along with the notion of shared sacrifice that we all should be feeling with our current foreign wars.

So it was a little of a jolt to see the protests the other day, until I realized that almost all actions come from self-interest.

This Sunday night, Bruce Springsteen and E Street Band will be in Buffalo.  They are expected to perform the GREETINGS FROM ASBURY PARK N.J. Album in its entirety.  Songs like “The Angel” and “Lost in the Flood” have rarely been played in concert.  Springsteen fans will get to hear the debut album that paved the way for this amazing group of musicians who have poured their collective body and soul into their work.  Should be quite a magical  ”Spirit in the Night”….

Paul McCartney has a new CD/DVD release, “Good Evening New York City” and it is yet another live concert recording, which makes it his 38th live release. Actually, I kid. It is only his sixth live release, but come on, how many live recordings by this Former Fab do we need?

It is the recent concert he gave in the new Citi Field Stadium, which you may recall, is the old Shea Stadium where The Beatles performed their famous New York City concert when they conquered America all those years ago. And, admittedly, that is a pretty important event. The DVD includes all two and a half hours of performance material, but if that is not enough for you, there is a four disc deluxe set with two-DVDs which include his concert atop the Ed Sullivan Marquee (in the theatre where he performed with his mates on the Ed Sullivan Show).

Of course it all sounds great. Not as great as his last live CD (which came out just a few months ago) “Amoeba’s Secret”, which was a live concert from 2007 inside the Amoeba’s Secret Record Store in Hollywood, and featuring David Grohl (Nivarna, Foo Fighters) on drums.

Perhaps better news than another live Paul McCartney CD is the fact that he is still as vibrant as ever, tearing through a tour schedule that would make younger men weep and moan. Needless to say, Paul launches his “Good Evening, Europe” tour in December.

In recent years, it seems as if Thanksgiving has been engulfed and devoured by the “X-mas Season”.  Even the “transformed” Mr. Scrooge would not have signed on for that(Chain or not)

Check out my Acoustic Sunrise Page.  There is a Song Search Archive that you can use to get playlists for past shows.  Just change the date and time.  You can e-mail me if you have any questions.