"Rock the Halls" - The Age 17/12/06
Dec 17, 2006 4:15:54 GMT 10
Post by winterlong on Dec 17, 2006 4:15:54 GMT 10
Read ze whole article here:
www.theage.com.au/news/tv--radio/rock-the-halls/2006/12/14/1165685825565.html
Rock the halls
December 17, 2006
What's Christmas without a seasonal soundtrack on the tube, asks Melinda Houston.
Christmas. Music. It's a match made in heaven. From the angelic King's College Choir to the demonic soundtrack of your local supermarket (the one that leaves you humming Santa Claus is Coming to Town days afterwards), the festive season and insanely catchy music are entwined. The Christmas-music-television crossover has been a fixture pretty much since television was invented.
This season, Channel Seven got the ball rolling with Carols from the Domain, which screened on Saturday. Christmas Eve sees that trusty old favourite, Carols by Candlelight (9pm, Channel Nine) for which David Campbell fronts an eclectic line-up including Bert and Patti Newton, Dannii Minogue, Dennis Walter, Gorgi Quill, Hi 5, Daddy Cool, Marina Prior, Silvie Paladino and Anthony Callea in what promises to be a razzle-dazzle extravaganza.
If past years are anything to go by, the glitz of this event is ultimately outweighed by the reality of the thousands of families gathered at the Myer Music Bowl, children's faces illuminated by candles (fire restrictions permitting), and the genuine goodwill that is at the heart of it.
Although the ABC is sadly no longer screening Carols from Kings, it does have two musical spectaculars on offer. On Christmas Eve at 7.30pm, it's Hymns of Glory, a sort of home-grown Kings, only without so many spine-chilling boy sopranos and from Saint Peter's Cathedral in Adelaide.
On Christmas night at 7.30pm there's An Aussie Irish Christmas, a Mass (with lots of singing, of course) celebrated in Sydney's Hyde Park Barracks and simulcast in Ireland, celebrating Australia's long association with the Emerald Isle.
And tonight - high on the peace and goodwill, but easy on the reverence - is Another Specky Christmas. Spicks and Specks team leader Alan Brough reckons it's a very natural fit.
"Obviously, the whole music-Christmas thing started in the church, with people making a glorious noise unto the lord," he says.
"And, with the TV specials, it's such perfect family entertainment.
"In our house, when I was growing up, there was something called Amahl and the Night Visitors, which seemed to appear every Christmas. It's the story of a little shepherd boy who meets the three wise men. He's a little crippled boy and he ends up miraculously cured. And that was apparently commissioned as an opera for television in 1951, to be screened on Christmas Eve." (It was commissioned by NBC from Italian composer Gian Carlo Menotti, and is performed live every Christmas in the US.)
"And of course, when TV started, it was all about families. There wasn't the market segmentation we have these days," Brough says. "And one obvious thing to do at Christmas time was to have musical events.
"Anything religious has always had music associated with it, and things like Carols from the Domain and Carols by Candlelight are still hugely popular family entertainment." (As is Spicks and Specks, Christmas special or otherwise.)
The other seminal festive season television offering, of course, was Bing Crosby's Christmas special.
"I can still picture them now. I'm seeing pipe-smoking, an open fire, polo-neck jumpers," Brough says. Even David Bowie slipped into a chunky knit and managed to look homely and family-friendly for his unforgettable duet of Little Drummer Boy.
"Actually, without promoting or supporting pipe-smoking in any way, I'd like to see a little bit more of it this time of year," Brough says. "Ray Martin, perhaps, in a Fair Isle jumper, by the fire, smoking a pipe, introducing Carols by Candlelight."
In the Brough household, as for many of us, Christmas music on television is complemented by Christmas music on the stereo, something else for which we can thank Bing: his White Christmas was, for a long time, the highest-selling album ever.
Brough admits that, as a young man, he favoured a Christmas album by Crass, the punk music arm of an anarchist collective. As a child, he coveted a friend's Six Million Dollar Man Christmas album.
"And I have seen, but not listened to, Christmas with Colonel Sanders." (Festive fowl gobbling in panic, perhaps?)
These days, he leans more towards A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spectre, or maybe The Sinatra Christmas Album. He's still waiting for Morrissey to release a Christmas album. And, unsurprisingly, Brough doesn't mind a little cheese. Quality cheese, of course. Something we can expect in Another Specky Christmas - along with a sparkling line-up of guests.
"I'll be sitting next to Deb Byrne," Brough says.
"Deb's great, but, every time she gets a question right, she punches me. She's a surprisingly hard-hitter."
Frank Woodley and Ross Noble will also be there as will Adam Richards as Santa Claus and Denise Scott as Mrs Claus: "That routine could go on for some time," Bough says.
Damien Leith will also be there: "I interviewed him recently, I reckon he's all right. He reminds me of Tim Rice-Oxley from Keane."
Oh, and someone else is dropping by.
"Dame Edna Everage," Brough says, "People seem to speak very highly of her although I'm not that familiar with her work. She's an older lady. But apparently she knows something about music. And is quite quick with a quip. So it should be fun."
Another Specky Christmas screens tonight on ABC at 7.30pm
You heard it here folks....he's aaaaaaaaaalriiiiiiiiiight ;D
Interesting to note the 'Aussie/Irish' Christmas Night Mass simulcast...I wonder if D could be involved in that next year?
www.theage.com.au/news/tv--radio/rock-the-halls/2006/12/14/1165685825565.html
Rock the halls
December 17, 2006
What's Christmas without a seasonal soundtrack on the tube, asks Melinda Houston.
Christmas. Music. It's a match made in heaven. From the angelic King's College Choir to the demonic soundtrack of your local supermarket (the one that leaves you humming Santa Claus is Coming to Town days afterwards), the festive season and insanely catchy music are entwined. The Christmas-music-television crossover has been a fixture pretty much since television was invented.
This season, Channel Seven got the ball rolling with Carols from the Domain, which screened on Saturday. Christmas Eve sees that trusty old favourite, Carols by Candlelight (9pm, Channel Nine) for which David Campbell fronts an eclectic line-up including Bert and Patti Newton, Dannii Minogue, Dennis Walter, Gorgi Quill, Hi 5, Daddy Cool, Marina Prior, Silvie Paladino and Anthony Callea in what promises to be a razzle-dazzle extravaganza.
If past years are anything to go by, the glitz of this event is ultimately outweighed by the reality of the thousands of families gathered at the Myer Music Bowl, children's faces illuminated by candles (fire restrictions permitting), and the genuine goodwill that is at the heart of it.
Although the ABC is sadly no longer screening Carols from Kings, it does have two musical spectaculars on offer. On Christmas Eve at 7.30pm, it's Hymns of Glory, a sort of home-grown Kings, only without so many spine-chilling boy sopranos and from Saint Peter's Cathedral in Adelaide.
On Christmas night at 7.30pm there's An Aussie Irish Christmas, a Mass (with lots of singing, of course) celebrated in Sydney's Hyde Park Barracks and simulcast in Ireland, celebrating Australia's long association with the Emerald Isle.
And tonight - high on the peace and goodwill, but easy on the reverence - is Another Specky Christmas. Spicks and Specks team leader Alan Brough reckons it's a very natural fit.
"Obviously, the whole music-Christmas thing started in the church, with people making a glorious noise unto the lord," he says.
"And, with the TV specials, it's such perfect family entertainment.
"In our house, when I was growing up, there was something called Amahl and the Night Visitors, which seemed to appear every Christmas. It's the story of a little shepherd boy who meets the three wise men. He's a little crippled boy and he ends up miraculously cured. And that was apparently commissioned as an opera for television in 1951, to be screened on Christmas Eve." (It was commissioned by NBC from Italian composer Gian Carlo Menotti, and is performed live every Christmas in the US.)
"And of course, when TV started, it was all about families. There wasn't the market segmentation we have these days," Brough says. "And one obvious thing to do at Christmas time was to have musical events.
"Anything religious has always had music associated with it, and things like Carols from the Domain and Carols by Candlelight are still hugely popular family entertainment." (As is Spicks and Specks, Christmas special or otherwise.)
The other seminal festive season television offering, of course, was Bing Crosby's Christmas special.
"I can still picture them now. I'm seeing pipe-smoking, an open fire, polo-neck jumpers," Brough says. Even David Bowie slipped into a chunky knit and managed to look homely and family-friendly for his unforgettable duet of Little Drummer Boy.
"Actually, without promoting or supporting pipe-smoking in any way, I'd like to see a little bit more of it this time of year," Brough says. "Ray Martin, perhaps, in a Fair Isle jumper, by the fire, smoking a pipe, introducing Carols by Candlelight."
In the Brough household, as for many of us, Christmas music on television is complemented by Christmas music on the stereo, something else for which we can thank Bing: his White Christmas was, for a long time, the highest-selling album ever.
Brough admits that, as a young man, he favoured a Christmas album by Crass, the punk music arm of an anarchist collective. As a child, he coveted a friend's Six Million Dollar Man Christmas album.
"And I have seen, but not listened to, Christmas with Colonel Sanders." (Festive fowl gobbling in panic, perhaps?)
These days, he leans more towards A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spectre, or maybe The Sinatra Christmas Album. He's still waiting for Morrissey to release a Christmas album. And, unsurprisingly, Brough doesn't mind a little cheese. Quality cheese, of course. Something we can expect in Another Specky Christmas - along with a sparkling line-up of guests.
"I'll be sitting next to Deb Byrne," Brough says.
"Deb's great, but, every time she gets a question right, she punches me. She's a surprisingly hard-hitter."
Frank Woodley and Ross Noble will also be there as will Adam Richards as Santa Claus and Denise Scott as Mrs Claus: "That routine could go on for some time," Bough says.
Damien Leith will also be there: "I interviewed him recently, I reckon he's all right. He reminds me of Tim Rice-Oxley from Keane."
Oh, and someone else is dropping by.
"Dame Edna Everage," Brough says, "People seem to speak very highly of her although I'm not that familiar with her work. She's an older lady. But apparently she knows something about music. And is quite quick with a quip. So it should be fun."
Another Specky Christmas screens tonight on ABC at 7.30pm
You heard it here folks....he's aaaaaaaaaalriiiiiiiiiight ;D
Interesting to note the 'Aussie/Irish' Christmas Night Mass simulcast...I wonder if D could be involved in that next year?
