Sleigh Wreck

Over the holidays, Rae and I visited her mom in Asheville, North Carolina. Her sister Kate was there too, visiting from Montana.

We visited the Grove Park Inn, and, naturally, toured this year's display of national-competition-grade gingerbread houses.

Here's my favorite. It took us a little while to grasp the genius. At first, it looked like this one was a victim of the hands of little children (that happens a lot there, some sort of child-candy reflex). But no! Santa Crashed! Notice the gingerbread man checking out the wreck from his window, the way Santa and the elf are standing around looking downtrodden, and the reindeer with his head knocked off. (And the cutie in the background.)

The view from the backyard is equally bleak...

Rick Rubin

Rick Rubin is one of my heroes. He co-founded Def Jam Records, and later Def American, which is now known as American Recordings. The list of musicians he worked with includes Slayer and Public Enemy -- real high-school favorites of mine!

For Christmas this year, I got the Rubin-produced Johnny Cash album Unchained. Spectacular! One of the tunes is Rowboat, which was originally sung by Beck.

And so, in the spirit of holiday sharing, I offer you mp3 versions of both Beck_Rowboat.mp3 and Cash_Rowboat.mp3! Check them out and let me know which one you think is the most rockin-ist.

The Beck version is off his Stereopathetic Soulmanure album. I became a Beck fan when I first heard Satan_Gave_Me_A_Taco.mp3. This song is absolutely amazing! Check it out!

Christmas Lights

We are festive, no? I'm maybe not so good at low-light photography, but I do take great pride in our lights. Note the real icicles by the front window, looking so very integrated with our icicle lights.