A Christmas Ode

Radio blogging here.

Here it is again...reposted from last year.
In addition to the NPR link, check out the Chuck Kraemer home page with a link to the 2002 version [Windows player with video of the poet reciting].

Had to dig into the NPR archives to 1999 to uncover this great little snip, An Ode to Christmas by Chuck Kramer. It ran for twenty years but was put to rest after that year, I suppose because too many people had already heard it. The names and brands got to sounding outdated. Too bad. Somehow the nerve-wracking tunes pressed to lacquer and vinyl decades ago by Burl Ives, Gene Autry and others endure from season to season, grating on my nerves from pop radio, but really clever pieces drop by the side of the listening road. This is how to know when you're getting old.