Andy Williams - "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year"

As every Holiday Season, this month I’ll be choosing only Holiday Songs from as many holidays as I can.

But why though? Why is it the most wonderful time of the year? I have a theory.

It isn’t wonderful because we all get gifts, because not all of us do. It isn’t wonderful because we all get to spend time with our families, because we don’t all get to or want to. It isn’t wonderful because decorations get put up and kids get to look at lights.

It’s wonderful because for a little while, we all, as humans, decide to be a little kinder to each other. We see the humanity in each other a little easier. We decide, for just about a month, to believe in magic, to support one another, and to give a little more light out in the world. It’s wonderful, because for a little while, we all decide to be a little better.

Now I know what the songs mean when they say “it’s Christmas all year long”. They mean that people can choose to be better all year long. I sure hope we do.

On another note, today is actually the 4th day of Hanukkah, and by rights I should be choosing a Hanukkah song to post. However, it’s also the first day of the my posting holiday songs, and I think this one is more appropriate.

I promise to follow up with a Hanukkah song tomorrow!

So today, with belief stirring in the air, I choose Andy Williams’ classic “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” as my, magic can be real, people can be kinder, life can be easier, song for a, this feeling all year long, this hope everyday, this belief to make things real, Wednesday.

Andrew Garfield & Vanessa Hudgens - "Therapy" by Jonathan Larson

This song has lived in my head for years. Never a “Rent-head” like so many of my peers, I felt that Larson often found the meat of a problem without finding the solution to it. In my youth I thought that was a bad thing. As I matured I realized that sometimes observing the problem is the solution.

Years later in a show here in Los Angeles with my good friend Ali McGinnis, we were tasked to perform this song together and I fell in love with it. I can say we were a bit less manic, but our performace during that run was phenomenal. Filled with the ups and downs of a relationship it helped us both to examine what it means to truly communicate with a partner.

Since then, this song has lived in my heart as a shining example of why Larson’s writing touched so many souls and how he was able to find the core truths in so many human situations.

After seeing this clip I am certainly going to bookmark the time to watch this show.

So today, feeling my feels, I chose Andrew Garfield & Vanessa Hudgens’ version "Therapy" by Jonathan Larson as my, drink it up, soak it in, let it run over you like a river, song for an, open your eyes, listen with intent, see that your perspective isn’t the only one that matters, Tuesday.

Stephen Sondheim - "Six Ladies in Red"

So, it’s been six months without posting my song of the day. I am sorry to have left you in the lurch for so long.

After 13 years of posting songs of the day every weekday, I needed a little break to realign myself with the passion to do so. When I started creating these posts they were often silly, sometimes informative, and always meant to bring a little joy and/or human connection to the world. Over time, they became a bit wrote or repetitive, possibly even stale, and eventually felt like something I was obligated to do, rather than something I was excited to do.

Thus, a six month break to make sure that this was still the proper outlet for this particular creative endeavor. I’ve come back around to the realization, that even small connections matter. Especially after two years of not truly being able to connect physically in the way we have previously, some of these small human moments are necessary.

So, they are returning just in time for my annual holiday list of music which starts in December.

However, the real reason I’m picking this back up today, is because I feel that it would be remiss of me not to post about the legend that we lost this weekend, Stephen Sondheim. For years he has been the gold standard for composers and lyricists. He took over for giants like Gershwin, Rodgers & Hammerstein, and Bernstein. His talent was immeasurable, but more so, was his ability to craft music and lyric that examined the human soul, the human experience, the human heart; the entire messy production of being a human.

Somehow, Stephen found a universal connection to an entire world through focusing on the tiny details that are at once specific and universal to life as a human being. He was a master of his craft, and his gift is that his music will be sung and performed for decades to come because genius like that is eternal.

I am overwhelmed with sadness and gratitude.
Thank you Stephen, thank you so very much.

So, today, with gratitude and grief, I choose “Six Ladies in Red” a Concert in Tribute to Stephen Sondheim from 2010, with performers Patti LuPone, Marin Mazzie, Audra McDonald, Donna Murphy, Bernadette Peters, and Elaine Stritch singing "Ladies Who Lunch" (Patti LuPone), "Losing My Mind" (Marin Mazzie), "The Glamorous Life" (Audra McDonald), "Could I Leave You?" (Donna Murphy), "Not a Day Goes By" (Bernadette Peters), and "I'm Still Here" (Elaine Stritch), as my, live the best life you can, choose joy, choose gratitude, song for a, thank you, sing out, sing me to heaven, Monday.

Ethel Cain - "Michelle Pfeiffer"

In honor of PRIDE month this June I will spotlight only LGBTQIA+ Artists to show you one more way in which we should be grateful for to the Queer Community and how without it we would not have the world or nation that we love so much. We should be grateful and proud.

“I feel like I’m aging against my will,” singer-songwriter Ethel Cain says, “so I’m constantly trying to use my own artwork as an escapist fantasy to fling myself back into an age before I was even born.” The emerging musician’s tender and reflective songs are calm and quiet, yet blisteringly visceral. Take her latest track, “Michelle Pfeiffer,” for instance, a haunting collab with lil aaron that yearns for someone (something?) from another lifetime. “I want my music to feel like a hot and sticky June afternoon somewhere in Mississippi,” she says. “You’re half-naked and plastered to the seat of somebody else’s car. Life isn’t perfect, but it’s chill, and you feel sexy enough to get at least half of what you want.” Cain’s transness adds to her unique perspective but certainly isn’t the entirety of who she is. “Being transgender is easily the most boring and human aspect about me,” she says. “I want people to know there’s a million and one ways to be a trans woman, just like there’s a million and one ways to be a cis woman. We aren’t following a blueprint; we’re leaving our own.” @MotherCain

So today, sticky and slow, I choose Ethel Cain’s “Michelle Pfeiffer” as my, age ain’t nothin’, remember your magic, roots deep into groundwater, song for a, let them wonder, follow the flash, open the magic door, Tuesday.

Jackie Shane - "Any Other Way"

In honor of PRIDE month this June I will spotlight only LGBTQIA+ Artists to show you one more way in which we should be grateful for to the Queer Community and how without it we would not have the world or nation that we love so much. We should be grateful and proud.

Before Sylvester, before Alex Newell, there was Jackie Shane. Nashville raised and Toronto famous, she was Canada’s Patti LaBelle, Etta James, or Tina Turner. With sounds like the Crystals or the Shirelles, I can only imagine what would have happened if Phil Spector had gotten his hands on her.

Jackie Shane was a black transgender soul singer who packed nightclubs in 1960s Toronto before she stepped out of the spotlight for decades, only to re-emerge with a Grammy-nominated record in her 70s.

Almost five decades passed between Ms. Shane’s 1960s career in Canada and her 2018 Grammy nomination for best historical album, for “Any Other Way.” The record introduced her to a new generation of fans, and today her face is part of a towering mural in downtown Toronto.

“I do believe that it’s like destiny,” Ms. Shane told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation this month. “I really feel that I have made a place for myself with wonderful people. What I have said, what I have done, they say it makes their lives better.”

Jackie Shane was born in Nashville on May 15, 1940, and grew up as a black transgender child in the Jim Crow South. But she made her name after she moved to Toronto around 1959, becoming a force in its music scene and packing its nightclubs.

She scored the No. 2 spot on the Canadian singles chart in 1963 with her silky cover of William Bell’s “Any Other Way.” The song is about putting on a brave face for the friend of an ex-girlfriend, but Ms. Shane gave it a subversive twist when she sang, “Tell her that I’m happy, tell her that I’m gay.”

Ms. Shane said she identified as female from the age of 13, but throughout her 1960s career she was publicly referred to as a man. Speaking to The New York Times in 2017, she said she sometimes described herself to peers as gay.

“I was just being me,” she said. “I never tried to explain myself to anyone — they never explained themselves to me.”

Ms. Shane told the CBC this month that she had moved to Canada after witnessing a group of white men attacking a black man one night in Nashville.

“One cannot choose where one is born,’’ she said, “but you can choose your home.”

In Canada, Ms. Shane mingled with music royalty, sharing a stage with Etta James, Jackie Wilson and the Impressions and other stars. But in 1971 she abruptly left it all behind.

In the following decades she became a cult heroine and a legend online, where fans speculated about where she had gone. The answer, it turned out, was Los Angeles.

She told The Times in 2017 that she had left Toronto to be with her mother, Jessie Shane, who was living alone after the death of Ms. Shane’s stepfather in 1963.

Ms. Shane watched history march on from the comfort of relative anonymity. In her interview with The Times, she shared her thoughts on the legalization of same-sex marriage (“We’ve had to fight for everything that should have already been on the table”) and shook her head at the state of pop music (“I’m going to have to school these people again”).

One thing Ms. Shane did not do during her decade of Canadian stardom was record a studio album. That changed in 2017, when the Chicago-based label Numero Group released her anthology, which was later nominated for a Grammy Award.

Ms. Shane shared her life philosophy with the CBC.

“Most people are planted in someone else’s soil, which means they’re a carbon copy,” she said. “I say to them: ‘Uproot yourself. Get into your own soil. You may be surprised who you really are.’ ”

Words to live by if ever there were.

So today, with gusto and glamour, I choose the indomitable Jackie Shane’s “Any Other Way” as my, grow in your own soil, be uniquely yourself, shame is a word not meant for you, song for a, break through the darkness and into the light, choose your home, choose the life you want, Monday.

St. Vincent - "Los Ageless"

In honor of PRIDE month this June I will spotlight only LGBTQIA+ Artists to show you one more way in which we should be grateful for to the Queer Community and how without it we would not have the world or nation that we love so much. We should be grateful and proud.

St. Vincent, the star who is somehow still unknown 14 years later. Her music is fresh and her ideas are strong and somehow she’s always ahead of the curve but yet not in the wave.

Her new record couldn't be more different. The sharp angles and jagged lines of Masseduction have become sinuous and malleable. Backed by humming Wurlitzer organs and loping, elastic bass lines, Clark sounds relaxed, loose, even soulful.

St. Vincent, who’s real name is Annie Clark, is 38, lives in New York, and according to Wikipedia she had a two year relationship with professional celebrity relationshipist Cara Delevingne. Also thanks to Wikipedia, David Byrne once said of her in an interview: “Despite having toured with her for almost a year, I don’t think I know her much better, at least not on a personal level… mystery is not a bad thing for a beautiful, talented young woman (or man) to embrace. And she does it without seeming to be standoffish or distant.”

So today, embracing mystery, I choose St. Vincent’s "Los Ageless" as my, into the blue, out of a dream, over the rainbow, song for a, when the light opens, when the sky cracks, when the world tumbles, Friday.

SNKT - "Lost in Love"

In honor of PRIDE month this June I will spotlight only LGBTQIA+ Artists to show you one more way in which we should be grateful for to the Queer Community and how without it we would not have the world or nation that we love so much. We should be grateful and proud.

So, imagine Kate Bush and Sinéad O’Connor are sisters. Well, I’m their gay nephew who’s really into Robyn and Charli XCX right now,” SNKT says. With songs that are shimmery, optimistic, and full of joy, the Irish dance-pop artist makes music for those who love love. “Something I’ve inherited from my family and my wider Irish roots is the gift of storytelling, which I love using in the context of a pop song because it can add so much more depth to a track,” he explains. His latest, “Lost in Love,” explores that feeling of spotting a babe across the room and falling for them at first glance. SNK T is ready to flex those storytelling muscles on his new album, out this May. “I love to write about boys who broke my heart, although my upcoming record, No Saints, is very much about how it wasn’t only the boys’ fault,” he says.

So today, dreaming on, I choose SNKT’s "Lost in Love" as my, hearts and stars, songs and cycles, dreams and lovers, song for a, break up, crack up, shake down, Thursday.

Honey Dijon (featuring Hadiya George) - "Not About You"

In honor of PRIDE month this June I will spotlight only LGBTQIA+ Artists to show you one more way in which we should be grateful for to the Queer Community and how without it we would not have the world or nation that we love so much. We should be grateful and proud.

Back in July 2020, Honey Dijon announced that she would be releasing her sophomore album, entitled Black Girl Magic, on Classic Music Company — the imprint founded by house legends Luke Solomon and Derrick Carter. The Berlin-based producer and DJ dropped two lead singles last year:“Not About You,” featuring Antlanta singer-songwriter Hadiya George, and “La Femme Fantastique, featuring London house and techno mainstay Josh Caffe. But she has yet to confirm a release date or a tracklist. In an announcement post on Instagram, Honey hinted at the intention of the record, writing, “I am extremely honored to be working with such talented black artists and the body of work we created. It’s been a challenging few months for all of us but it’s so important for me to continue to make music to uplift people.”

So today, grace like a blanket I choose Honey Dijon (featuring Hadiya George)’s "Not About You" as my, break the mold, reuse the clay, fire up your dreams, song for a, press through the pain, believe in the beauty, live into the love, Wednesday.