🪱 Ear Worm: "Noggy," Charles Mingus's Egg Nog

[ Christmas Playlist ] Day 1 of the Radvent Calendar

This year was the first year I posted a song every day in October to celebrate Halloween. After countless hours of listening, rating, and sharing songs that sounded creepy, spooky, or vaguely horror-oriented, it seemed to be worth it after I heard how much you all enjoyed it. After I finished this project, I did what any person would do and bragged about my accomplishment on social media, sharing the whole playlist on threads.

Not one to back down from a challenge, I am now kicking off my 25-Day Radvent Calendar of songs to celebrate the season. I adore classic Christmas music. Jazz was invented for snow-filled days, best enjoyed in front of a warm hearth. The idea of singing songs for an entire month for the birth of a baby I have never met and who wasn’t canonically born in December (it is more likely he was born in June) is the type of surreal reality I am all about.

However, if you are looking for Bing Crosby and Mariah Carrey, this might be disappointing. I’ll include some classics here and there, but otherwise it would be best for you to turn on the car radio. Go to the mall, feel the crushing and confusing weight of over-abundance while in soulless solitude at the modern shopping center, and let the tinny speakers sing Pa-Rump-Pa-Pa-Pum while 16-year-olds scan coupons and fold flannel pajama pants.

I want to show you songs of the season that you might have missed, sometimes for the better.

This first email is a soft-ball for me, as Jacob (AKA unitof, who has his own email newsletter called Geistlist) shared his playlist "Noggy." I will say that his music choice is fairly traditional, though there are several songs on here I haven’t heard before. It’s a fine selection, but might be the most contemporary we get for a while.

That’s one big playlist.

As always, if you have a playlist or even just one song in the spirit of Christmas present that you want to share, feel free to email me or post it in the comments.

It wouldn’t feel right to go a whole email without including something myself, so here is Charles Mingus’s Egg Nog recipe.

• Separate one egg for one person.  Each person gets an egg.

• Two sugars for each egg, each person.

• One shot of rum, one shot of brandy per person.

• Put all the yolks into one big pan, with some milk.

• That’s where the 151 proof rum goes.  Put it in gradually or it’ll burn the eggs,

• OK. The whites are separate and the cream is separate.

• In another pot– depending on how many people– put in one shot of each, rum and brandy. (This is after you whip your whites and your cream.)

• Pour it over the top of the milk and yolks.

• One teaspoon of sugar.  Brandy and rum.

• Actually you mix it all together.

• Yes, a lot of nutmeg.  Fresh nutmeg.  And stir it up.

• You don’t need ice cream unless you’ve got people coming and you need to keep it cold.  Vanilla ice cream.  You can use eggnog.  I use vanilla ice cream.

• Right, taste for flavor.  Bourbon? I use Jamaica Rum in there. Jamaican Rums. Or I’ll put rye in it.  Scotch. It depends. See, it depends on how drunk I get while I’m tasting it.