Malibu morning picture of the day - Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Dear Family, Friends, and Gentle Readers,

Here is your last picture of Malibu for 2014 ...

The tops of Catalina Island are rising from the mist on the left. Clear blue skies here, the wind is strong--Santa Ana winds are blowing and it's expected to get up into the 80s in these days leading to Christmas in L.A.

Today's Second Look is on campus with a look at our 2014 Christmas tree in Joslyn Plaza. The man on the bench in the lower right is a life-size bronze of founder George Pepperdine. The tree has sort of a droopy quality at this point. The brown spots you see are branches that have dehydrated in the normal course of being long deprived of water.

There's kind of a sad look to a Christmas tree, outdoors, in morning light. Like a person who slept in their party clothes.

My employer gives us worker bees the week off between Xmas Eve and New Years, so the Malibu picture will disappear the rest of this week and all of next. So if you just tune in for the picture, come back January 5. However, I suspect I'll probably post something in the intervening days. Nobody wants to see East Hollywood every morning.

CHRISTMAS? BAH, HUMBUG - Part 3

This pic is as American-Iconic now as
the Coca-Cola Santa

If you are a musician pro or amateur, Christmas standards of any sort at this point  on the calendar make you gag, because you've been playing them and hearing them so much. Regular people are a bit tired of them too.

My Ex had a rule that NO Christmas was to be played, sung, or even hummed in the house from the start of fall until then end of Thanksgiving. So, since we were usually at her parents' house for Thanksgiving dinner, we'd be driving home late, and at the stroke of midnight we'd put the Mannheim Steamroller tape in and start off with their heroic rendition of "Deck the Halls."

I offer a few antidotes (all still Christmas music) but with some antibody elements mixed in to fend off nausea and other effects of overindulgence:

This is something I want to get my band to play next year (if you like this, there is a No. 1 that you can find on your own):




At "Tuba Christmas" nearly 100 tuba and euphonium players play carols together and its sounds great. If you've got a trumpet player in your life, you'll enjoy this:




And of course, to cleanse the palate, this classic:




Love to you all. Have a wonderful rest of the week, Christmas included,
Pops