Posts by Alby

The Mummers Parade is hanging in there, even if it's much diminished. The march nowadays runs only from City Hall to Washington Street, in the wrong direction, and it doesn't…

We apparently have the Romans to thank for the annual night of bacchanalia that accompanies the final hours of the waning year. But it's German folklore, which held that how…

Nikki Haley's answer to the trick question "What caused the Civil War?" has caused her no end of grief in much of the country, but should sound familiar to anyone…

Tom Smothers, the comic half of the squabbling Smothers Brothers, died Tuesday at age 86. Though they'll always be remembered for having their top-rated variety show axed by CBS in…

According to one of those sketchy "favorite (noun) of every state" lists, Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" is the most popular Christmas song in Delaware. Well,…

Most retellings of the nativity understandably dwell on the spiritual aspects. Canadian singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn went in another direction. I wanted to put it into terms people can relate to…

In the five years I've been writing the Song of the Day feature, nobody has compiled more page views than John Prine. Prine loved Christmas – he told Rolling Stone…

You're probably familiar with "Little Saint Nick," the Beach Boys' tune about Santa's new hot rod. Alternate transporation for Santa was a popular theme back in the '50s and '60s,…

Mannheim Steamroller sounds like the name of a Krautrock outfit, but it's really mostly one guy, composer/producer Chip Davis, who would have a footnote in music history even without the…