The Toms
2016's "Fake Christmas" b/w "It's Needless" (Frodis catalog number FRO 001)
Funny what turned out to be one of my favorite holiday tunes came to my attention on the first day of the year. Yeah, it was too late for the 2017 list, but gave me plenty of joy for 2018.
Thomas Moraldo is the brains behind The Toms (check out his discography) and was responsible for the magical "Fake Christmas". Wrapped in a glistening jangle rock melody with too-die-for harmonies, and some of the funniest and most insightful holiday lyrics you'll ever hear, this one managed to encapsulate the joy and heartache of the modern holiday seasons in under three minutes. Here's a link to a YouTube clip of the song:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFK16jR7dzw
I live in Northern Virginia and one of the things I like to do is attend the monthly flea market sponsored by the Arlington CIVITAN. The flea market is held the first Saturday of each month (April through November) and usually has a couple of hundred sellers ranging from professionals, to lots of folks simply trying to clean out their homes.
The array of stuff for sale is always amazing, though I go for the used records and other oddities.
Anyhow, this morning I was walking around the flea market and this sign caught my attention. Needless to say, it made me feel pretty old. That was underscored by the conversation I had with the young lady selling the albums - she was pricing the albums I had picked up and wanted to know who Bob Seger was. Her equally young boyfriend new who Seger was ... "some old guy who sounds like Dylan." Yeah, that exchange made me feel young and happening.
