Okay, hope you are all getting through the pre-Christmas craziness. And that your Christmas eve and day are splendid. Let’s move on to a subject I struggle with. Happy New Year. I want to start off by saying that generally I’m not a bah-humbug kind of guy. I love having fun, I’m a happy and sometimes very joyful fellow, and in my work I encourage people to be positive and to learn how their negativity can be shed. Life is short no matter how many years we live. Life can also be hard and painful as many of the subjects on this show and responses to them can attest. Nevertheless, I enjoy holiday and special occasion gatherings — save for one. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
New Years Eve, to me, is an obligatory event. Shoulds abound. They go something like this: “We should go out on New Years Eve,” (spend a gazillion dollars in a jacked-up price for New Year’s Eve restaurant or club). For singles: “I should have a date,” (otherwise I and others will thing of me as a loser). “We should drink and make fools of ourselves,” (drive home get into an accident or get arrested for DUI.) We should wear silly party hats (It’s always fun as the years go by to think you are still a pre-schooler at a birthday party), We should make a resolution to eat well and lose weight, exercise, be good to the dog, be good to our parents, give up drinking, smoking, and drugs (all to last until the following weekend), we should watch the friggin ball drop (Is Dick Clark really dead?). These shoulds and others torment and shame everyone to “have a good time.”
I have had my share of good times on December 31st (see what I did there, because, really, why is this night different from every other night). I also have stories of New Year’s Eve being a complete an utter bummer all because of alcohol and I wasn’t the one doing the drinking. New Years Eve 1967 I was working at a Catskill mountain resort. I was hired as a waiter just for the few days before and after new years eve. After we finsihed serving on new year’s eve, I and a couple of roommates (we were all not part of the regular dinning room staff) went to the nightclub enjoyed the shows stayed until the new year was ushered in, then went back to our room to get some sleep because we had to set up early for breakfast. No more than twenty minutes after I washed up and got into bed, the boarding house in which we were lodged went crazy. The regular wait staff had gone on a drinking and drugging binge and like Zombies in some Grade B horror movie literally attacked our room and terrorized our small crew. I honestly was uncertain that I’d survive the wrath of these monsters. We had to fight them off and we did but iwas a wreck and I think from that moment on appreciated the power of alcohol mixed with the message “It’s New Years Eve, do whatever you want,” and it led me to have a forever aversion to the holiday.
Now I don’t want to be just a bah-humbug kind of guy. So we at Psych ‘n’ Roll Radio want you tell us your good as well as the bad, and ugly stories (mine was clearly ugly) about new Years Eve’s past. Before I play a set of songs for Auld Lang Sein ( a song of nostalgia meaning long, long ago. Interestingly, not only is it sung on New Years Eve, but also for funerals. Hmm.), I want to wish you continued health and well-being as you go on past your holiday events and to let you know there will not be any new topics posted until January 8th 2014. Happy New Year. One more thing: I will be having a “Final Shot” Kindle sale begining next week for five days. Here’s your chance to enjoy a great mystery at a greatly reduced price and to help out this web site.
Here’s The Eagles and “Funky New Year,” Snoop Dog and “New Year’s Eve,” and Death Cab for Cutie and “The New Year.”
