The Regional News
Thursday, December 18, 2014
PHOTO MEMORIES FROM THE REGIONAL ARCHIVE
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CROSSWORD PUZZLE "Cheesy Films"
50 Years Ago This Week
File photo from Dec. 17, 1964
Pam Stancik, Dave Peterson, Roy Lane and Mike Manning (kneeling) members of the Methodist Youth Fellowship loading the big trailer truck with paper from the Sunday afternoon pick up. Nearly 12 tons were collected in the drive.
Across 1 Decayed, like metal 7 Catty comment 11 Bar obligation 14 Actor Peter 15 European volcano 16 "Open, sesame" speaker 17 Cheesy film starring Marlon Brando? (with "The") 19 Huge amount 20 Downs or salts 21 Lane of Metropolis 22 Something to plant 23 Formal wear 24 Group of nations 25 Don't go straight 26 Bummed, say 27 Animation or spirit 28 Athlete 30 Ascends to a height 32 Paces 33 Cheesy film starring Michael J. Fox? 36 Knock off the track 37 Certain locks 38 "Let's Stay Together" singer 40 Vicious fellow? 41 Typing test stat. 44 One using Elmer's 45 Silly Sandler 47 Storage structure on a farm 48 Tiffany merchandise 49 Feeling superior 50 Old fishing tool 51 "WALL-E" love interest 52 Cheesy film starring Humphrey Bogart? 54 Series, in cards 55 Cast forth 56 Some navels
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57 Spot for a scene 58 Round specks 59 Canine categories Down 1 Popular thesaurus 2 More perfect world? 3 Drunk as a skunk 4 Minor errands 5 Jack of old westerns 6 OED offering 7 Tagalong's cry 8 Morals 9 Dollar bills 10 Kind of chest 11 Deep-fried mouthful
12 Medicinal juice 13 Some school supplies 18 Among the best in the league 22 Billows 24 "Revolver" musician 25 Styled in the salon 27 More dawdling 29 Undercard match, for short 30 Gives the willies to 31 Pig abode 33 City near Seattle 34 Debater's activity 35 Gives it a shot 36 Cloaks' partners
39 "Your wish is my command" 41 Frank 42 Arranged 43 Quagmire 46 Does a housecleaning task 47 Flurry 49 Wrestling with the big guys 50 Speak thickly 52 Abbr. in a math textbook 53 Try for an apple
(Answers on page 7)
Sudoku Puzzle #3260-M
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25 Years Ago This Week
File photo from Dec. 21, 1989
The Children’s Farm is Palos Park holds live nativity performances by the Home of the Clovers 4H Club weekends through December. Wisemen Carrie Carlson, Kelly Garofalo and Sunny Humikowski visited Mary and Joseph (Rosemary and Joey Brooks) and other 4H members at the manger. Live animals from the farm are carefully handled by the club members during the show.
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The object of the game is to fill all the blank squares with the correct numbers. Each row of 9 numbers must include all digits 1 through 9 in any order. Each column of 9 numbers must include all digits 1 through 9 in any order. Each 3 by 3 subsection of the 9 by 9 square must include all digits 1 through 9. (Answers on page 7)
Medium
IMPRESSIONS
These holiday songs tower over all the others
“I’ll tell you what, if I hear Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer one more time, I’m gonna go up on a tower with a high-powered rifle.’’ Those were the words of wisdom from Peter Buck in REM’s holiday tune “Christmas Griping,’’ which is a sort of rap set to the beat of a poor man’s “Tusk” while the boys talk about throttling the person who invented fruitcake and having nightmares about Burl Ives. Like Buck, a lot of people are driven crazy by some Christmas carols. Many of them are lame and sung lamely by lame artists. My daughter Lauren makes me listen to Justin Bieber’s version of “The Christmas Song” in which he sings “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…” and the word “fire” seems like it has 13 syllables. If I have to hear that one again, I may join Buck on the tower. But there are some good Xmas tunes out there. I have about 100 or so in my iPod, including the aforementioned REM gem. Like most people, I listen to a batch of them around this time of year. Unlike a lot of people, I will play some of them on days when the temperatures are in the 90s and 100s. But only for a few minutes. Last week, we asked people in our Viewfinder to tell us their favorite Christmas carols. Today, it’s my turn. Out of the 100 or so holiday songs from my collection of oddball and traditional songs, here are my 12 favorite in reverse order. 12. The 12 Gifts of Christmas by Allan Sherman. This novelty song features Sherman merrily singing about the 12 gifts he will return, including a statue of a woman with a clock where her stomach ought to be and a Japanese transistor radio. Over the years, I haven’t enjoyed the song as much when I found comedy’s Santa Claus was really sad and miserable most of the time. It’s still a fun song, though. 11. I Saw Three Ships by Blackmore’s Night. Ritchie Blackmore’s guitar riff in “Smoke on the Water” by Deep Purple is a classic and lately he’s been heavily involved with a project in which they play a bunch of songs in a Renaissance style. Break out the mandolins and flutes. This Christmas ode is no “Smoke on the Water” but it is special. 10. Let Me Sleep by Pearl Jam. Eddie Vedder’s haunting voice sings about a lost soul – possibly a hobo – thinking about the magic of Christmas when he was younger. But this Christmas he just wants to sleep. It’s kind of a downer with a
JEFF VORVA trace of sentiment. 9. Silver Bells by REM. The Athens boys are just horsing around here, singing this classic with a hillbilly twang but for some reason, it works! 8. Little Saint Nick by the Beach Boys. Dismiss them as just a hot rod and summer band if you will, but these guys save some serious harmonic chops and show it on their “Christmas Album.” This song was the best of the batch with “Merry Christmas Baby” not far behind. 7. The Christmas Song by the Ravonettes. I am not a big fan of the Ravonettes and less of a fan of slow songs, but for some reason this original song has an old 50s or 60s-ballad feel that strikes me just right. It really should be a classic. Maybe in 20 years. 6. Jingle Bells by Yello. It’s basically the Swiss electronic pioneers’ hit “Oh Yeah” meets “Jingle Bells” but it works. The group probably just mailed this in as a song for the soundtrack for the 1995 film “The Santa Clause” but it’s fun and bouncy in which sleigh bells meets electronic gizmos. 5. Feliz Navi-nada by El Vez. The Mexican Elvis Presley impersonator turns out a wicked version of this song with the punky “Public Image” riffs in the background. Wild stuff. It should make even the Scrooge-like Johnny Rotten smile, since he wrote the background tune. 4. Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want to Fight Tonight) by the Ramones. My favorite group of all time came up with a novelty tune in which the so-called brudders dialed down the punk guitars and added sleigh bells. The song is about a couple who are fighting during the holidays and the video of the tune ends with an elf throwing up in a toilet. Nothing says Christmas more like an elf barfing! 3. Jingle Bells by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters. Crosby is insanely famous for his version of “White Christmas” but for my money, his bouncy version of “Jingle Bells” with the iconic Andrews Sisters is superior. Aside from the
Who would have ever thought that Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5’s “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” would mix well with the Ramones “Blitzkrieg Bop?’’ Well it works so well that it became Vorva’s favorite holiday song.
great vocal talent, we have a hot band swinging away toward the end of the tune. 2. Little Drummer Boy by Sparks. One of the quirkiest musical acts around (“Eaten by the Monster of Love,” “Ugly Guys With Beautiful Girls,” “Angst in My Pants” and “Pretending to Be Drunk” are just a few of their song titles) play it straight on this live BBC rendering of the classic. It’s always been one of my favorite Christmas songs growing up and the Mael brothers make it greater. 1. Blitzkrieg Santa by Divide and Kreate. Some mashups work. Many don’t. This one is great as it mashes the Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop” with the Jackson 5’s version of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.’’ No, I never thought that highvoiced Michael Jackson before puberty would ever be able to blend in with the Ramones, but there you go. As a bonus, my favorite Christmas song title is “I Farted on Santa’s Lap (Now Christmas is Going to Stink For Me) by the Little Stinkers but it didn’t find its way to the Top 12. If you have any suggestion of odd favorite carols, let me know at thereporter@comcast.net.
WHATIZIT?
Photo by Jeff Vorva
Oh, oh, oh. It was a very un-merry Christmas for the few guessers who tackled last week’s photo. It was Santa’s beard, which is also a song by the quirky group, They Might Be Giants. It’s also another song by the Beach Boys but that would have been too easy of a clue. We’ll try to make it up this week with an easier. Theresa and George Rebersky of Worth were first with the right answer. Worth’s Robert Solner nailed it and Evergreen Park’s Bernie Mysliwiec knew it was the TMBG song and not some reference from the movie with the same name. Incorrect guesses were of a snow monkey, the Abominable Snowman, a boa and the unfortunate guess of “We have come to the conclusion that this is not Santa’s beard, so we are going with the Great Pyrenees dog.’’ This week clue, think a “top’ hit for Neil Diamond. Good luck and get those guesses to us by SUNDAY night (earlier holiday deadlines ) at thereporter@ comcast.net with WHATIZIT? in the subject line. Don’t forget your name and home town.