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The CHIRP Blog

Shawn Campbell writesEasy Ways to Support CHIRP This Holiday Season

2014 has been great, and 2015 holds even more excitement as we celebrate the station's fifth birthday in January (and all year long), launch new and improved mobile apps in the spring, and begin broadcasting at 107.1FM sometime after the weather gets warm.  As we approach the end of the year, there are all sorts of easy ways you can help keep CHIRP strong moving into 2015. Here are a few:

  • Buy tickets to the Chicago Music Dinner on January 19 at Lula Cafe, an all-inclusive three-course meal with beer pairings by Half Acre. This event celebrates the 5th anniversary of CHIRPradio.org. It's just a single seating with very limited tickets, and makes a perfect gift for the local music lover/foodie in your life!
  • Shopping online? Use the link chirpradio.org/amazon and as much as 7% of your Amazon.com purchase price will benefit CHIRP! Bookmark it so you can use it year round, not just during the holiday season.
  • And when you buy music digitally, bookmark and use chirpradio.org/itunes and chirpradio.org/insound. A percentage of your purchase price will benefit CHIRP.
  • Shop in the CHIRP Store. We have some brand new items, and have discounted a few old favorites as well. Stock up on CHIRP gear!
  • Know someone who's considering getting rid of an old car or truck? Encourage them to donate it to CHIRP before December 31 to take advantage of 2014 tax savings.
  • And of course the end of the year is the perfect time for charitable gifts in general. All gifts to chirpradio.org/donatenow are tax deductible. And with the new broadcast operation to build, it's a great time to give!

Share December 18, 2014 • https://chrp.at/4LVn • Share on Facebook • Tweet This!

Categorized: CHIRP Radio News and Info.

Tyler Clark presents: Local Mythologies writesTop 25 Christmas Songs: #8 - Fountains of Wayne, “I Want an Alien for Christmas”

It's the holiday season, which means Christmas music. Lots and lots or Christmas music, most of which was written before the people listening to it were even alive. While "Jingle Bells" and "We Three Kings" are great, and resilient, we're devoting this year to finding the best Christmas song written since 1989. We continue today with #8, and a novelty Christmas song for the modern era from Fountains of Wayne.

 



#8: Fountains of Wayne, "I Want an Alien for Christmas" (1997)

Last Christmas, I had the honor of interviewing Fountains of Wayne's Chris Collingswood and Adam Schlesinger about their band's two entries into the Christmas music canon. While Chris was more forthcoming about the inspirations and reactions to his song (the also-excellent "Man in the Santa Suit"), Adam revealed the single most surprising detail: "I Want an Alien for Christmas" was supposed to be a Hanson song.

Had it appeared on 1997's Snowed In, it still might've made the list. The song captures everything there is to love about fantastical gifts, and the novelty songs they inspire: tough-but-earnest requests, imaginitive lists of potential usage, and the outsized expectations that only come from the minds of children gripped by Santa fever. It's also a great slice of '90s power-pop, which gives it the edge over older cuts like "I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas."

Retail programmers agree; unlike many songs on this list, "I Want an Alien for Christmas" has already made the jump onto more traditional holiday playlists. The next time you're at Target, keep one ear open, and one eye on the skies.

Share December 18, 2014 • https://chrp.at/4Rbj • Share on Facebook • Tweet This!

Categorized: Christmas Top 25

Tyler Clark presents: Local Mythologies writesTop 25 Christmas Songs of the Last 25 Years: #9 - Sally Shapiro, “Anorak Christmas”

It's the holiday season, which means Christmas music. Lots and lots or Christmas music, most of which was written before the people listening to it were even alive. While "Jingle Bells" and "We Three Kings" are great, and resilient, we're devoting this year to finding the best Christmas song written since 1989. We continue today with #9, and a carol you can dance to from Sally Shapiro.
 



#9: Sally Shapiro, "Anorak Christmas" (2006)

As Stereogum's Tom Breihan put it in his recent review of the new Christmas track by Dum Dum Girls, "If there’s any such thing as a not-great Christmas-themed synthpop song, I haven’t heard it." Neither have I, Tom, and that certainly includes this track from the mysterious Sally Shapiro. If a snow angel came to life and decided to write a danceable love song, it would probably sound something like "Anorak Christmas." Filled with a quiet passion that threatens to melt the chilly Italo synths that surround her voice, Shapiro issues a breathy plea to her newfound love. Whether or not he hears it is beside the point—when the days are short and the nights are long, even an imagined love is usually enough to keep someone going until spring.

The song also earns an extra point for the wordplay in its title; "anorak" here likely refers to both a winter coat (which Shapiro is probably wearing) and a British slang term for a person with a geeky or obsessive love or hobby (falling in love with stranger at a rock show most certainly counts). Anyone looking for a closer for their Unrequited Crush Mixtape, Holiday Edition: this one's on us.

Share December 17, 2014 • https://chrp.at/4RuA • Share on Facebook • Tweet This!

Categorized: Christmas Top 25

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