Black is the New AP Style: chimneysidechats

Graphic created by Lucas Seidel Design

Gather 'round the open fire for Chimneyside Chats - a monthly feature with holiday stories from our favorite artists. See what's in their stockings this year as they reminisce on Christmas memories, share their favorite recipe and more! Here's what singer/songwriter Benjamin Dakota Rogers had to say:

Since I was a little kid, one of my favorite family traditions has been that on Christmas Eve we exchange fun Christmas pajamas and sit around eating cookies, cheese, cured meats and drinking eggnog.

A pretty common winter activity, and a favorite of mine, is tobogganing! Going out and finding a big hill to race down. Bringing a thermos of hot chocolate and some leftover Christmas cookies is quintessential holiday fun. That and bird watching from the window in my kitchen; we always put out seeds and I love seeing all the different birds flit around the yard.

One of my most memorable gifts has been little vintage lead cowboy figures. I had seen them at an antique market over the summer and wished I made the purchase. I looked online and couldn't find anything similar. Somehow my little brother found a whole set for sale last year on Etsy of all places and gave them to me. I was so surprised and since they have become some of my prized possessions, they sit on the desk in my recording studio constantly squared off with each other.

"Bleak Midwinter" is for me one of the most beautiful Christmas songs ever written. I love the lonesome haunting melody; it feels like a cold winter night to me in a very nostalgic way. I think my favorite version is by a Canadian band called The O'Pears - the harmonies are just so pretty.

One of my favorite holiday recipes is almond crescents. I don't think a year has passed where we didn't make them with my mum. They're the perfect amount of crunchy and crumbly and are my favorite of the Christmas cookies.

Learn more about Benjamin Dakota Rogers and listen to the song he chose for our Chimneyside Chats playlist!

"Bleak Midwinter" by The O'Pears

Graphic created by Lucas Seidel Design

Occasionally, we would mix in other instruments. My brother started learning trumpet, so he was recruited to add to the arrangement by playing horn parts. My cousin started learning the violin, and he began to play as well. Sometimes when there was a bigger family gathering of relatives, there would be a crowd of us gathered around the wooden upright piano, reading off of one little chord book full of Christmas carols.

I wasn't really aware of how special this little tradition was until I was older. When I was an adult, I realized that I already knew the words and chords to hundreds of carols. As a working musician in my twenties, I was hired for Christmas gigs and building the repertoire was a breeze as I relearned music that was already familiar to me because of my family's holiday tradition. A lot of people feel a sense of nostalgia with Christmas music. Holiday carols pull us back to childhood, reminding us of gathering together and the carefree excitement that builds the night before Christmas.

For me, holiday music is even more than that - it transports me to caroling with my family all throughout December, learning new songs from the holiday book and singing in three-part harmony. I think this also taught me that music is for everyone. As an artist and songwriter, my family now sees me as the musical one, but these early memories of caroling were special because the entire family came together to enjoy making music.

Learn more about Ruby Greenberg and listen to the song she chose for our Chimneyside Chats playlist!

"Joy to the World" by Sufjan Stevens

Graphic created by Lucas Seidel Design

Here’s the scene: I’m 8 years old riding in the back seat of a turquoise Aerostar. It’s dark outside and very snowy. I’m traveling down Highway 53 for the annual Carol Sing at the Scrivens’ acreage. Upon entering the house: crock pots, shrimp rings, cans of sardines. These are for later; do not touch.

Grownups stand around and visit while people arrive. Eventually some kind of verbal signal is given and everyone piles into the living room - grownups on couches and chairs, kids on the floor. Laminated binders saved from year to year are passed out and shared between friends and family members. Mrs. Zepick sits down at the piano and starts to play. Kids get to request the fun ones off the top (Rudolph, Frosty, etc.). After a few of these, we get into prettier and more serious holiday tunes.

It’s this part of the evening I remember the clearest. The sound of a room full of people singing along with an upright piano made my hair stand on end. Even now, thinking about it makes me feel something. There are millions of moments in my life that have made me want to sing and play and write, but these Carol Sings are some of the earliest memories I have of being electrified by music. The songs were communal and heartfelt and shared between friends and family. It sounded loud and beautiful and human.

After singing, food and drinks are served. Us kids tear around downstairs and the grownups talk upstairs til late. Eventually my family bundles up and piles back into our van and drives back to town. These memories seem too good to be real - in fact, I’m not sure my wife believes any of this actually happened. But the sounds, smells, tastes of the Carol Sing come back to me across the decades with a vividness purified by time. Yes, this really happened to me and yes, it was the best.

The song I’ve included for the Chimneyside Chats playlist is a new one called "Good Ol’ Fashioned Cheer" by my friend Max Hopkins. This song embodies a communal and celebratory spirit I love and admire. Max has written and recorded at least one Christmas tune every year for I don’t know how many years now - enough for the various recordings to be compiled into a lovely full-length record called O, The Holidays Are Near!, which you can find in the usual places. Happy Holidays, everybody!

Learn more about Starpainter and listen to the song Joel chose for our Chimneyside Chats playlist!

"Good Ol' Fashioned Cheer" by Max Hopkins

Graphic created by Lucas Seidel Design

Bill Murray is brilliant in Scrooged. He’s totally misanthropic to begin with as a cruel TV exec; a soppy, happy hippy, glad-to-be-alive and a little drunk on Christmas Eve after several near death experiences. These are his encounters with the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, a la Charles Dickens classic supernatural tale of sin and redemption, each of whom shows him the error of his ways. The fairy of Christmas Present greets him by kicking him in the balls!

He treats his kind brother and his secretary like shit, sending towels as gifts, undermining his employees' hard work by saying their promo productions suck, and generally barks ‘bah humbug’ in that over-the-top Bill Murray way that he has. He is that much of an arsehole in this film that he tries to talk his ex-girlfriend he jilted out of working in a homeless shelter on Christmas Eve. 'Save yourself!’

In the end he finds a way back from this kind of tyranny against those who are financially struggling more than himself. After having been scared half to death by the ghost of Christmas Future, who resembles a cross between Skeletor and Darth Vader, he is shown his own funeral and realises he must change before it is too late. He missed the point about life, Christmas and getting to the top. It's about being kinder and more inclusive and not about yourself but giving of the self. Not expensive gifts, nor cheap towels, but love. He falls in love again with his ex-girlfriend, having been shown the best bits and the most cringeworthy moments of their relationship, and how he treated her (played warmly and coldly by Karen Allen of Raiders of the Lost Ark/Superman). SPOILER ALERT: They get back together and he finally gets the Christmas spirit.

Richard Donner, the director of Scrooged (who made Superman and The Goonies), died this year. He made a very prescient film (that I think will last the ages) about how we need to value each other rather than what we get from each other, or how we get one over each other. With the spectre of climate change and increased homelessness in the 2020s it speaks more directly and louder than ever. He did it in a fun way too, which of course is also what Christmas should be. We also, however, have to take a step back and think about how we can help those less fortunate than ourselves, particularly at this time of year when some people have nothing and no one. Maybe donate to the food bank or buy a homeless person a coffee if you can afford it?

Learn more about Zadkiel and listen to the song Dan chose for our Chimneyside Chats playlist!

"Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" by John Lennon

Graphic created by Lucas Seidel Design

Gather 'round the open fire for Chimneyside Chats - a monthly feature with holiday stories from our favorite artists. See what's in their stockings this year as they reminisce on Christmas memories, share their favorite recipe and more! Here's what Two Late To The Party's Adam Corkett had to say:

Growing up in Canada as a practicing Catholic, Christmas was always fairly routine; going to church, spending the next morning with family opening gifts and a turkey dinner afterwards. Though I moved a lot as a kid, our traditions were always the same and even the people I shared it with were always the same.

In the 2000s I had the opportunity to travel and live in Southeast Asia as a tour guide for a small travel company from Canada, and since I wasn’t going to be able to go home I was kind of lost on what to do for Christmas. It should be no big surprise that the Christmas season in Thailand is very different from Canada. As a predominantly Buddhist country, December is essentially just another month in the year and if it weren’t for the odd Christmas lights or picture of Santa, you would have no idea it was Christmas at all. At the time I was living in Northern Thailand, in the city of Chiang Mai, studying Thai and as the season changed I was starting to miss my family and was looking for something to distract me from thoughts of home. Figuring it wasn’t too far away I decided to head to Laos for Christmas and New Years.

I did very little planning for this trip and didn’t know it at the time but it would be a long boat ride over two days to get me to my destination of Luang Prabang in Laos. After arriving at the border crossing I met up with a random group of German tourists who were headed in the same direction on the same boat. We were setting out Christmas Eve and would be spending the night in a small village halfway to Luang Probang. At this point I was definitely getting homesick; I never spent Christmas away from my family and I had never experienced being alone. Fortunately for me, this wonderful group of Germans were kind enough to include me in their Christmas tradition, which was celebrating Christmas on Christmas Eve.

From out of nowhere people were pulling out chocolates, passing around German schnapps and music was being played (both Christmas and traditional Bob Marley tunes). Christmas morning we got back in our boat, a bit worse for wear but still in a festive mood. We kept the good times rolling as we enjoyed a Christmas morning cruising the Mekong river. I don’t remember feeling homesick in the end, just the feeling of being included and cared for even though I couldn’t remember the names of those wonderful people.

In the end, this turned out to be one of my favorite Christmases, and allowed me to step outside of what I had always known and thought of Christmas. It showed me you can find the most special Christmas memories in the most unusual places and it's not where you are but who you are with that really matters.

Two Late To The Party finds it's never too late to find the true meaning of Christmas

Learn more about Two Late To The Party and listen to the song Adam chose for our Chimneyside Chats playlist!

"Sound The Trumpet" by The Wailers featuring Bob Marley

Graphic created by Lucas Seidel Design

Purchase 12 Days of Princess and listen to the song Holly chose for our Chimneyside Chats playlist!

"Twelve Days of Christmas" by Bing Crosby and The Andrew Sisters

Graphic created by Lucas Seidel Design

I hope when you listen to the song, it brings back your own cherished memories of holidays gone by, and provides hopeful anticipation for upcoming Christmas seasons to be spent with loved ones.

Learn more about Kyle Richardson and listen to his song "Christmas Time This Year" on our Chimneyside Chats playlist!

Follow Us

Facebook Page

Featured Video

Featured Playlist