Toronto's Kristian Noel Pedersen has released 27 EPs or albums of Christmas music, 26 of which are on his Bandcamp page. What started as a goof became a project that stretched him as an artist. We hear music from all phases of his Christmas career including (in order):

1. "Home Alone Pt. 1"

2. "Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis"

3. "All I Want for Christmas is You"

4. "A Step-Mother's First (and Worst) Christmas Ever"

5. "Merry Christmas Baby"

6. "Christmas Without You"

7. "Hard Candy Christmas"

8. "Silver, Never Gold"

9. "What Are You Doing (on Christmas Eve)?"

10. "Pack Your Bags!"

We also hear a new song, "A Very Gen X Christmas" from The Static Dive.

In my conversation with Kristian, I mention the episode on Hanson with Isaac Hanson, and the one that traces the musical life of "Hard Candy Christmas."

I've been out of town this week, and when I thought of an episode from the archives to revisit, this one from 2021 with guitar hero Steve Lukather came immediately to mind. It's useful to remember that this was the second year of COVID--not full lockdown, but a lot of precautions and a lot of staying home. I gather Lukather is or has been a social animal, and in a time when it was hard to be social, I was the fortunate beneficiary of his willingness to talk and share.

Since we talked, Lukather has released another album, 2023's Bridges with Toto singer Joseph Williams.

Since streamed playlists and all-Christmas radio are the way most people hear Christmas music, they're fascinations of mine. This week I'm back on the radio beat with long-time radio guy Kevin Robinson.

I wanted to talk to Kevin when I saw a post he wrote for the industry site Barrett Media on best practices for the all-Christmas format shift. Since we talked, he interviewed me along with station programmers about programming Christmas stations and playlists.

In the episode, we hear music from The Glad Singers' awesome Christmas with a Beat.

We also hear "(There's No Place Like) Home for the Holidays" by The Carpenters, "Frosty the Snowman" by Esquivel, "O Tannenbaum" by Vince Guaraldi Trio, and "Santa Tell Me" by Ariana Grande.

The episode finishes with the audio from a performance of a Christmas version of PSY's "Gangnam Style" performed at a benefit fundraiser in Washington, DC with an audience that included President Barack Obama and his family. The video is worth seeing to fully appreciate the moment.

Photo by selim buka on Unsplash.