Ranking various versions of the New Year's Eve tune, from Rod Stewart to Mariah Carey to ... cats!; Christmas came early for music lovers when an L.A. record store let customers cart off 25 albums for free; the City of L.A.'s former arts czar assesses the city's place in the cultural world.
Ranking renditions of 'Auld Lang Syne' from bad to better to ...
You will invariably hear "Auld Lang Syne"when the clock strikes midnight on December 31 .
The New Year's Eve anthem is based on an 18th-century Scottish poem, set originally to the tune of a traditional folk song. There are countless versions of the song, by artists of all stripes. There's everything from the classic Guy Lombardo version to a dubsteb version from Tornado Twins.
To cut through the fat, we asked our favorite pop culture junkie, Sean Rameswaram of WNYC's "Sideshow" podcast to rank his top five versions from bad to better.
5.) Rod Stewart — Really bad
"My Mom’s going to hate me for this, but Rod Stewart’s take is treacle garbage. It’s the same version he does of every standard and Christmas carol: he croons, the strings come in, and everyone gets a paycheck. Boring!"
4.) Mariah Carey — Bad, but that video. THAT VIDEO!
"No offense to MiMi, but she already owns, and arguably ruins, Christmas because everyone, everywhere, plays her version of “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” That being said, the video for her dance pop version is bonkers. Fireworks and cheese all over the screen!"
3.) Less Bad — Who doesn't love an old-school disco jam from 1984?
"While we’re on dance-y interpretations, there’s a disco version of 'Auld Lang Syne.' It’s by Boney M and it’s a lot of fun – especially if you’re attempting to re-ring in 1985."
2.) Actually tolerable — It's really the fiddle that makes it tolerable.
"My favorite of all the newer versions is easily Andrew Bird’s. It’s got zero schmaltz, but captures the prefect measures of sorrow and optimism one should be feeling about the end of one year and the beginning of another. Plus there’s some fun fiddle in the third act."
1.) So bad it's actually good — two words: Jingle Cats!
"I predict the internet will [still] love cats in 2015."
Why would a record store decide to give away 25 albums to each customer?
Music fans know all about the vinyl renaissance. Seven years ago, about one million new albums were sold. This year, that number will top eight million — and that doesn’t account for the big business in used record sales.
Southern California is the epicenter, with more than 40 stores that sell used vinyl. In the new hipster mecca of Highland Park, there are four stores within about a mile radius.
Collector Chris Honetschlaeger noticed the trend and decided to open a store.
"I started seeing soccer moms buying records," he says, "and really what moved me was that every band that had something going, or had some momentum, was actually making a record and not making a CD."
Honetschlaeger owns a used vinyl store in Hollywood called The Record Parlour. He and his partner, Chadwick Hemus, opened the shop in August, 2013. They not only wanted a place to house their growing record collection, says Honetschlaeger, but to "create something even more than a record store ... a music store where people could come and feel at home."
The two buy record collections to keep their shelves stocked. Honetschlaeger says they recently bought a collection of about 15,000 records. "That's about half of our inventory," he says. So instead of putting thousands of albums in storage, Honetschlaeger decided to give some records away for free — 25 per customer to be exact.
Honetschlaeger says when he gives his records away, it turns into an event that people even skip work for. And that was the case on a recent autumn weekday.
"I'm playing hooky right now," said a customer named Matt, who didn't want to give his last name — for obvious reasons. Matt was one of the many people who crowded in the small outdoor patio of The Record Parlour to get his hands on some free vinyl.
While Matt was having a hard time finding what he wanted in the dozens of record-filled boxes, another customer was able to find some hidden gems.
"I found an old Al Jolson record, probably when he was performing in blackface," said an African-American woman named Constance. "But I think it's gonna be great research [for her theater work]. I think he was talented, regardless."
Constance said The Record Parlour is her favorite place to discover music to be inspired by. "I can't claim to be a cool hipster and know the record scene," she said. "[But] I know my neighborhood. I think this is a great addition to the community and so I come here."
The Record Parlour will offer more than 3,000 albums for $1 each on Jan. 3-4.
Olga Garay-English on where L.A. stands in the arts and culture world
Museums, murals, music festivals — what makes a city's art culture stand out?
Olga Garay-English, who headed the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs from 2007 until earlier this year, shares with us where she believes L.A. stands in the world of arts and culture. The city, she says, is "in a very unique position so we really are the harbinger of things to come."
She also tells us how funding for the arts is being replenished after the recession and answers this question: If L.A. gets another Summer Olympics, will there be support for an Olympic Arts Festival?
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
On what she thought the opportunities were when she came to lead the city's arts department:
I always thought of a great city as having three primary elements for the arts: One of them is a cadre of individual artists — independent artists who are doing work in all sorts of disciplines; a bevy of neighborhood arts organizations that are small- to mid-size that are very attuned with people; and then some great institutions. And Los Angeles really fit that bill. It’s one of the most prominent cities in terms of the number of independent artists who live and work here. When you go into the neighborhoods — Los Feliz versus Hollywood versus Watts versus San Pedro — the arts organizations that have grown up in those communities are vastly different, but they’re very, very much in touch with their own neighborhoods and communities. And then you have some really A-list organizations — LACMA, MOCA.
Where do you see L.A. now? Where does it fit in what’s going on in other parts of the country or even other parts of the world?
I might be a little biased, but the fact that L.A. has such a strong Latino presence, I think puts it in a very unique position. So we really are the harbinger of things to come. We’re almost 50 percent Latino right now in Los Angeles and I think that puts us in a very intriguing leadership position in terms of what’s to come in this country’s future.
What’s going on in other parts of the country that excites you?
Well, one thing that excites me is the fact that now that the recession seems to be finally at an end, the philanthropic community is investing in the arts again. It [has] been really, really [a] difficult period – especially for organizations of color — so now there is that ability to go back and invest in the arts and I think that can’t be heralded enough.
Speaking of funding, do you see municipalities in the state of California being able to get back to the level of support where they once were?
That’s interesting because, unlike states, many municipalities have dedicated sources of income. In the city of Los Angeles and in the county of Los Angeles, there is a transient occupancy tax, so that every time somebody stays at a hotel they have to pay 14 percent tax. In this case, the [city's] one percent of the 14 percent goes into the Department of Cultural Affairs. Same thing for [new construction], the arts development fee when private developers build a bank or a store. Interestingly, states don’t tend to have dedicated sources and so they depend on annual allocations from the state government — it’s a lot more fickle, if you will. So I can say that now, as the economy is rebounding, municipal entities will definitely have a resurgence; The state [funding] is less predictable because there’s not that direct kind of formula.
But [do] you see an uptick in corporate funding, corporate support in the foundation world as well?
Yeah, in the foundation world for sure. Corporations, you know... that’s a trickier bag. They tend to [donate] in the cities where they’re housed. And Los Angeles has lost most of its corporate headquarters in the last 25 or so years. The corporate scenario is, again, a little bit harder to predict than foundations. Interestingly, for a city of its importance, of its size, the philanthropy field here is not as developed as in the East Coast. The robber baron cities had old, old, old money [with] a real commitment to philanthropy that is much more difficult to ascertain here. There are very important philanthropists here, but it’s not as ingrained as it is in some of the older cities on the East Coast. So, I think that the philanthropic community in Los Angeles really needs to mature a little bit more than it has.
There is talk, once again, about Los Angeles perhaps pursuing a Summer Olympics down the road. When the last one was held in 1984, there was a big arts festival. Do you see the city being able to support an Olympic arts festival again?
I can’t foresee [it] unless a major institution [is] going to take that leadership role. If we do get the Olympics, then we sort of have to [laughs], and then people will rally around that funding and marketing opportunity.