This morning, I once again set aside the customary show format to deliver the “Talking Animals Annual Holiday Animal Song Special.” 
I noted the title is intentionally unwieldy, which I enjoy in an odd way, in the same way I enjoy over-explaining the premise on-aIr: a show entirely devoted to Holiday-oriented animal tunes. Elaborating, I acknowledged the only way to effectively pull off this conceit is to fashion the special with a liberal sprinkling of “Rudolph”-related songs. Sure enough, that sprinkling in today’s installment included Cher—recently back in the spotlight—and her spirited reading of “Run Rudolph Run,” and Beatles doppelgänger The Fab Four blasting through “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer.” But in today’s edition, I really sought to represent the non-Rudolph contingent—alt-reindeer, if you will—starting with “The Reindeer Stomp,” a rootsy barn-burner from John Calvin Brewer. And by again giving others the musical spotlight, we did acknowledge not all prominent reindeer are named Rudolph. We made that point by opening one set with “Listen I’m
Blitzen” by Marion & Martin (the Marion being Marion Gwizdala, a September guest on “Talking Animals” https://talkinganimals.net/2024/09/marion-gwizdala-ceo-of-advocates-for-service-animal-partners-inc-asap/), followed by Otis Gibbs’ “Lloyd The Reindeer” back-to-back with Joe Diffie’s “Leroy The Redneck Reindeer.” I think we learn that not all reindeer are created equal. And I played a few longtime staples, including “Dominick, The Italian Christmas Donkey,” “The Christmas Crocodile,” and I’m practically constitutionally obligated to spin the Eels’ “Christmas Is Going To The Dogs.” I took a brief break from playing cool yule songs for the traditional reading of what I call the Dorothy Strauss Christmas message, basically a poignant, inspirational prose poem in the form of a wall hanging that formed the centerpiece of my Mom’s Christmas decorations. The piece was credited to “author unknown” in those days, I later learned it was written by Howard W. Hunter.
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