2004-12-26 - 2:06 p.m.

i opted to remain on the east coast for the holiday season and i can say it was really great to not have to travel or put up with too much family stuff. i had a really warm dinner for nine here at my loft for the longest night of the year and it was wonderful to have many of my favorite people share a candlelight homecooked meal with me. i ported my entourage up to the upper west side to collect lawyer jokes at the annual walker family soiree.

christmas eve found me drinking whiskey with a and the other artists at fanelli's before going over to y's for pizza and ornament-making. m strung together popcorn and cranberry garlands, and a and i cut snowflake shapes into flour tortillas while y beaded froot loops onto raffia. the point of the exercise was apparent on christmas morning when we headed to central park to decorate an evergreen tree with our edible ornamentation. as we draped and adorned, i noticed a massing of rodent and avian life in my peripheral vision. as we put the finishing touches on, an army of squirrells was obviously plotting their maneuvers.

in the end i must admit that christmas has left me a little blue. and i think we all know that a little emotional turmoil is great for my artistic output, as well as for my record collection.

• the flat earth thomas dolby
  
  
• fish below the ice / coelocanth shriekback
  
  
• chet baker sings and plays with bud shank and strings
  
  
• pretzel logic steely dan
  
  
• let's get small / wild and crazy guy steve martin
  
  
• in the fishtank 11 the black heart procession + solbakken
  
  
• dead cities, red seas & lost ghosts M83
  
  
• getting away with it / lucky bag electronic
  
  
• the moon and the melodies harold budd, elizabeth fraser, robin guthrie, simon raymonde
  
  
• the unforgettable fire U2