rus vanwestervelt

Well, here we are at the Top Ten songs on my Christmas Countdown 2009. While the first 20 songs were all significant in my life, these 10 hold an even greater significance, as they define my life and my connection with the Christmas season in a profound and meaningful way. I encourage you to countdown [...]

I know, I know. You’re probably in one of two camps: either you are wondering why this didn’t make the top ten, or you are wondering why this song is in the countdown at all… As I’ve mentioned before, I am drawn to stories, especially in songs. This song is on a Country Sounds of [...]

This one goes out to all of my yearbook alums who bring this song to life every year in our beloved room 701. A few years ago, during a particularly stressful deadline rush with yearbook, a few of my editors made a playlist with just this song in it — about 15 copies, to be [...]

Harry Connick Jr.’s music takes me back to the very early 90′s when I was actively involved in the production side of our church, Chesapeake Presbyterian, in Southern Maryland. I was on the drama team, and we performed skits that contributed to the focus of each sermon. I made a lot of friends there, many [...]

There are times when our emotions are so deep, the words escape us. We are left with actions, instead, to speak for us. Today, I let Josh Groban and Morrill Worcester do what I cannot seem to do. Josh’s tribute to our troops in his rendition of this song, and Morrill’s Wreaths Across America project [...]

Nothing deep here today. This trademark song of the 80s by Patty Donahue and The Waitresses (best known for their 1982 song, “I Know What Boys Like”) wraps up so many memories from this decade — the Pat Benatar-style new-wave singer doing a half-sing, half primitive rap about a feel-good love story that ends in [...]

This is the second song by Trans-Siberian Orchestra to make the countdown (First Snow came in at no. 26); this is also the second time Pachelbel’s Canon has been featured (Variations on the Kanon by George Winston kicked off the countdown at no. 30). I just couldn’t pass on this version, though, especially since Trans-Siberian [...]

For one reason or another, this song evokes strong emotions from so many of us. For me, it’s the extreme contrasts between an absolutely beautiful song, sung by a beautiful woman with a beautiful voice, who struggled with demons all her life. Demons so many of us knew nothing about. Karen Carpenter was only 20 [...]

What’s not to love about this Seussian classic? How The Grinch Stole Christmas was written and published by Dr. Seuss in 1957 and made into a television production in 1966, featuring the voice of the legendary Boris Karloff. Most recently, in 2000, it was produced as a full-feature film starring Jim Carrey as the Grinch. [...]

I have to thank the movie, Home for the Holidays, for creating my own personal home movie in my head whenever I hear this song. At the end of the movie, we see a collection of home-movie clips of family moments — all good — at Christmastime. Even the characters that are less than likable [...]