The Pen in Hand Collection of Unconventional Christmas Moments: An Evening with Jon Batiste

Attribution: Possibly Jenny Nyström (1854-1946), Swedish illustrator, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter The holiday season is all about family tradition. Whether it’s about going to Midnight Mass, carving the Christmas ham, avoiding the mother-in-law’s homemade eggnog, or sampling Grandma’s oyster stew, traditions are what makes our holidays special. We are lucky to …
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The Pen in Hand’s Collection of Unconventional Christmas Moments: “Fairytale of New York”

Attribution: John Tenniel , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter Katzenjammer and Ben Caplan The holiday season is all about family tradition. Whether it’s about going to Midnight Mass, carving the Christmas ham, avoiding the mother-in-law’s homemade eggnog, or sampling Grandma’s oyster stew, traditions are what makes our holidays special. But some people are …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to Spinning Classic Christmas Vinyl

Photo by The Retro Store on Unsplash By Geoff Carter While those of us at The Pen in Hand will always be slavishly devoted to his TV home entertainment center, this week he will be putting down the universal remote in order to turn his focus solely on another entertainment form—music. Part of the reason for this departure …
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The Pen in Hand’s Collection of Unconventional Christmas Moments: “Fairytale of New York”

Attribution: John Tenniel , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Katzenjammer and Ben Caplan The holiday season is all about family tradition. Whether it’s about going to Midnight Mass, carving the Christmas ham, avoiding the mother-in-law’s homemade eggnog, or sampling Grandma’s oyster stew, traditions are what makes our holidays special. But some people are hurting. Many are …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to Spinning Classic Christmas Vinyl

Photo by The Retro Store on Unsplash By Geoff Carter While those of us at The Pen in Hand will always be slavishly devoted to his TV home entertainment center, this week he will be putting down the universal remote in order to turn his focus solely on another entertainment form—music. Part of the reason for this departure …
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Kickass and Taylor Swift

Attribution: Cosmopolitan UK, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, notes the keeper’s less than stellar record of relating to female singers beginning with Dale Evans, including Kate Smith and moving on from the Andrews Sisters to Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughn. Somewhere when the pop musical focus went from …
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Kickass and Oatmeal

Attribution: Pamela Smith, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper, being a senior member of the Willie Nelson age group—Willie having just celebrated his 91st birthday, found it interesting to learn that Willie prefers oatmeal for breakfast. The keeper does not like oatmeal and he wonders if …
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