Talking casually, for hours, about unimportant things. Chattering. Kids while playing with Christmas presents. Adults at Christmas parties, in between kids. The water cooler.
Special note: William Safire will always have the best use of this word with his "nattering nabobs of negativism" phrase.
We haven't featured a ton of musical groups on The Dailies (except for Happy Friday links), but we've been surprised that Over The Rhine has been the most featured group. A husband-and-wife duo from Cincinnati, OTR has been performing for almost thirty years.
They've released three Christmas albums, which they call "reality Christmas." The albums are mostly original work, with a few standards. Most of the songs, though, are set during holiday season and focus on the emotions of the time, the joys and the difficulties, and how the holidays can both exacerbate the pain and also cover it with a layer of beauty. Have a listen:
We wore out the play button on Snow Angels and Blood Oranges in the Snow last year, as a number of the tunes felt especially pertinent. Coming back to them this year, we've been able to enjoy the songcraft in them. The play button hasn't gotten as much abuse this year, but it probably will in future Christmasses.
MusicOver The RhineChristmasFalling like forgivenessWe're gonna pull throughNew redemption songs