– Los Lobos Christmas Party – December 24, 1992 – NPR – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
Los Lobos Christmas Party at Capitol Records, 1992. A star-studded affair, featuring L.A.’s own and some of the best and brightest dropping by for some tunes and Christmas cheer.
Recorded by National Public Radio on December 24, 1992, Los Lobos are joined by Leo Kotke, Syd Straw, Dave Alvin, Rickie Lee Jones and John Hiatt for almost two solid hours of Nöel and Norteñas.
Why it hasn’t become a yearly tradition is beyond me – but a good time was had by all. And the audience, packing Capitol Records main Studio, happily went along for the joyride.
Unfortunately, with the exception of Steve Berlin and Cesar Rosas doing an instrumental rendition of The Christmas Song, Los Lobos are bit light on Yuletide chestnuts, but more than ably leave it to the guests to supply an abundance of. And Syd Straw turns in a gorgeous take on In A Golden Dream, while she teams up with Rickie Lee Jones to knock the socks off of O Holy Night.
So, if you’re getting a little worn out by the standard Christmas fare, and the 9 millionth hearing of Jingle Bell Rock and would like to listen to something just a little different and a little south of the border, I would definitely recommend you check this one out before Christmas is over and we’re smack into another year.
Anyway – all that by way of saying Merry Christmas and the best of holidays to all of you from us (me) here at Past Daily. Another year is almost over and it’s been completely strange – but probably not nearly as strange as 2024 promises to be. Until then, stay in the moment, stay sane and stay reasonably out of trouble. And no matter what you plan on celebrating this time of the year, or if you’re like a lot of folks, consider it just another day, take some time off and give yourself a break.
And don’t take yourself too seriously.
Past Daily is trudging along this holiday season and we’re always looking for your help. We don’t run ads so we need contributors to keep us up and running. Costs even more now than it did this time last year. But we’re still offering you the best of what’s in the archive – yes, this is all from our Collection (except the sessions and concerts – gotta give credit where credit is due – BBC 6 Music and Radio X in London and RNE In Madrid are essential sources of finding new music) but everything is the result of yours truly digging into boxes, climbing over shelves, falling into dumpsters. It’s history, it’s important and it’s yours if you want it. All you have to do, if you’re up for it, is subscribe via Patreon (that little box at the bottom of this post) – click on it and you’ll be taken to their site where you can subscribe to Past Daily, let them know how much you want to donate – or check us out for free, test drive our site as it were and decide to become part of the Past Daily experience. Simple, painless and we’ll love you for it. Do it if you can and you’ll be able to download your own copy of all our posts and new ones as they appear. Kind of cool, don’t you think? But you have to become a Patron in order to do it. Think about it – no pressure – honest – really . . no pressure. But there’s this landlord . . . .
