Holiday Sighting/Warning

I discovered that you can actually see $6 movies in Manhattan if you're willing to get up early on a weekend and slip in before noon to certain matinees. That's how I found myself, yesterday, going to see "Shut Up and Sing," a very good new documentary about the Dixie Chicks and the fallout after Natalie Maines criticized Bush onstage just before the Iraq war. Mini-review: It's not as good as the filmmaker's earlier "Harlan County U.S.A." and "American Dream," but since "Harlan County U.S.A." is the best, most staggeringly honest political documentary I've ever seen, that's a tough bar to beat. But it's absolutely recommended---I'd even say essential---if you've ever been a fan of the Chicks, since I walked out of the movie wanting to buy three of their albums just for the hell of it.

Anyway, I mention this because, thanks to the time change last night, the movie theater wasruning an hour late and I got to sit in the theater listening to MovieTunes. And everything was fine---or rather, it was MovieTunes, so it was sucky but mostly ignorable---until the voice announced, "And now here's [some Irish performer or other] singing an arrangement of 'Ding Dong Merrily on High' in time for the holiday season." And sure enough, I heard my first Christmas carol of 2006.

But it got worse: two songs later---and I wish I could express how much this depressed me---they played Mannheim Steamroller. "Deck the [Fucking] Halls." Unbelievable.

Oh--and at one point, between songs, the announcer said, "MovieTunes is now heard by over 3 billion people worldwide. Thanks for listening!" And I wanted to yell back, "Since when did we have a choice, you giant-voiced monster?"

P.S. By the way, one of the reasons I wanted to see "Shut Up and Sing" is that NBC won't show ads for the film. First they're censored by country radio, and now by one of the big three networks. Now that the President has 36% approval, it's really time to give them a goddamn break.