Last Sunday I had a pretty radtastical casual day at the Beekman Beer Garden at South Street Seaport watching those oldies, but goodies, The Raveonettes do a free show by the Manhattan waterfront.

I can’t tell you the last time I saw the Raveonettes in concert — probably the mid-2000s time frame — but I’m happy to report that they still rock out. Admittedly, you’ve heard one Raveonettes song, you probably have heard them all (heavy guitar sound, pretty light vocals and harmonizing), but they are enjoyable nonetheless.

On a normal night the Beekman Beer Garden crowd is basically B&T and tourists, but the concerts crowd was a mix of enthusiastic youngsters (free! during the day!) and old timers who crawled out of the woodwork to relive the adventures of their younger selves. Lots of little rocker kids as well, adorable!

Are all Danish people this attractive? Jeez

The kids just wanna rock

You can always count on Sharin Foo to add some glam

Behind the music

There are only about 2 and 1/2 weeks until. This makes me sad because there are only 2 and 1/2 more weeks for me to totally indulge in Christmas music. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I became totally obsessed with listening to Christmas music. This year I started listening to yuletide tunes well before Thanksgiving.

Here are the top ten Christmas tracks I’ve been spinning this year:

10. “Christmas Duel” by The Hives and Cyndi Lauper

The Most Attractive Man Alive (aka Pele from the Hives) and Cyndi Effing Lauper did a duet this year in which they list all the naughty, nasty things they’ve done over the last year: Example, sleeping with each other’s sister/brother, marrying drunk, hiring hit men, etc. Chalk another one up for the not safe for kids/family Christmas song play list.

9. “Christmas Song” by The Raveonettes


8. “Candy Cane Children” by the White Stripes

7. “12 Days of Christmas” by Taking Back Sunday

6. “2000 Miles” by The Pretenders

5. “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” by Coldplay from Mince Spies

4. “Last Christmas” by Wham!

3. “All I Want for Christmas” by Mariah Carey

2. “Christmas Song” by Weezer

Yes, the song is a bit pessimistic and sad, but the melody can’t be beat.

1. “Spotlight on Christmas” by Rufus Wainwright

I love this song so much. I think it puts everything in perspective. Great uptempo song…definitely the one ditty I play the most this season.