Posted by Long ago I kinda-sorta began a xmas* tradition that I steadfastly adhere to and continue to enjoy every annum. I say I “kinda-sorta” started this tradition because pretty much everybody in the world also does it, and they were all doing it long before I started doing it.
I’m talking about Christmas shopping. Sure, I know that everyone ultimately engages in a harried battle with the hectic holiday shopping season, but I do it on purpose.
Every year I select what I hope will be one of the busiest shopping days leading up to Santa’s birthday and I spend that evening frolicking to and fro on a holiday treasure hunt that sees me fight crowds of harried shoppers through malls and downtowns shops armed with little more than a half-baked wish list and cache of that’ll-do shoulder shrugs. Part of the tradition – perhaps the main part – includes finding a pub where I can sit down and enjoy a cold beer and a warm meal whilst I reflect upon my plastic sacks of hunted and gathered successes and ruminate on any gifts that remain unscavenged.
And so it was that I found myself sitting at Yellowbelly Brewery enjoying a burger and a pint amid a panic-buying romp throughout the St. John’s shopping district on December 20th, 2023. Now, I’ll admit that the Wednesday before xmas is not necessarily the best pick for “busiest shopping day”, but that’s the day that Big Space had booked themselves a show at Erin’s Pub, so a wee bend of the rules was in order.
As a regular consumer of my typed output must know by now, Big Space is a drop-dead amazing prog-fusion instrumental trio amongst a sea (almost literally) of traditional jigs, reels, and Brown-Eyed Girl‘s, and I dig ’em. M’lady and I had discovered Big Space a year earlier and if the records of my memories are accurate this would seem to have been my fourth time seeing them since that inaugural experience.
Like I say, I dig ’em. You should too.
And so m’lady and I checked into a free room at the modern-yet-rustic Murray Premises, a 19th century former mercantile building that was converted into a boutique hotel at the turn of the current century. M’lady’s status with the online hotel gods brought with it the extra perk of a complimentary “welcome drink” in the form of two cans of Coors Light that were left cooling in the mini-fridge. Meagre as it was, we shot our Silver Bullets and headed out on our one big Townie shopping trip of the season, interrupted briefly and happily by the fore-mentioned burger & beer at Yellowbelly and culminating with our weary butts plunking down into a pair of chairs at the front table of Erin’s small, nearly empty Pub.
Then Big Space came on and positively blew our minds.
No matter how many times I see these guys I remain equally enthralled. I am writing this missive almost two years down the chrono-illogical road and to this day I still salivate at the band’s first note. As a group Big Space is monstrously talented and endlessly creative; an inwardly-pointing circle of players putting on a veritable clinic on improvisation and communication with eyes-slammed-shut concentration and unwavering musical trust and dedication.
And it’s simply a joy to watch. Especially when enjoyed with a satisfied soul full of tasty burger and a belly full of holiday cheer.
Happy Everything everybody. Peace.
*To explain why I use an “x” as an abbreviation of “Christ” we’re going to have to go all the way back to at least the early 1700’s, if not centuries before that. Y’see, x comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter in Christós, which in English we spell as “Christ”. The first instance of x being used as an abbreviation for Christós was in the year 1100. No disrespect; this was before the printing press, when books were written by hand so abbreviations were all the rage. By the 16th century most religious denominations were commonly using x to abbreviate Christ.
(So take it easy…”xmas” isn’t taking the Christ out of Christmas any more than “KFC” is taking the Kentucky-fried chicken out of Kentucky Fried Chicken.)
You’ll notice that I do very occasionally use the full word “Christmas”. I do so for two reasons. First and decidedly foremost is the internal rhythmic diction I sometimes experience in the moments before my fingertips touch keys. Sometime it just feels like “Christmas” scans better than “x”. Not often, but sometimes. Of course this suggests that I pronounce “xmas” in my head as “ex-miss“. I do, and I hope that you do too.
(You already do it with “x-ray”. Wouldn’t it be funny if we did it with “xylophone”? “Exlophone“.)
Secondly, I tend to look down on abbreviations in general. To me abbreviations seem lazy and dangerous, leading an already spell-checked population further and further from common spellability. I mean sure, I snicker at something like “the Parent Teacher Ass.” as much as the next guy, but how many people can confidently spell “etcetera” anymore? And some abbreviations are basically secret code anyways: why is “20lbs” twenty pounds? Sometimes all a guy can type is “sheesh”.
You’d think that reason #2 would win out and that I would always type it out fully as “Christmas” and when I reflect upon it I would have to agree. But sometimes my desire to be a smartass overrides my struggle to keep the sheep on the straight-and-narrow – most times, actually – and availing myself of the opportunity to explain why my usage of “x” as a stand-in for “Christ” is both legitimate and historically acceptable is nothing if not smartass.
Todd Man Out 