by Robert Gillis
Published in The Foxboro Reporter 6/2004 and 6/2008 and 6/2009 in various forms/updates

Founders Day!

The annual day-long celebration of our town’s birthday starts as you drive through Foxboro at 8:45, 9:00, and people are already putting out beach chairs, staking out the best viewing spots. Business owners and employees are opening windows and doors, hovering, getting ready for the event. The police begin closing roads. The crowds thicken. There’s real anticipation in the air. Something special is about to happen.

Founders Day seems to bring everyone out, and there’s that wonderful feeling of community – so present all year anyway – amplified exponentially on this day. Friends and families gather. Teens take advantage of the roadblocks by skating freely in the streets around Foxboro Common. Babies cry. Parents take family pictures. Camera and camcorders are everywhere. Kids run around, laughing.

And then, you hear the fire engine sirens, and another Founders Day parade is under way. The glistening fire engines – both from here and neighboring towns – bring cheers and the children waving from inside bring smiles. The police vehicles do the same.

The days of hard work are evident in so many of the floats.

The kids from the karate school, in full uniform, stride purposely. I’m always somewhat in awe of ten year olds who can seriously injure me. But seriously, the kids look so proud.

There’s the Van-Go and the Senior Center folks. We are so fortunate to have Council on Aging, with Vicki at the helm. There’s the Doolittle Home van. Another Foxboro gem, a wonderful residence where seniors live in dignity. What a treasure Doolittle Home is.

Here are the town Selectmen. I like how they always march every year – their presence in the parade is a nice reminder of our town government working so closely with the people.

There are the Veterans in uniform. Can we ever thank them enough for their sacrifice? (Have you thanked someone you know in the service recently? Do it now.)

Here comes the Civil War society. They fire their weapons and get everyone’s attention. Also impressive.

Each school has a float, and they all show such hard work and creativity. The marching bands go by – it must be very difficult to walk in formation AND play an instrument with such skill, but they make it look easy.

Here are the trolleys –– imagine using them to get around town! Do the kids in Foxboro even realize this was the preferred mode of transportation here years ago?

There are the Girl Scouts. Boy Scouts. Cub Scouts, So much pride coming from those young faces! So much promise and enthusiasm from such little people!

The Jaycees. The Rotary. So many fraternal and community organizations – all so happy to be part of this community, making a difference every day.

Then, seemingly in a blink, the Founders Day committee car goes by. To all of you on that committee – thank you, thank you, and thank you for all your hard work.

Soon it seems that at least half of the town’s population is on the Booth Playground field.

I can see my Jaycee friends are doing great business at concessions and that makes me very happy because I know firsthand the good those proceeds will do throughout Foxboro.

It seems like every organization and club in Foxboro is well represented. It’s a well-worn cliché but Founders Day on Booth Fields truly offers something for everyone. And I must add that the root beer floats made by the National Honor Society are excellent!

There are games, amazing food, kids and parents and teens everywhere, taking it all in.

By 4pm, it seems like the activity is winding down; most tents and kiosks are closing up, the business portion of the day concluded. People are now heading home to parties, gatherings, and many are just trying to get the usual Saturday chores complete before the fireworks.

For me, like so many others, this in-between time is spent packing up, cleaning, putting away, grabbing a quick burger, and then heading back to the field. Passing by the Common, I’m amazed. All of the confetti, silly string, papers, food containers and other debris has been cleaned up. You couldn’t know a parade had even passed by.

At 8:30, the sky is still light and the grass is rapidly being covered with beach chairs and blankets. And let me testify that Rotary hamburgers – always delicious anyway – taste extra good on Founders Day evening.

An hour passes as latecomers seek out a remaining patch of grass to call their own.

The area is filled with the shadows of bodies and the light from Jaycee glow sticks.

And then BOOM! The first firework shell explodes overhead, and the people cheer. Once again, the pyrotechnic display is incredible, with the speculator colors exploding overhead and the glowing embers floating down so close to us. Forget Boston on the Esplanade – Foxboro is the place to see the best fireworks display. That the show was paid for by Foxboro businesses, organizations and local donations makes it all the more sweet. (By the way, if you can, be sure to keep the donations coming in to pay for next year’s fireworks! The fireworks thermometer on the common, which tracks donations, is only halfway to the top.)

Like the parade, in a seeming heartbeat, the show is over, and we join as one, applauding. Once again Foxboro police keep the exodus orderly, as traffic flows smoothly home.

Another Founders Day has come and gone.

To our police and fire fighters and rescue workers – thank you, once again, for keeping us safe.

To the Founders Day committee – and to everyone who in any way participated in making the day happen – thank you. Your Herculean efforts are so very appreciated.

Founders Day is more than a parade, events, and fireworks. Unlike thousands of parades and events held in Anytown, USAs, Founders Day is uniquely ours. The sense of community that we all feel on this day cannot be denied.

The reason I live here, what I love most about this town — is its sense of family and community. That is never more evident than it is on Founders Day.

by Robert Gillis, 5/2009

Note: There be major spoilers ahead, so if you haven’t seen the film (and why the hell not? it’s REALLY good!) you may want to hold off reading the following…

Approximately three gazillion people have written reviews for this new Star Trek film, and about 90% are positive. (This pleases this Trekker immensely, and the idea that a TREK film will break $200 million – and possibly $400 million or more, is just incredible.)

Since so many reviews have been written, covering every aspect of the film, a review by me wouldn’t be very interesting. For a detailed history of the film, cast, creative process and far more, visit www.TrekMovie.com, which I consider to be THE Star Trek site on the web.

But -- I loved the new film, and decided to write my thoughts and impressions anyway.

The Film

• Film is going to be one of the greatest blockbusters of the year and will easily out-profit all previous Trek films.
• Scope is epic – NEVER seen anything like this in Trek. This film is HUGE.
  
• Film needs to be seen multiple times – so much going on all the time. Constant moving, constant action. Never seen the likes of this in Trek before.

Trek Lore

• Love the countless subtle nods to past Trek: The tribble, Admiral Archer’s beagle, the apple during the Kobayashi Maru, Sulu's fencing, etc.
• The concept of using a new, alternate time line is brilliant; as a device it allows real danger and unthinkable occurrences: The death of Amanda, the destruction of Vulcan.
• As a Trekker I like the idea of using the year as a basis for a star date.
  
• The writers CLEARLY love Trek.
  

USS Kelvin

• First minutes of movie breathtaking; NEVER seen Trek this large. Kelvin clearly an early ship, very busy, almost primitive. I like that all the Starfleet officers are portrayed as competent and professional – a first for TOS! The imminent danger and ship evacuation -- feels real. Death of George Kirk heartbreaking. The scenes as Kelvin destroyed as Jim Kirk is born – WOW.

Vulcan

• Spock being bullied by his peers consistent with "Journey to Babel" and show that some things are universal. Jacob Kogan as young Spock is exceptionally good. Great actor.
  
• Vulcan council speaks of Spock’s “disadvantage” and elaborates that the disadvantage is his human mother. Spock in turn rejects their admission offer; his “Live long and prosper” is stated in such a way that it can only mean, “and go screw yourselves.”
• Could not believe the death of Amanda or destruction of Vulcan. The writers have balls, that is for sure. This is definitely an alternate time line!
  
• Spock’s speech: “I am an endangered species:” Heartbreaking.
• Spock's relationship with Uhura -- unexpected but well done.
  
  

Starfleet and Enterprise

• Loved that Enterprise is built in Riverside, Iowa.
  
• The scenes of Kirk riding up on his motorcycle into the busy shipyard as the music plays, and he makes his choice, are VERY effective.
• New Enterprise is just fine; yes very advanced but believable. The ship works.
  
• Love the new computer and screen graphics. Nice departure from the LCARS of previous series (which I also like)
  
• Bridge redesign is phenomenal.
  
• Very cool how the view screen is a window.
• The Enterprise coming out of the clouds on Titan… Just like TWOK: Awe inspiring.
• Liked the scene of all the shuttles taking off from the hanger. Made Starfleet seem huge. Caught the Star Wars reference: "Vader" assigned to the USS Hood.
• Nice to see James Cawley (Star Trek Phase II) on the bridge. His work on his vision of Trek is really good.
  
• Like the new cadet uniforms a lot, a little Star Wars-ish but great.
• The “Classic” uniforms look better than ever.
• Like that the crew of the Enterprise is very large. Makes it seem more real.
• Liked the debate between Kirk and Spock during the hearing for cheating on the Kobayashi Maru.
• Sound design VERY new but just the right amount of old effects.

Effects

• Easy to summarize: Special effects beyond belief. Like nothing we have ever seen before. A+ start to finish.

Cast

• Casting perfect.
• Bruce Greenwood as Pike amazing.
• Erica Bana good; the writers learned from past mistakes of spending too much time with villain talking (Insurrection, Nemesis). Nero appears as needed to advance story. Not the best villain (that would be Khan or Chang) but good performance.
• Karl Urban seems to be channeling Deforest Kelley. PERFECT.
• Anton Yelchin fine as Chekov – saves the day more than once. Liked him since Alpha Dog. He’s got a bright future in acting. Plus, he’s really Russian!
• Sulu is a bad-ass. Takei must be “beaming!” Cho was a great choice.
• Quinto is the perfect Spock, ahem, after Mr. Nimoy, of course.
• Ben Cross as Sarek is very good; but I missed Mark Lenard, RIP. Sarek’s admission that he loves Amanda – powerful. Winona Rider fine as Amanda. Would have liked to see more -- she has the character down perfectly.
• Zoe Saldana is IN-CRED-IBLE as Uhura. FINALLY an important team member. Finally more than a “switchboard operator.” Demands to be on the Enterprise and lists her qualifications. Romance with Spock felt organic and not forced. AND finally – a canonical revelation of her first name.
• Pegg’s Scotty mostly played for laughs, not a great deal of screen time. Accent perfect.
• Chris Pine’s Kirk plays just the right balance of all of Kirk’s good and bad qualities without imitating Shatner. The scene of Pine’s Kirk in command gold brought cheers. This guy also has a bright future and was a great choice to play the iconic Kirk.
  

Spock Prime (Nimoy)

• Nimoy’s role not a cameo; very, very poignant. Very obvious why he took the role.
• Audience applauded when they saw him.
• Nimoy’s Spock is organic and very necessary to the plot.
• The scene with the two Spocks, as Spock-Prime explains "a friendship that would define you both" is a defining moment in all Trek. This is a Spock who is at peace with himself, and Nimoy hits this scene out of the park.
  

My nipicks and the not-so-good:

• The lens flares are very cool but get annoying at times.
• Agree with some folks who say that Spock Prime’s mind meld with Kirk to explain what happened in 2387 a little “clunky,” but necessary to explain plot.
• Jimmy Bennett (Young Kirk) doesn't look much like Chris Pine.
  
• Kirk’s promotion is too fast if he were just a cadet; makes more sense that his grade was lieutenant and that he was referred to as a cadet because he had not yet graduated (or was suspended).
• While the audience understands why Kirk needed to provoke Spock into an emotional outburst, the crew does not -- a small scene where Kirk explains himself to the crew would make sense, to get the crew to trust him.
  
• The odds of Kirk finding Spock on Delta Vega are astronomical BUT I agree with idea that the time line was trying to mend itself.
• Transporter effect so-so; liked the other movie’s effects.
• Enterprise and Kelvin engine rooms (redressed Budweiser factory) doesn't work for me at all. I understand they did it to make the ship appear huge, and it looks far better than a CGI creation, but the set just clashes with the rest of the ship so much that it almost takes you out of the film.
  

To everyone who is upset about the changes to Trek Canon:

• This is an ALTERNATE TIMELINE. While the film does not make it clear if previous “Original” time line survives; Bob Orci (co-writer) says it does.
• As further proof of this, my Star Trek DVDs have not vanished so he must be right.
• It's a movie, dammit!
  
• If all else fails, remember these very wise words from "Austin Powers:"
  

Austin Powers: "Wait a tick. Basil, if I travel back to 1969 and I was frozen in 1967, presumably, I could go back and visit my frozen self. But, if I'm still frozen in 1967, how could I have been unthawed in the '90s and traveled back to... Oh, no, I've gone cross-eyed."
Basil Exposition: "I suggest you don't worry about those things and just enjoy yourself. [to camera] "That goes for you all, too."
Austin (smiles): "Yes."

Other thoughts

• Very grateful no reset button was pressed at the end -- this is the new Trek, and anything can happen.
  
• Dedicated to Gene and Majel – very appropriate.
• Beautiful to have Nimoy’s “Space the final frontier.”
• Beyond perfect; beyond brilliant.
• The franchise is in good hands.
  
• Mr. Abrams, Mr. Orci, Mr. Kurtzman, and Mr. Nimoy: THANK YOU.

by Robert Gillis
Published in the Foxboro Reporter and The Boston City Paper, 5/2009

As this is a column about a newspaper, specifically the Boston Globe, allow me to begin with a clarification. I am not an employee of the Foxboro Reporter, never have been. I’m not on staff; I don’t attend their editorial meetings, and at times have even written opinions which were contrary to the Reporter’s own ideas on a subject. For 13 years I have been very grateful to Jeff, and now Bill, for allowing me the opportunity to FREELANCE for the paper and for the privilege of them allowing my words to occupy a space on page 5. It has been, and continues to be, a true honor, and I hope to continue our association for a very long time.

That said, there WAS a time I DID work for a major newspaper, but not in the capacity you might imagine. Back in 1980, right around this time of year, I started selling papers for the Boston Globe. I wasn’t a paperboy – I was actually in the city of Boston, peddling the Globe for 20 cents to passing cars.

The pay was good for a 15 year old back then -- $4.25 a day for two hours of after-school work, plus 6 and one half cents per paper sold.

Less than a week after I started, I got my permanent spot outside Woolworths Department store in Downtown Crossing – where I would stay for three years until I had outgrown the job and left at age 18.

The winters were absolutely brutal; as Leonard Nimoy once said about selling newspapers in a Boston Winter, “That will teach you character.”

I learned to dress in layers very fast.

I loved working for the Globe. I loved being at that bustling corner, getting to talk to people (especially the cute girls) and getting over my shyness of speaking with people in general. Yes, as hard as it may be to imagine now, I was a very shy kid.

I remember the friendliness of so many customers, particularly Joseph Phil Kelley, who chatted each day, shared his wisdom, and even gave me 50 cents each day for the 25 cent paper. He was just a great guy. There were many others who were also kind, and many folks who would stop by just to chat. I even dated several of the girls who came by.

There were also many weirdoes; my personal favorite was the guy who used to scream walking down the street, and one day pointed to little old me, and shouted, “YOU! I’ll have you in jail by the end of today!”

I was never sure if he was setting up a jail cell rendezvous for the evening or knew about my lengthy police record, but whatever. I was also regularly entertained by a woman named Mrs. Stern, who would stand on the corner and use some of the foulest language I ever heard, swear at everyone for two hours, then get on the bus and go home.

I truly met people from all walks of life: Gay and straight, democrat and republican, businesspeople and blue collar Joes, and the occasional “most likely to hail from Neptune.”

The fruit stand guys, the Cogliani family, were there in the summer and sort of “kept an eye on me,” but in the winter I was on my own. I was thrilled when Dad allowed my sister Theresa to also sell papers; she was right around the corner from me and we shared many hot chocolates and cookies during those days. In the summer months, we’d even ride our bikes into Boston every day to sell our papers.

Now, back in 1982, it was the Boston Herald that faced an imminent death, and I recall talking to my Globe boss, Joe Wallus, a really great guy, about it. As we did our nightly count and pay-out in truck 128 at Government Center, I commented that the likely Herald closure would probably be good for the Globe.

But Joe surprised me by saying it wasn’t good; that a one-paper town was never a good thing, and the city needed a variety of news sources. He was right, then and now.

We older folks remember when it was the NEWSPAPER where we got the very latest news, the league standings, the stocks, and so much more. And back then there were so many to choose from: The Herald, Globe, Post, Traveler, Record, American, and so many others – each with its own point of view (or bias) and each with its own strengths and weaknesses. ALL newspapers have a bias – as do ALL news sources.

But having so many disparate news sources was – and still is -- the only way to understand a subject from all sides, and glean the truth that is always somewhere in the middle.

And there is still something intensely personal about a city newspaper that no web site or blog will ever capture. As the Boston Herald’s Joe Fitzgerald recently said so well, “The death of any newspaper leaves a hole in the hearts of its readers as well as in the heart of the community it serves, and that has little to do with the popularity of any writer.”

This is why I read the New York papers at least once a week, and always pick up a local paper when I travel outside the state – it’s the best way to get the pulse of a community.

And newspapers have an historical value that no web site can ever achieve. I still have the newspapers my dad collected when JFK was assassinated, when Armstrong set foot on the moon. I kept all the papers from the Blizzard of ’78 and when Challenger exploded and when President Reagan was shot.

Each of these is valuable not just for the front page stories, but the entire paper is a snapshot of another time, from the “latest” styles to the prices of cars to the extinct comic strips to how the Red Sox were doing back then. There is so much to learn from the “breaking news” of an era by reading it AS IT WAS WRITTEN and not distilled by decades of rewrites.

What did everyone go out and buy on September 12, 2001? Newspapers. What were people standing in a four block line in downtown crossing to buy the day after the 2004 Red Sox swept the series? Newspapers. We don’t save web pages. We save Newspapers.

Despite how the web has changed the future of newsprint, and despite declining advertising revenue, there is simply no substitution for holding a newspaper in your hands and reading it.

It is my sincere hope that the Globe – and the Herald, and the Foxboro Reporter, Dorchester News, Boston City Paper – and the industry -- survives and prospers.

As Joe Fitzgerald wisely said, “ You don’t have to like them to root for their survival. You simply have to love newspapers.”

I love newspapers.

by Robert Gillis
Published in the Foxboro Reporter and the Boston City Paper, 3/2009

Like so many people, I too have recently been informed that everyone in my company will take a pay cut. And we all have colleagues who have lost jobs, taken massive pay cuts, and face uncertainty how to survive in these economic times.

My great frustration is with the politicians who don’t seem to understand we don’t have any more money to give, and businesses who are clearly taking advantage of the economy for their own benefit, while we struggle to buy milk and bread and pay the rent, and wonder how to afford to send our kids to school -- or even if we’ll have a home six months from now. Even those of us who are still employed know the rug can be pulled at any time.

We’re getting a lot of memos from people who want more of our money; I think it’s time we send our own memo back to them:

MEMO: Cost-cutting measures during these difficult economic times.

Today's economic situation requires me to make hard decisions. However, if I take actions immediately to maintain a balanced budget, I will be positioned well for the future.

That’s why I am sending this memo; it’s important to reassess my financial situation and make the necessary money-saving measures and cost-cutting steps. The gap between where I am today and accomplishing my financial goals is widened by the current economic climate. As a result, I need to take temporary actions to get me through this difficult period.

Dear Governor Patrick: I like you, Governor, and voted for you. But due to my pay cut, I’m afraid that I will not be able to pay your proposed increased taxes on anything. Given the amount of waste and corruption on Beacon Hill, perhaps you could look there first for additional funds before enacting a gas tax, or any tax. Governor, with all due respect, I’m not exactly sure where you expect people who have been hit with pay cuts or been laid off, or face losing their homes to come up with a way to pay your new taxes on gas, and soda, and candy. Please understand that it’s not that people are unwilling to help you, they CANNOT – they don’t have any more money.

To the MBTA: Due to my changing economic condition I will not be able to afford your proposed fare increases. You recently restricted parking at my station, raised parking costs at all stations and raised fares just a year ago and now you want more money? For what? To correct your legacy of bad financial management? And what do we get in return? Delays, bad service, snarly drivers, faulty equipment and a laughable on-time guarantee? Good fiscal logic would seem to indicate that you’ll need to get your own finances in order before you ask your commuters for more. I hope you’ll understand, it’s not me, it’s these tough economic times.

To Logan Airport: Due to my reduced liquid capital, I’m afraid I can’t support the two dollar “green fee” you imposed recently. First, it’s unfair to penalize people for parking at your lot where you’ve recently raised prices; Second, the only green I see being saved is in YOUR wallet; and third, as the Weekly Dig recently stated so well, taking the T to Logan is not an option for the mom with three kids and luggage trying to make a 7am flight.

To the Mass Turnpike Authority: Likewise, due to the change in my personal financial situation, I’m afraid I cannot support your proposed toll increases. Perhaps you could find the money in your own organization? I understand a lot of it has been misplaced by your employees over the years. We’ve all been reading Howie Carr in the Boston Herald and know that good money management doesn’t seem to be your greatest strength. We’re sorry for this tough love, but if you don’t learn to manage your own money first, we can’t keep giving you money to waste.

To American International Group (AIG), and the bonuses you are trying to pay out after your bailout: ARE YOU KIDDING? No, seriously, are you insane? You cannot have your bonuses. The people of America are not going to allow it.

To the credit card companies: All of your customers, including myself, have received your new terms. I received all your letters about the increase in my APR and the new $39.00 late charges, increased monthly minimums and the various other new fees. Your letters all blame these changes on the economy. I’m no economist, and I’m sure the mere billions you rake in mean you’re hurting too, and that the upcoming federal regulations impacting all credit card companies in 2010 mean you need to act fast to financially rape and demolish your customers as quickly as possible and blame it on the economy while you are still legally allowed to do so.

Therefore, due to these difficult economic times, I will not be able to accept your new terms and is it’s my intention to pay off my balances as fast as possible and cancel your cards. You are no longer a convenience, you are a liability, and due to my reduced financial liquidly I’m afraid I can no longer play along with the joke you call customer service.

To other companies: When you send me a letter explaining that due to the economy you need to raise the cost of something, I’m afraid I will need to inform you that due to the economy I must deny your request. If that means I must cancel your service, so be it.

To each of you listed above, I recognize these are tough actions, and you can be assured I made this decision after much thought and assessment. I ask for your support and understanding as I work through these very difficult times. I am confident I will strengthen my position in a consolidating global market. I will be one of my industry’s best and brightest, trusted by my clients to solve their challenges, and reposition myself in a worldwide consumer market, and am confident I will rise to the occasion and will, in fact, succeed in preserving, through this difficult period, the excellence I have demonstrated to all of you.

I thank you in advance for your understanding. Remember, tough times don’t last, but tough people do. The CEO of a company I used to work for told us that the day before he laid off hundreds of people, so I know it must be true.

by Robert Gillis
Published in The Foxboro Reporter, and the Boston City Paper, March 2009

{Note: After Bob Shea read the advance copy of this column before it was published, he said, “Thanks for the advance copy, what a job you did on my life, I could almost like the guy you wrote about... God's blessings. Yours in friendship, Bob.”}

He is a gentleman and a gentle man. He is gregarious and friendly, speaks in a slightly raspy voice, has a surprising sense of humor, and a sharp wit. He is a shameless flirt, generous in the extreme, seemingly knows everyone in town personally, is a friend to hundreds of people, and is one of the best people I know. I love the man.

His name is Bob Shea.

I met Bob when he called me a decade ago to tell me Susan had won the Grange’s “Citizen of the year” award. At the ceremony, I met this remarkable man and instantly liked him. He is no-nonsense but amiable, generous, and downright silly sometimes. He knows the history and people of Foxboro well and can share stories of decades ago as easily as he catches up on current news. And everyone seems to love the guy!

A devoted family man, he has five children, and many grandchildren and great grandchildren, both here in Foxboro and his other home in Ocala, Florida.

He’s lived a rich and interesting life. He grew up in Rosedale New York, and has a great love for his original home town, a place he describes as, “As near perfect a town as I have seen in all my travels.”

He continues, “We were lucky to grow up and spend our childhood in a friendly little town, with warm loving parents, and wonderful neighbors.”

Rosedale was home to many children Bob’s age, and he recalls days of stick ball, shooting marbles, roller skating, hide & seek, two wheelers, and scooters. He fondly remembers the penny candy at Rodman’s Candy Store. The Sunrise drive-in. Picking tomatoes for twelve cents a bushel at Hoeffners. Cooperman’s Drug Store with the soda fountain.

“We grew up in an international environment; at supper time you could walk down the street and catch the aroma of every nationality cooking in the kitchen. Everyone’s house was a safe house for children, and hardly anyone locked their doors.”

His stories are a tapestry of names and events from long ago, of a much more innocent time and friendlier people. Bob speaks of all the senior citizens living with their families—no one went to a rest home back then—and the multigenerational families under one roof. Everyone knew everyone.

He reminisces about the town baseball team, the Rosedale Americans, managed for a time by his father. He recalls P.S. 138 and the teachers back then, and the boy with polio who showed tremendous determination and learned to walk with a limp. And with a touch of melancholy, he speaks of the friends who returned from World War II with terrible injuries and wounds, and those who died fighting overseas.

Bob also served his country during the war, and many of his stories revolve around those extraordinary years. One such tale takes place in a small town called White Fish, Montana. His troop train had arrived in White Fish for a stop-over and crew rotation. The train would be there for several hours, so Bob disembarked and found a little place on the side of the road to get a bite to eat.

“Hey Soldier!” the friendly crowd greeted him as he entered. They welcomed him, and the owner immediately told his staff to get the young man in uniform something to eat, and then invited the girls to dance with him. They assured him they would let him know when the train’s relief crew arrived, so he wouldn’t be AWOL.

Another story. One morning after the war ended, Bob was in California. He’d missed the trolley that would take him to his base, so he set out on foot and tried to hitch a ride.

As he made his way down the road, a car slowed and a good looking man and woman called out, “Hey, soldier, where are you going?” Bob explained where he was headed, and the gentlemen beckoned him to get into the car. They had a wonderful ride and a lively conversation, he was invited to stop at the driver’s ranch in the Berkley Hills on his next pass, and ride the horses. At his destination Bob thanked the driver, whose name happened to be Clark Gable.

Or the time he was in the McClure Hotel in West Virginia, where Jimmy Stewart and Ann Baxter were in town filming a movie called Fool's Parade. The only hotel available during this location shoot was the one that Bob was staying at. So Bob came down for his six a.m. breakfast in the morning and there's Jimmy Stewart.

And typical Bob, he approached Jimmy and asked, “What the hell are you doing here?" Bob told me that Jimmy was just as nice in person as he was in the movies, and he said Ann Baxter was absolutely lovely without her makeup. The whole crew was there, apparently. All were friendly.

Then there was the time he was in New York – Bob lived there for many years and ran various businesses, including his own restaurant. Well, one day he was in Brooklyn, and stopped for a bite to eat. He gave the waitress his signature line, "What's a beautiful babe like you doing in a dump like this?" (He still uses that line, by the way). Bob recalled this girl had a lot of “moxie.” The waitress said, “Oh, I'm not going to be here much longer, I'm going to Hollywood, I'm going to be staying with my uncle -- I'm going to be a star. I'm going to be a singer.”

Her name? Barbara Streisand.

He’s met Bob Hope. Jayne Mansfield at the Christmas show at Thule Air Base in Greenland in 1961, and countless other luminaries. He was at the original Woodstock and took a great photo of a cow with tepee, tent and baby clothes hanging on a bush.

In the early years of his marriage, he supported the family by working near the North Pole at a base where the outside temperatures were often over 40 below zero. An excellent electrician, he impressed his Danish colleagues, who told him they liked the way he cursed.

Closer to the present, Bob has made his home in Foxboro since 1972, which he says reminded him a lot of Rosedale.

He has served our town well and shows no signs of slowing down. He’s been past master of the Grange, and an active member until that fine organization disbanded. Bob was also one of the originators of the Foxboro Farm Stand for the needy. He was twice president of the Elder Gram—the predecessor to what later became the Council on Aging. He has assisted the Knights of Columbus repeatedly with their Tootsie Roll drive. He’s helped scare people at the Jaycee haunted house. He created a program that brought gladiolas to the elderly. He’s associated with or has been a member of the American Legion, Knights of Columbus, Saint Alban’s Masonic Lodge, Saint Mary’s Church, and the Shriners. He was a driving force in the “Save our Sports” program that helped raise $40,000 for the Ahern School.

He has walked with the legends in this town – Whitey Vandenboom. Vin Igo. Jerry Rodman. His devotion to serving Foxboro – and any other community where he’s lived -- is the stuff of legend. He has made a huge difference in this town and others.

In 1988, Bob sent out a letter to every Rosedale resident he remembered, suggesting a get-together he called “the Rosedale Roundup.” Thanks to his efforts, hundreds of people gathered on Long Island for an event Bob described as “a love in.” The reunion was so successful—and each successive year drew more participants—that Bob turned over the reunion responsibilities to a full committee! The Rosedale Roundup tradition continues.

One Founder’s Day, he took a beautiful picture of the Normandy Farms Float, framed it, and presented it to them the same day. He does that a lot for people he knows.

His family took him to Bermuda a few years ago. Before the trip, Bob went to Wal-Mart and bought bags of new clothes, not for himself, but for the needy in Bermuda, which he donated as soon as got off the ship.

A few years back, he embarked on a cross-country trip in his RV and sent us post cards from Mount Rushmore and other fascinating parts of America.

On that trip, he told us that upcoming months-long journey, rather than sticking with the usual tourist spots and highways, he planned a leisurely, round-a-bout trip that not only took him to see his family and the Rosedale reunion, but through the South Dakota reservations, Mount Rushmore, Flathead Lake, the Oregon Trail, the Badlands, and of course, a little town in Montana called White Fish. He even planned to pan for gold, and added, “With the price of gas I better find some very big nuggets.”

He also got to know the people at each of his stops, to seek out other Grange members and Knights of Columbus along the way, as well as taking the opportunity to talk to people across the nation.

Everywhere he goes, he touches people’s life for the better.

On a visit back here last year he went to Mass at Saint Mary’s and said people were surrounding him to talk. And he mentioned one Foxboro family that invited him for dinner and made homemade rhubarb pie. He visited another family and out runs a woman to embrace him. "Papa Shea! Papa Shea!" He smiled and said, "Oh, my gosh, you were so little when I last left."

Throughout the years, Bob has become much more than a friend to me and my wife Susan. Susan considers him like a father to her. Susan says, “Bob is one of God’s Angels who walk among us. He helps everyone, prays for everyone and will always go out of his way to bring a smile to everyone he meets. Every time we talk with him, we learn something more interesting about him, or about something wonderful that he did or was part of for others. He has lived a selfless life dedicated to giving and making life better for others.”

And while so many Ocalans and Foxborians are extended family to him, he speaks with such genuine affection and love for his children and for his grandchildren and his great-grandchildren. He knows all their names and all their birthdays. He carries all their pictures. And he's just such a doting, loving man.

And the history at the command! Drive down any street and Bob will point out where someone lived, and what they were like. Another street is where there used to be a great breakfast place, or where you could get a good hamburger, or where the fire was, or where so-and-so got married. He is a walking encyclopedia of those days.

When Bob reviewed this piece, he asked me to include the following, which I’d intended to leave out to protect his privacy. You see, now in his 80s, Bob moves a little slower, and is fighting invasive cancer. He is fighting this disease with the same determination and spirit that he has applied throughout his life, and hasn’t lost an iota of his wit, sharp mind, or generosity.

In his trademark style, Bob even quipped, “Nice obit!” when he first read it this week. But that’s just Bob being Bob. His illness wasn’t the genesis for this column; I’ve actually been working on this piece for months, fine-tuning it here and there whenever I spoke with him. But the timing is perfect to ask all of you to please pray for him that he will make a full recovery. His condition is serious, but with his usual determination, Bob says he will beat this.

We need people like Bob in this world.

Please pray for him – or have a good thought for him. Let’s all picture Bob healthy and healed. We need to get that good energy and good thought into the universe for him and his family. The power of positive thinking, of good thoughts, and especially prayers, can really help Bob right now.

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Now… I’d completed this article a few weeks back, and Bob approved it. It was ready to run as you’ve just read it and would have ended here. Its purpose was to profile and pay tribute to someone I love who has made a difference in hundreds of lives. But it seems like this profile can serve another purpose as well, to get the word out and help Bob even more.

In the last few weeks, we learned that Bob’s medical expenses would be huge, and that his insurance would not be covering enough of it. Some of his growing lists of medications, and some of the addition treatments he may need, are not covered at all. The financial burden on Bob and his family will be very large.

Bob is staying here in Foxboro with his daughter Anne Marie -- a dedicated nurse devoted to Children’s care -- and her family. She and Susan talked with friends and family and suggested that perhaps some help could come from Bob’s extended family: The community he has helped so much.

When Bob found out about this help, he was not happy. In fact, he was upset. Bob is a proud and dignified man who has spent his life giving, and not receiving or asking for anything. He has NEVER asked for help from anyone his entire life and wasn’t about to start now. He said absolutely not, you cannot do this.

But Anne Marie convinced Bob that this was necessary, and gave him her word that any donated monies not used (for any reason) would all be donated to either a scholarship in his name, or a charity of Bob’s choice. Very reluctantly, but understanding the need, Bob has agreed. With his approval, Anne-Marie has opened an account for people to make donations.

So if you can help at all, and thank this wonderful man for the difference he’s made and help him in the fight of his life, please make a donation to help Bob. An account has been set up at Citizens Bank in Sharon (Shaw’s Plaza). The account is called “Friends of Bob Shea.” If you go to a different Citizens branch and the teller is not familiar with the account, ask the teller to contact the Shaws Sharon Citizens branch for the account information. Any check should be made out to “Friends of Bob Shea” and sent to the Shaws Sharon Citizens bank branch. (720 South Main Street, Sharon, MA 02067, phone: 781-784-7990)

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I’ve often said that growing older is the same for all of us -- and people do not become useless as they do so. They can be a great source of knowledge and friendship, and all they ask is a little of your time. There is no finer example of this than Bob “Papa” Shea, a man I love so very much, a man who is the epitome of whom Tom Brokaw calls the “Greatest Generation.”

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Update: Bob participated in the 2009 Foxboro Memorial Day parade:

Ralph Hunt of East Street welcomes fellow veteran Bob Shea, who had been watching the parade from a vantage point on Central Street and decided to join in. Shea, who is undergoing chemotherapy treatments, gamely marched to the Common, where he participated in Memorial Day observances. (Jeff Peterson photo)

by Robert Gillis
Published in the Foxboro Reporter 2/2009

Mark your calendars for February 28, 2009 because the Doolittle Home auction event is finally here! After months of preparation and the round-the-clock work of a dedicated group of volunteers, we’re proud to present over one hundred quality items – many priceless – at the sixth annual cable auction to benefit the Doolittle Home.

Proceeds from the 2009 fund-raising will be used to purchase an adjustable diagnostics table for the nursing unit to enhance the comfort and safety of residents. Being able to lower the table would make it much easier for residents to get on and off while being raised to a standard height for physical exams or treatments.

Fund-raising efforts of the prior two years enabled Doolittle Home to purchase a new wheelchair accessible van to facilitate transporting residents to social events and medical appointments. The Doolittle Home also offers van transportation to any wheelchair-bound veterans in Foxboro.

My friends, Doolittle Home is truly one of Foxboro’s treasures. This beautiful residence is home to nearly 30 senior citizens, and provides total care in an elegant, dignified atmosphere. Doolittle Home is licensed by the State as a retirement facility and also provides for the medical needs of the residents in a fully accredited nursing unit.

If you visit Doolittle, you will quickly see that it is not at all like any extended care facility you have ever visited. Those investigating options for themselves or an elderly loved one will quickly learn that there are many different types of facilities meant to address different needs. People live longer at Doolittle, and one reason is that they don’t need to worry about their future.

Most residents enter Doolittle Home under the Life Care program that assures residents and their families that the needs of the individual will be met for life, regardless of any change in health or financial condition. It is based on a single up-front payment plus Social Security or Pension income and Life Care residents – and their families – enjoy total peace of mind that all of the individual’s needs will be met at no additional cost. The residents are provided for to the highest standards in Massachusetts and enjoy the full amenities of the Home as well as the fully accredited Nursing Unit.

But Life Care isn’t for everyone, especially when the nation’s financial condition is in such turmoil. Recognizing that individuals still have to make decisions about their retirement years, Doolittle Home now offers a Doolittle Residency program which, for a monthly fee, provides residents a room in the retirement unit of the Home, together with all meals and activities, and supervision of medication. If needed, up to 14 days of care in the Nursing Unit would be available each year at no additional cost. The Residency Plan is contingent upon the individual’s continued good health and ability to pay.

Like retirees everywhere, residents of Doolittle Home retain their own independent lifestyle. There is also an Activities Director who plans special trips as well as in-house activities which they find enjoyable. Through the Residents Council, they have a voice in planning activities, making their needs known, and helping to plan menus.

The entire staff at Doolittle is just phenomenal and so dedicated. There’s little staff turnover and that means continuity for the residents. I watch the staff interact with the residents and I am impressed by the level of care, and the obvious affection the staff and residents share.

I love Doolittle Home, which is why I accepted so quickly when asked to join the Board of Trustees in 2007. I think the residents are amazing – they are obviously so comfortable, so happy. Recently I was speaking with a 94 years old resident and saw her going over a sheet of paper. “So many activities,” she told me, “I have to plan my day!” That morning after breakfast, some residents are chatting with others over cards, another is doing a puzzle, one is reading the newspaper, and several are hosting visitors.

So you can see why I have come to love Doolittle Home – for someone who loves seniors so much, to see that this fine facility provides seniors with dignity, respect and quality of life – well, how can you not want to help?

Now here's the pitch. Doolittle Home is a non-profit organization organized under section 501 (c) 3 of the IRS code. As such, it must demonstrate outside support (read: auctions, donations, other support) and provide care at lower cost than could be obtained on the open market. Residents must also be afforded some sense of financial security and, in the case of Life Care residents, funds have to be available to continue those services even beyond the exhaustion of an individual's up front payment.

As part of the fundraising, for the sixth year, Doolittle Home will be holding an auction LIVE on Foxboro Cable Access (Channel 8) on Saturday February 28, starting at 1:00pm. I am urging you to watch, to call in and bid, and make a difference.

Note to out of town residents: For the second year, you can watch the auction LIVE on the Foxboro Cable Access web site (www.fcatv.org) that day, and call in your bids. No more excuses about not being able to see Foxboro Cable Access! If you have access to the web, you can watch the auction and bid!

The auction is a Herculean effort coordinated by Lynda Walsh, along with Joanne Pratt, Jack Authelet, Beth Ferencik, Ginny Coppola, myself and a LOT of behind-the-scenes helpers. We’re also so very grateful to Michael Webber, Mike Everson, Marge Nash, Neil Kaiser, Lauren Bitar and everyone at Foxboro Cable Access for their lengthy and detailed preparation, coordination, and clockwork execution of the annual show. We thank the Foxboro Reporter for all the news coverage and also thank the Foxboro Jaycees, who lug, tug, present items, and do hours of running around and heavy lifting.

Now, let’s talk about some of the auction items: The donated items up for bid this year are phenomenal. There’s the usual excellent assortment of gift certificates to local businesses, stores, clubs and beauty salons, and food. Truly something for everybody.

Now, each of the Foxboro Cable Access/Doolittle Home Auctions over the years has featured a painting by the late Homer White, a local artist of legendary proportions known for his local scenes as well a broad range of floral, marine and landscape creations. There is cause for celebration with the news that the 2009 auction will not be an exception, thanks to Bob and Louise Poirier and their donation of a magnificent acrylic of a woodland scene by Homer.

And that’s not all! Here is a small sample of the items we are offering:

• A New England Patriots ticket package for two with VIP parking. Go Pats!
• Speaking of the home team, we are featuring a gorgeous giclee art print of Tom Brady, and a football autographed by Richard Seymour! Red Sox more your thing? Pick up the Dustin Pedroia autographed baseball! We always have a LOT of sports tickets and memorabilia.
• How about a week in a beautiful vacation home in Bethel Maine? Just bring the groceries and get away from it all in one of the most beautiful places in New England – a $2500 value thanks to former town clerk Marie Crimmins!
• Want to stay closer to home? Normandy farms have again donated a $400 gift certificate to their nationally famous campground.
• Do you like tech toys? How about an iPod that can hold thousands of songs? Or a computer program that types what you speak? Or a portable hard drive that makes computer backups a snap? Or a portable GPS that will help you never get lost again?
• Here’s something everyone can use: Local attorney Jeff Lovely has kindly donated estate planning worth $800.
• Our newest Trustees President, Joanne Pratt, has handcrafted a lovely doll house is 24” wide, 11 ½” deep and 19” high. It comes complete with a family of four and even a dog and cat. Each of the four rooms is furnished and complete with all the handmade accessories down to the rugs! This wonderful collector’s item is child friendly and will provide many happy hours of play for any little girl or a little boy.
• We have a variety of artwork to compliment any room and taste.
• My favorite category is “Uniquely Foxboro.” Included in our hometown selection, we’re offering another of the hand-crafted tables created by the late Cliff Curry as well as other “local” items that can only be found here. Show your “Townie” spirit!
  

And that’s just for starters.

As always, we have a full page ad in the Foxboro Reporter for which we are most appreciative. Also, the Doolittle Home web site, www.Doolittle-Home.org features a PREVIEW of all the items up for bid. Visit the website daily for a constantly updated preview and start making a list of the items you wish to bid upon come auction day! And while you’re there, check out the rest of the Doolittle site for tons of information about residents, staff, the Doolittle mission, trustees, activities, even sample menus and calendar.

The items are also being previewed constantly on Foxboro Cable Access.

All donations are tax deductible. For additional information about Doolittle Home or its auction or to make a cash donation toward this wonderful cause, please call the Doolittle Home at 508-543-2694 or auction chairman Lynda Walsh at 508-543-2668.

And PLEASE: Watch the live auction either on Cable 8 or the Foxboro Cable Access web (www.fcatv.org) site and bid. Mark your calendar now. I am asking you –for this one day -- to set aside time at 1pm on Saturday February 28 to tune into the Doolittle Auction on Channel 8.

So many people have worked very hard for months to put together this grand event to support one of Foxboro’s treasures. You can help by tuning in, calling in, and bidding. Tell your friends out of town to check out the FCA website – perhaps they might like to call in as well? We had a bidder from New Hampshire last year who watched on the web!
Bid high. Bid often. Keep those phones ringing! You have an opportunity to help our seniors once again. Remember, we’ll all be a senior someday! Help make a difference. Support Doolittle Home and visit www.Doolittle-Home.org

Thank you!

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Update: The auction was a huge success and raised over $11,000! Read more here.

by Robert Gillis Published in the Foxboro Reporter and the Boston City paper, January 2009

The cost of President Barack Obama’s inauguration – estimated at some $170 million dollars – has been (for some) a heated topic. Many have argued – reasonably – how can the government spend such a huge amount of money on such a lavish ceremony during these terrible economic times? One letter-writer to the Boston Herald said a simple swearing in at the White House would have been just fine and set an example that cost-cutting begins at the top.

That’s a fair and reasonable point. No one needs an update on where the economy is in America in 2009.

But I would argue that despite the economy, the cost of the inauguration was worth every penny. America needed that ceremony, that pageantry, that formal acknowledgement, that pomp and circumstance.

This event was one that demanded proper recognition. We needed the party.

Consider:

• The transfer of power is peaceful. The incoming leader has not seized power through bloodshed but by the will of the people. For that, we are the envy of the world – for over two centuries, every four or eight years the United States transitions her leadership and executive power and the process is PEACEFUL. That fact alone is worth dancing in the streets.
  
  
• A black man has been elected President of the United States. The significance of that fact will be written about for generations. As President Obama said in his inauguration speech, his own father, 60 years ago, might not have been served in Washington because of his skin color. In my own lifetime, I remember the race riots of the late 1960s, the racial strife and forced segregation that tore Boston and other cities apart in the 1970s, and we’ve all witnessed the social and economic wars of race and class in this country. And now a black man is president – that is AWESOME. This country has come so far, finally. Racism and friction between races won’t be erased with this election, but it is a hell of a great start in the right direction toward healing, a milestone of epic proportions, and perhaps the real beginnings of racial peace in our land. This incredible moment in our history needed to be acknowledged properly.
  
  
• For the first time in many years, the people of this country, young and old, are EXCITED about its leadership and the new government. This last election, all two grueling years of it, was marvelous for the simple reason that so many millions and millions of people were involved. They were passionate. They were informed. They wanted to be part of the process. For so many years we have been jaded and ambivalent and angry about our government and leaders. This time, people got involved. They lobbied. They polled. They wrote. They called. They worked, and worked, and worked, and they voted. I have NEVER seen such excitement, and then joy, across this country on an election night. It was palpable. It was like New Year’s Eve in Times Square.
  
  
• On inauguration day, an estimated 1.8 million people crowded Washington DC. The level of excitement defies superlatives. People are energized. They’re hopeful – they believe change is coming. All that good energy isn’t just about a black man being elected president – it’s about the tangible feeling that REAL CHANGE is coming and that the America we knew will be back. An America where we don’t torture people. An America where we have a fair immigration policy. An America where the Constitution is restored to its proper place as the Law of the Land. Things are changing – the America we loved will be back.

Barack Obama is just one man and like all presidents, he will have his successes and failures. His administration – like all administrations – will have its problems, controversies, detractors, and bumps along the way.

No man can summon the future, and no one person can fix this country’s problems. No one should believe that. But a great leader, even a good leader, can not only lead but instill hope, and inspire others to greatness as well. I have a real hope that Obama is that man.

I pray that the tremendous flow of happiness and positive energy felt on January 20 will remain and help our nation heal, and prosper.

We celebrated far more on January 20 than the first black president or a peaceful transition of power. We celebrated waking up from a long nightmare. We’re still fighting two wars, we’re still in grave danger from terrorist attack. There’s a lot wrong with America right now.

But watching the inauguration, I was so impressed by our new president. Despite the inauguration’s financial cost, the United States needed a gigantic celebration – a true recognition -- of the change that has come, and the new era that has dawned.

by Robert Gillis
Published in the Foxboro Reporter 1/2009 and as a letter to the editor in the Sharon Advocate

This isn’t a Foxboro issue but will affect a lot of people in Foxboro, Mansfield and Walpole.

This morning I drove as usual to the Sharon MBTA Commuter station and parked in the numbered spot area where I usually park -- on the train station side. The “residents only” lot allows 30 additional spaces for non-residents, which is very nice.

I proceeded to the pay box to insert my $4.00. That’s when I noticed the duct tape covering the slots of parking spots 45-78. The magic marker sticker said that that these spots are for residents only. This was a new development, effective today.

I understand that the land is owned by the town of Sharon and not the MBTA, and the town can do whatever it wants, and the needs of the residents come first. I get it.

But there are precious few parking spaces for non-residents, and now over 30 of them are gone. For many people like me who live in neighboring towns, that means a ride to Route 128, a long ride on a clear day and a nightmare on a snow day.

The woman I spoke with at Sharon Public Works was curt with me, and to be honest didn’t seem to care about my call.

It just isn’t fair. That lot is simply NEVER full. I’m there every day. There are ALWAYS dozens of resident-only parking spaces available. Even if more passes for residents were sold, there are always resident-only spots available.

Forcing neighboring residents to seek a far-off alternate station for parking is not just unneighborly, it’s wrong.

I would really hope that the town of Sharon would revaluate this change. There’s always plenty of resident parking in that lot (even after 10am) and it seems like the town is doing this to add more to its coffers by writing more $25 parking tickets to non-residents who HAVE to park there.

If you park at Sharon and are not a resident, please give the Sharon Public Works department a call at 781-784-1525. Or email superintendent Ed Hooper at ehooper@townofsharon.org or business manager Liz Curley at ecurley@townofsharon.org.

Be polite, don’t be rude, but express your opinion about this change and perhaps we can get our parking spaces back.

A collection of 4 different Mickey characters each commemorating a key milestone in Mickey’s career:

• Steamboat Willie, the first Mickey Mouse cartoon released in 1928;
• Sorcerer Mickey, the appearance of Mickey in the 1940 Walt Disney movie “Fantasia” as the Sorcerer’s Apprentice;
• Mouseketeer Mickey, the 1955 television debut of the “Mickey Mouse Club”;
• Celebration Mickey, the celebration of his 75th anniversary in 2004.

These exclusive collector’s limited-edition plush characters are handcrafted by Disney and are unlike anything Disney has offered before. This Mickey Mouse collection was made exclusively for the May Company by Disney. No one else sold them.

Each Mickey Mouse is five feet tall (5ft) and all have a certificate of authenticity and limited serial numbers. They are made of high quality 100% polyester and 100% Polyester fill.

Attached to each Mickey’s ear is a certificate of authenticity and a number in the edition to match the number on their foot. The reverse side of the certificate offers information about that particular Mickey’s history.

This would make a great Christmas Gift or a gift for any occasion for children and adults alike.

Will ship only in the United States; Paypal ONLY! No checks, no Western Union, no Money Grams (don't ask): Credit card/PayPal only

Email me for more details: robertxgillis@aol.com

Click on the image to enlarge

Click on the image to enlarge

Click on the image to enlarge

Click on the image to enlarge

by Robert Gillis

Since the early 1990s, Boston radio station Magic 106.7 (home of the famous David Allan Boucher "BEDTIME MAGIC" show) has played a beautiful 18 hour selection of traditional Christmas carols beginning at 6pm Christmas Eve. For the most part, the set list has been pretty much the same, with a few tweaks.

Years ago, just for fun, I realized I wanted to know the set list so I could start collecting the CDs of this beautiful music.

I called the station but they didn’t have a set list, and while the DJs were happy to list a few songs I couldn’t very well ask for a verbal list of 18 hours of music.

So over time and Christmases I started making a list of each hour and every song I could identify by name and artist. Since the majority were instrumental, and some I’d never heard of (“Sheep may safely graze?”) This took longer than expected. But it became sort of a fun challenge.

I called the lovely Candy O'Terry at Magic and she listed a few songs for me, and I am indebted to program director Mark Lawrence who answered several emails with names and artists, totaling a dozen or so.

And I am very grateful to the Magic 106.7 “Overnight Guy,” as he called himself, who told me he works Christmas Eve each year so other Magic employees can spend the time with their families. He also told me the names and artists for another small bunch of songs.

With the clues I had, I realized I’d never heard of some of these artists, like Esteban, or Dino, or the Stylistics. But then I realized that many of the artists were under the “Narada” and “Windham Hill” family of musicians. I had my leads!

So, I guess I’ve been slightly obsessed, buying LOTS of Christmas Carol CDs, but I have (almost) the complete companion to the set list from “Magic of Christmas” and a wonderful new collection of beautiful Christmas CDs.

I know there are many people in Boston and the surrounding area who love the “Magic of Christmas” show; you can CLICK HERE for my excel spreadsheet for the set list, which features each hour’s song list and the artist (and album title if I could find it).

I encourage you to check out some of these artists for some truly beautiful Christmas music, and of course, listen to Magic!

If you get a moment, call the station at 617-931-1067 and tell the folks at Magic how much you enjoy the Magic of Christmas.

Finally, you’ll note that my spreadsheet still has some “unknowns.” This show has run over 15 years – surely I’m not the only Massachusetts / Boston music enthusiast who set out trying to assemble this set list – can anyone help me with the unknowns? If you know the artists for any of the “unknowns,” can you send me an email or post a comment and let me know?

And thank you to Magic 106.7 for a great station and a wonderful Christmas tradition, and for introducing me to such a variety of beautiful Christmas music.

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6pm
Hark The Herald Angels Sing by John Boswell / Festival Of The Heart
Hey Santa by Wilson-Phillips / Hey Santa!
I'll Be Home For Christmas by Spyro Gyra / GRP Christmas Collection Volume II
Joy To The World by Philip Lester / Carols Of The Nativity (Slightly different than broadcast version)
Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring by Wind Machine / Sketches of Christmas
Mary's Boy Child by Bony M / (Available On Many Albums)
Carol Of The Bells (Ukrainian Carol) by Canadian Brass / The Christmas Album
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen by Manheim Steamroller / Christmas
Must Be Santa by Mitch Miller And The Gang
The Christmas Song (Chestnuts) by Jay Patten / Impressions Of Christmas
White Christmas by Danny Wright / An Intimate Christmas
Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer by Harry Connick Jr. / When My Heart Finds Christmas
Joy to the World by Paul Sullivan / Christmas In Maine
Deck The Halls by Eric Tingstad and Nancy Rumbel / The Gift (Acoustic Offerings For The Holiday Season)
Good King Wenceslas by John Nilsen / A Midnight Clear Music of Christmas
Silver Bells by Stevie Wonder / Someday at Christmas
First Noel by Schawkie Roth and Deborah Henson-Conant / Flute & Harp for Christmas
Away In A Manger by David Darling / Best Of Narada Christmas
Hark The Herald Angels Sing by Vince Guaraldi Trio / (Available On Many Albums)

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7pm

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Carol Of The Bells (Ukrainian Carol) by Spencer Brewer / Best Of Narada Christmas
Hark The Herald Angels Sing by Paul Sullivan / Christmas In Maine
I Saw Three Ships by David Arkenstone / Enchantment
Winter Wonderland by Maureen McGovern / Christmas with Maureen McGovern
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas by Tom Scott / A GRP Christmas Collection
Good King Wenceslas by Eric Tingstad And Nancy Rumbel / Peace On Earth: The Best Of Tingstad And Rumbel
Jolly Old Saint Nicholas by Mike Strickland / Christmas Time
The Christmas Song (Chestnuts) by Al Jarreau (I THINK)
I'll Be Home For Christmas by Spyro Gyra / GRP Christmas Collection Volume II
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen by Manheim Steamroller / Christmas
First Noel by Spencer Brewer / Best Of Narada Christmas / Christmas Moods
Merry Christmas Darling by Carpenters / Christmas Portrait
First Noel by John Boswell / Festival Of The Heart
The Gift by Jim Brickman, Collin Raye, Susan Ashton / The Gift
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas by Pretenders / A Very Special Christmas

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8pm

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The Christmas Song (Chestnuts) by John Tesh / The Best Of Christmas
Deck The Halls by Eric Tingstad and Nancy Rumbel / The Gift (Acoustic Offerings For The Holiday Season)
Santa Claus Coming To Town by Kenny Rankin / Helzberg Diamonds - Holidays from the Heart (Compilation)
Carol Of The Bells (Ukrainian Carol) by Teja Bell / Cheery
Joy To The World by Dave Williamson / Christmas Bells & Brass
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas by Christopher Peacock / Pianoel
Christmas Time Is Here by Patti Austin / GRP Christmas Collection Volume II
White Christmas by Steve Tapper and Audie Bridges / Simple Gifts
I Saw Three Ships by Wind Machine / Sketches of Christmas
Good King Wenceslas by Georgia Kelley / Winter Classics
Little Drummer Boy by Stylistics / Stylistics Christmas
O Holy Night by David Lanz / The Christmas Album
Toyland by Mike Strickland / Christmas Time
What Child Is This? (Greensleeves) by Danny Wright / An Intimate Christmas
What Child Is This? (Greensleeves) by Harry Connick Jr. / When My Heart Finds Christmas
A Parade Of Toy Soldiers by Liona Boyd / Christmas Dreams
O Christmas Tree (O Tannenbaum) by Vince Guaraldi Trio / (Available On Many Albums)

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9pm

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Christmas Time Is Here by Vince Guaraldi Trio / (Available On Many Albums)
Please Come Home For Christmas by Aaron Neville / Aaron Neville's Soulful Christmas
The Christmas Song (Chestnuts) by Tom Grant and Art Porter / For Art's Sake
Winter Wonderland by Tuck Andress / Hymns,Carols And Songs About Snow
Joy To The World by Mason Williams / A Gift of Song
Jingle Bells by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Acapella / Male Choir)
Jingle Bells by Eric Tingstad and Nancy Rumbel / The Gift (Acoustic Offerings For The Holiday Season)
Fugue (From The Messiah) by John Boswell / Festival Of The Heart
O Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles) by Céline Dion / These Are Special Times
Christmas Is Coming by Vince Guaraldi Trio / (Available On Many Albums)
I'll Be Home For Christmas by Danny Wright / Just Wright for Christmas
Merry Christmas Darling by Dino Esposit / Christmas… A Time for Peace
What Are You Doing New Years? by Stylistics / Stylistics Christmas
O Christmas Tree (O Tannenbaum) by Jay Patten / Impressions Of Christmas
O Little Town Of Bethlehem by Magic String
Carol Of The Bells (Ukrainian Carol) by Paul Horn / The Peace Album
Carol Of The Bells (Ukrainian Carol) by Spencer Brewer / Best Of Narada Christmas
Hark The Herald Angels Sing by Bil Wolfer / Silent Night

---

10pm

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White Christmas by Danny Wright / An Intimate Christmas
Blue Christmas by Elvis Presley / (Available On Many Albums)
What Child Is This? (Greensleeves) by Jay Patten / Impressions Of Christmas
Deck The Halls by Schawkie Roth and Deborah Henson-Conant / Flute & Harp for Christmas
The Christmas Song (Chestnuts) by Vince Guaraldi Trio / (Available On Many Albums)
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas by Kim Carnes
Cantique De Noel (O Holy Night) by Manheim Steamroller / A Fresh Aire Christmas
Christmas Canon (Pachebel Canon) by Wind Machine / Sketches of Christmas
Christmas Time Is Here by Harvard Chorus (Album or not available)
Silent Night by Linda Ronstadt / Merry Little Christmas
Joy To The World by Bruce Mitchell / Best Of Narada Christmas
Good King Wenceslas by John Nilsen / A Midnight Clear Music of Christmas
Carol Of The Bells (Ukrainian Carol) by ARTIST UNKNOWN (A Bell Choir)
This Christmas by Stylistics / Stylistics Christmas
Sleighride by Boston Pops / A Christmas Festival (and others)
I'll Be Home For Christmas by Spyro Gyra / GRP Christmas Collection Volume II
O Holy Night by Céline Dion / These Are Special Times

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11pm

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Skating by Vince Guaraldi Trio / (Available On Many Albums)
Wonderful Christmas Time by Paul McCartney / Back To The Egg
Little Drummer Boy by Manheim Steamroller / A Fresh Aire Christmas
Good King Wenceslas by Kurt Bestor / Airus Christmas 1
It's Christmas Time (Sleep Well, Little Children) by Carpenters / Christmas Portrait
What Child Is This? (Greensleeves) by Jeffrey Reid Baker / A Composer's Christmas
Mary's Boy Child by Esteban (Stephen Paul) / What Child Is This
Please Come Home For Christmas by Eagles / Please Come Home For Christmas/Funky New Year
Little Drummer Boy by John Boswell / Festival Of The Heart
Do You Hear What I Hear? by Bing Crosby / (Available On Many Albums)
Angels We Have Heard On High (Gloria in Excelsis Deo) by Paul Horn / The Peace Album
Christmas Canon (Pachebel Canon) by Christopher Peacock / Pianoel
Stille Nacht (Silent Night) by Manheim Steamroller / Christmas

---

12am

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O Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles) by Canadian Brass / The Christmas Album
O Holy Night by Richard Palalay / Pianoel
Joy To The World by Kurt Bestor / Christmas Volume 2 (Also called Airus Christmas Volume 2)
Carol Of The Bells (Ukrainian Carol) by Spencer Brewer / Best Of Narada Christmas
O Come, Emanuel by Eric Daub / Pianoel
What Child Is This? (Greensleeves) by Richard Stolzman / Hark!
Gabriel's Message by Sting / A Very Special Christmas
We Three Kings by Richard Stolzman / Hark!
Holly And The Ivy by George Winston / December
Angels We Have Heard On High (Gloria in Excelsis Deo) by Lewis Ross / A Collection of Favourite Christmas Carols
White Christmas by Bing Crosby / (Available On Many Albums)
What Child Is This? (Greensleeves) by Jim Bajor /Christmas Memories
Prelude on the Huron Carol by Liona Boyd / A Guitar For Christmas
Coventry Carol by Alison Moyet / A Very Special Christmas
Away In A Manger by Eric Daub / Pianoel
Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring by Russ Freeman / Holiday / GRP Christmas Collection Volume II
Halleluiah Chorus by Dave Williamson / Christmas Bells & Brass

---

1am

---

Reading of last section of "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Female Narrator)
Let There Be Peace On Earth by Dino Esposit / Christmas… A Time for Peace
O Holy Night by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Violin)
O Little Town Of Bethlehem by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Piano / Not Dino)
The Christmas Song (Chestnuts) by Nat King Cole / (Available On Many Albums)
Sheep May Safely Graze by Modern Mandolin Quartet
Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairies (The Nutcracker) by ARTIST UNKNOWN
Carol Of The Bells (Ukrainian Carol) by George Winston / December
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas by Stephan Bishop
Silent Night by John Boswell / Festival Of The Heart
Away In A Manger by Wind Machine / Sketches of Christmas
O Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles) by Ned Spurlock / O Holy Night
Angels We Have Heard On High (Gloria in Excelsis Deo) by Mike Strickland / Christmas Time
Toyland by Maureen McGovern / Christmas with Maureen McGovern
O Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles) by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Cello)
Christmas Time Is Here by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Chorus)
It Came Upon A Midnight Clear by Kurt Bestor / Airus Christmas 1
Joy To The World by Lewis Ross / A Collection of Favourite Christmas Carols

---

2am

---

Jolly Old St. Nicholas/Pachelbel's Canon by Esteban (Stephen Paul) / What Child Is This
The Train by Celestial Navigations / Celestial Navigations Chapter II
Silent Night by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Long horn / saxaphone)
Cantique De Noel (O Holy Night) by Manheim Steamroller / A Fresh Aire Christmas
Do You Hear What I Hear? by Whitney Houston / A Very Special Christmas
Trumpet Tune by Alex Digrassi / Windham Hill: A Winter's Solstice, Vol. 4
Ding Dong Merrily On High by Richard Stolzman / Hark!
Jingle Bells by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Guitar - maybe Tuck Andress)
Deck The Halls by Schawkie Roth and Deborah Henson-Conant / Flute & Harp for Christmas
Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring by Georgia Kelley / Winter Classics
What Child Is This? (Greensleeves) by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Piano)
O Come, Emanuel by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Flutes)
The Christmas Song (Chestnuts) by John Tesh / The Best Of Christmas
Deck The Halls by Eric Tingstad and Nancy Rumbel / The Gift (Acoustic Offerings For The Holiday Season)
Santa Claus Coming To Town by Kenny Rankin / Helzberg Diamonds - Holidays from the Heart (Compilation)
O Holy Nightby ARTIST UNKNOWN (Flute and Violin)

---

3am

---

I Wonder As I Wonder by Richard Stolzman / Hark!
O Come, Emanuel by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Flute)
O Little Town Of Bethlehem by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Violin)
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas by Carpenters / Christmas Portrait
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas by Mike Strickland / Christmas Time
Stille Nacht (Silent Night) by Manheim Steamroller / Christmas
The Gift by Jim Brickman, Collin Raye, Susan Ashton / The Gift
Little Drummer Boy by Eric Tingstad and Nancy Rumbel / The Gift (Acoustic Offerings For The Holiday Season)
The Christmas Waltz by Jim Bajor / Christmas Memories
Caroling, Caroling, Christmas Bells Are Ringing by Maureen McGovern / Christmas with Maureen McGovern
Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring by Wind Machine / Sketches of Christmas
Go Tell It On A Mountain by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Horns and Bells)
Unknown Title by ARTIST UNKNOWN
Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Horns and Keyboard)
The Christmas Song (Chestnuts) by John Tesh / The Best Of Christmas
Hark The Herald Angels Sing by Vince Guaraldi Trio / (Available On Many Albums)

---

4am

---

Halleluiah Chorus by Canadian Brass / The Christmas Album
Joy To The World by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Narada Artist perhaps?)
O Christmas Tree (O Tannenbaum) by Vince Guaraldi Trio / (Available On Many Albums)
Please Come Home For Christmas by Aaron Neville
We Three Kings by Richard Stolzman / Hark!
Little Drummer Boy by Kurt Bestor / Christmas Volume 2 (Also called Airus Christmas Volume 2)
Do You Hear What I Hear? by Whitney Houston
O Holy Night by Richard Palalay / Pianoel
Ave Maria by Ware-Patterson Duo / An Angel's Noel
Silent Night by Stevie Nicks with Annie Lennox / A Very Special Christmas
Good King Wenceslas by David Lanz and Michael Jones / Solstice
Ave Maria by Tuck Andress / Hymns,Carols And Songs About Snow
The Christmas Song (Chestnuts) by Stephan Bishop

---

5am

---

Jolly Old St. Nicholas/Pachelbel's Canon by Esteban (Stephen Paul) / What Child Is This
Sheep Can Safely Graze by Georgia Kelley / Winter Classics
Silent Night by Jim Bajor / Christmas Memories
I Wonder As I Wonder by Maureen McGovern / Christmas with Maureen McGovern
Little Drummer Boy by Kurt Bestor / Airus Christmas 1
It Came Upon A Midnight Clear by Wind Machine / Sketches of Christmas
Carol Of The Bells (Ukrainian Carol) by Teja Bell / Cheery
Christmas Canon (Pachebel Canon) by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Piano, very long)
The Lord's Prayer by Paul Horn / The Peace Album
Little Drummer Boy by Stylistics / Stylistics Christmas
Angels We Have Heard On High (Gloria in Excelsis Deo) & Coventry Carol by Esteban (Stephen Paul) / What Child Is This
Away In A Manger by Ware-Patterson Duo / An Angel's Noel

---

6am

---

Joy To The World by Bruce Mitchell / Best Of Narada Christmas
Good King Wenceslas by Canadian Brass / The Christmas Album
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Fast Guitar)
Grown Up Christmas List by Amy Grant / The Christmas Collection
Jolly Old Saint Nicholas by Mike Strickland / Christmas Time
Christmas Canon (Pachebel Canon) by Wind Machine / Sketches of Christmas
It Came Upon A Midnight Clear by Tuck Andress / Hymns,Carols And Songs About Snow
In Dulci Jubilo by Danny Wright / An Intimate Christmas
Here We Come A Wassailing by ARTIST UNKNOWN (A Capella - Choir)
I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Piano)
March (from the Nutcracker) by David Arkenstone / Enchantment
Hark The Herald Angels Sing by John Boswell / Festival Of The Heart
Ding Dong Merrily On High by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Bells and Whistles)
It's Christmas Time (Sleep Well, Little Children) by Carpenters / Christmas Portrait
It Came Upon A Midnight Clear by John Nilsen / A Midnight Clear Music of Christmas
Let There Be Peace On Earth by Dino Esposit / Christmas… A Time for Peace
Mary Did You Know by Kenny Rogers / 17 Inspirational Christmas Songs From Today's Top Country Artists (and others)

---

7am

---

Halleluiah Chorus by ARTIST UNKNOWN
Hark The Herald Angels Sing by Richard Palalay / Pianoel
Joy To The World by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Trumpet)
I'll Be Home For Christmas by Stylistics / Stylistics Christmas
The Christmas Song (Chestnuts) by John Tesh / The Best Of Christmas
Angels We Have Heard On High (Gloria in Excelsis Deo) by Paul Horn / The Peace Album
Merry Christmas Darling by Carpenters / Christmas Portrait
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas by Jim Bajor / Christmas Memories
Suite de Noël & Patapan by Kurt Bestor / Christmas Volume 2 (Also called Airus Christmas Volume 2)
Sheep May Safely Graze by Modern Mandolin Quartet / Windham Hill: A Winter's Solstice, Vol. 4
Little Drummer Boy by Manheim Steamroller / A Fresh Aire Christmas
Good King Wenceslas by Eric Tingstad And Nancy Rumbel / Peace On Earth: The Best Of Tingstad And Rumbel
White Christmas by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Guitar)
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas by Stephan Bishop
Angels We Have Heard On High (Gloria in Excelsis Deo) & Coventry Carol by Esteban (Stephen Paul) / What Child Is This
Wishing merry Christmas to you by ARTIST UNKNOWN (male Vocal)
A Joyful Noise by Jo Dee Messina / Country Christmas Joyful Noise

---

8am

---

Carol Of The Bells (Ukrainian Carol) by Carpenters / Christmas Portrait
Holly Jolly Christmas by Burl Ives / (Available On Many Albums)
Deck The Halls by Schawkie Roth and Deborah Henson-Conant / Flute & Harp for Christmas
O Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles) by Canadian Brass / The Christmas Album
O Holy Night by Richard Palalay / Pianoel
Merry Christmas Darling by Dino Esposit / Christmas… A Time for Peace
What Are You Doing New Years? by Stylistics / Stylistics Christmas
I'll Be Home For Christmas by Spyro Gyra / GRP Christmas Collection Volume II
Joy To The World by Mason Williams / A Gift of Song
Mary's Boy Child by Harry Belafonte / To Wish You A Merry Christmas
Winter Wonderland by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Piano)
Nutcracker? by ARTIST UNKNOWN
Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer by Harry Connick Jr. / When My Heart Finds Christmas
First Noel by Spencer Brewer / Best Of Narada Christmas / Christmas Moods
We Wish You A Merry Christmas by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Banjo)
The Christmas Song (Chestnuts) by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Violins)
Away In A Manger by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Lounge Music)

---

9am

---

Halleluiah Chorus by "VERY LIKELY His Majesties Clerkes / best of narada christmas
"
Toyland by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Piano)
All I Want For Christmas Is You by Leann Rimes / What a Wonderful World
Skating by Vince Guaraldi Trio / (Available On Many Albums)
Jingle Bells by Canadian Brass / The Christmas Album
Jingle Bells by Eric Tingstad and Nancy Rumbel / The Gift (Acoustic Offerings For The Holiday Season)
Deck The Halls & Good King Wenceslas by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Tamborine and Harp)
Little Drummer Boy by John Boswell / Festival Of The Heart
Mary's Boy Child by Bony M / (Available On Many Albums)
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen by Jay Patten / Impressions Of Christmas
Christmas Canon (Pachebel Canon) by Christopher Peacock / Pianoel
Christmas Time Is Here by Vince Guaraldi Trio / (Available On Many Albums)
Silent Night by David Lanz / The Christmas Album
Here We Come A Wassailing by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Harpsichord)
I'll Be Home For Christmas by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Piano)
Let There Be Peace On Earth by Vince Gill / Let There Be Peace On Earth

---

10am

---

Joy To The World by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Female Vocals (Group) R&B)
Sleighride by Boston Pops / A Christmas Festival (and others)
Sleighride by Carpenters / Christmas Portrait
Ding Dong Merrily On High by Richard Stolzman / Hark!
Carol Of The Bells (Ukrainian Carol) by Spencer Brewer / Best Of Narada Christmas
Silver Bells by ARTIST UNKNOWN
O Holy Night by David Lanz / The Christmas Album
First Noel by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Guitar)
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas by Tom Scott / GRP Christmas Collection Volume I
Winter Wonderland by Kenny G / Miracles: The Holiday Album
So This Is Christmas by John Lennon & Yoko And The Plastic Ono Band With The Harlem Community Choir
Good King Wenceslas by Eric Tingstad and Nancy Rumbel / The Gift (Acoustic Offerings For The Holiday Season)
Joy To The World by Kurt Bestor / Christmas Volume 2 (Also called Airus Christmas Volume 2)
Joy To The World by Annie Lennox??? REALLY SOUNDS LIKE HER BUT NO EVIDENCE SHE EVER RECORDED THIS SONG
The Gift by Jim Brickman, Collin Raye, Susan Ashton / The Gift
Hark The Herald Angels Sing by John Boswell / Festival Of The Heart
Mary's Boy Child by Bony M / (Available On Many Albums)

---

11am

---

Hark The Herald Angels Sing by Manheim Steamroller / A Fresh Aire Christmas
Joy To The World & Angels We Have Heard On High (Gloria in Excelsis Deo) by ARTIST UNKNOWN (A Capella - Choir)
First Noel by John Boswell / Festival Of The Heart
Hey Santa by Wilson-Phillips / Hey Santa!
Carol Of The Bells (Ukrainian Carol) by ARTIST UNKNOWN
What Child Is This? (Greensleeves) by Mike Strickland / Christmas Time
12 Days Of Christmas by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Piano Harpsichord And Flutes)
Feliz Navidad by Jose Feliciano / Feliz Navidad
Jingle Bells by Eric Tingstad and Nancy Rumbel / The Gift (Acoustic Offerings For The Holiday Season)
Angels We Have Heard On High (Gloria in Excelsis Deo) by Lewis Ross / A Collection of Favorite Christmas Carols
Caroling, Caroling, Christmas Bells Are Ringing by Maureen McGovern / Christmas with Maureen McGovern
Halleluiah Chorus by Canadian Brass / The Christmas Album
O Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles) by Richard Stolzman / Hark!
Blue Christmas by Céline Dion / These Are Special Times
I'll Be Home For Christmas by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Horns And Piano)
Ave Maria by ARTIST UNKNOWN (Female Vocal)

by Robert Gillis
Published in the Foxboro Reporter and Boston City Paper 12/2008

“DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old. Some of my BFF’s say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, 'If Robert Gillis writes it in the Foxboro Reporter it's so.' Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?” – Virginia Wassailing

OMG! Virginia, I wasn’t sure your letter was real because no child these days SAYS anything – you text it, you Twitter it, you instant message it, you post it on your blog or MySpace page, but none of you actually TALK to each other. LOL! I mean, I haven’t witnessed you or your friends actually SAYING anything to one another since the Reagan era.

But since you have no idea who Reagan was, and assuming this is for real, it’s obvious your BFFs are engaging in the vast right-wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against Santa Claus since the day he announced for president.

Um, wait, sorry, that was for another piece I’m writing on the Clintons. Never mind. I’m off my meds today so my thought process is a little scrambled.

Look, you and your friends have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age, and by the simple fact that most of you have the attention span of a coconut.

Your friends do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. But ALL minds, Virginia, whether they are men's or children's, and especially Britney Spears, are little. In this great universe of ours, man’s tiny intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge…

You know what, forget the big universe thing; I have NO idea where I was going with that.

Where was I? Oh, right. Um, yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. Yeah. He exists as certainly as the MBTA’s commitment to on-time service and he’s as real as A-Rod’s fidelity. He is as real as the integrity and honesty of every bra-stuffing politician in Boston, and as solid as my 401K.

Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. Without him there would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no 3am day after Thanksgiving sales, no inflatable Santa’s on motorcycles to decorate the front lawn, no giant plastic Santa Claus figures, no greed, no excess, and no over-the-limit credit cards charging 39% interest. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished, blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe that the Mass Turnpike Authority will soon be dismantled! You might as well not believe that the Massachusetts legislature will diligently cut every cent of spending waste from its budget before raising our taxes by one penny!

Look, kid, you might even get your Papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but then a lot of people would be asking who are all these weirdoes staring up the chimney? And no one wants that. Besides, they might be Big Dig contractors, and they would charge your Papa triple their costs, and in January the chimney bricks would be loose and leaky.

Virginia, nobody ever really sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. (See also: UFOs, the Easter Bunny, global warming, etc.) The most real things in the world are those that children can’t see: Things like foreclosures, a collapsing economy, pork barrel spending, and a fanatically unhealthy obsession with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.

Look Virginia, to use a metaphor, you may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but then the dog will likely eat the little pieces and get sick on the carpet, and your parents will get mad at you, so don’t do that. Y’know, that was a stupid metaphor, I apologize.

To put it in a context you can understand, remember the words Lucy said to Charlie Brown in the “Charlie Brown Christmas” special: “We all know that Christmas is a big commercial racket. It's run by a big eastern syndicate, you know.” And Lucy never lies, except when she says she isn’t going to pull away the football when Charlie Brown is about to kick it.

So listen to Lucy, or something, and know Santa Claus lives forever, so long as there are greedy corporations that continue to exploit the true meaning of Christmas, and squeeze every last dime out of clueless consumers, and that Santa Claus will continue to make glad the heart of childhood. Or something.

You know, I really should cut down on the eggnog before I write my columns.

So I hope I’ve cleared things up for you, Virginia, and to put this question about Santa to rest once and for all, let’s close with this quote from Alaska governor Sarah Plain, who can see Russia -- AND Santa’s workshop -- from her house:

“Is there a Santa Claus? You betcha! {wink}”

by Robert Gillis - December 2008

There have been countless adaptations of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" over the last century. One of my annual Christmas traditions is to watch several of them. This is one of my very favorites...

Version: 1984 (CBS)

Scrooge: George C. Scott

Cast: David Warner (Bob Cratchit), Frank Finlay (Marley's Ghost), Angela Pleasence (The Ghost of Christmas Past), Edward Woodward (The Ghost of Christmas Present), Michael Carter (The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come), Susannah York (Mrs. Cratchit), Anthony Walters (Tiny Tim), Roger Rees (Fred Holywell / Narrator), Caroline Langrishe (Janet Holywell), Lucy Gutteridge (Belle), Nigel Davenport (Silas Scrooge), Mark Strickson (Young Scrooge), Joanne Whalley (Fan)

The star: George C. Scott was an icon; legendary American stage and film actor, director, and producer, perhaps best known for his Academy Award-winning portrayal of General George S. Patton Jr. in the film Patton. He was, quite simply, one of the finest actors of his (or any other) generation. An actor who often played gruff and harsh roles, Scott was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor for his portrayal in A Christmas Carol.

Scott's interpretation of Scrooge is spot-on. His Scrooge is a complex human being and as the story unfolds the viewer sees WHY he became so bitter and cynical in his old age, and for (perhaps) the first time an actor playing Scrooge successfully portrays the REGRETS the character has. His Scrooge feels REAL. He takes familiar dialogue and makes it seem spontaneous and fresh. He face, his movements, his words, all convey the emotion the man feels -- and he does feel. His ultimate transformation seems believable: This is a man who has closed his heart to love to feeling, and finally realizes what he’s lost. Scott is brilliant as Scrooge.

Ebenezer Scrooge: [Sitting under the bridge after the Ghost of Christmas Present leaves] "What have I done... to be abandoned like this? What?"

The Cast and Characters: The entire cast is wonderful. No role is miscast. In addition, many of the actors are British, so the mannerisms and accents and use of language seem natural. The acting is believable, making characters in an all-too familiar story seem REAL and full of life.

David Warner’s Bob plays just the right balance of timid clerk and loving husband/father. Susanna York (who will always be "Lara" to me), is pitch-perfect as Mrs. Cratchit. There’s a nice scene where Bob Cratchit and his wife kiss under the mistletoe and hug lovingly. This version shows that that are not just parents but a couple who love each other very much.

The Cratchit children are not overly sugary but just seem like nice kids. I like when Mrs. Cratchit tells one of the children to go butter the bread and she adds, "Thinly." Tiny Tim is sickly looking, but not overplayed as the over-the-top doomed child.

Roger Rees as Fred is very good, and the casting directors actually made an effort to cast Scrooge’s sister Fan and Fred resembling each other. Rees’s Fred is just a little too reserved for me, but that may be a directorial choice to contrast him with his Uncle Ebenezer.

Frank Finlay (Marley's Ghost), performance is incredible; you really believe he is filled with regret for his lot. Finlay plays the role as just a bit crazy, just a bit over the top emotional; which is perfect for Jacob Marley.

The Ghost of Christmas Past is wonderful; Angela Pleasence conveys just the right balance of teacher/reminder and clear contempt for Ebenezer. What’s interesting in this version is that the ghosts have obvious disdain for Scrooge -- and aren’t afraid to show it. When the Ghost of Christmas Past is departing as Scrooge insanely screams, "Leave me," she smiles wickedly. But she also prods him, sometimes gently:

[The Ghost of Christmas Past and Scrooge are watching his past self dance with his great love, Belle:]
Christmas Past: "How long since you danced, Ebenezer?"
Scrooge: "Waste of time."
The Ghost of Christmas Past: "You didn’t think so then."
Scrooge: "The was a REASON then."

GREAT writing. GREAT characterization. Honest regret over choices made and not made.

Edward Woodward as the Ghost of Christmas Present is exceptional. He is full of life and humor, sarcastic when he needs to be, and he also doesn’t hide his disapproval of Scrooge. He is bombastic at times, commanding, powerful, and a man (ghost) on a mission. He is enjoying his torment of Scrooge. I get the feeling he really doesn’t care whether Scrooge repents or not.

[Scrooge, observing the Cratchit’s meal:]
Scrooge: "It’s a very small goose."
The Ghost of Christmas Present: "It’s all Bob Cratchit can afford."

And when the ghost reminds Scrooge of his "decrease the surplus population" comment he is positively venomous as he snarls, ""It may be that in the sight of Heaven you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man's child!" It’s familiar dialogue but man, this ghost is seething when he says it.

Throughout the film, many of the actors communicate with facial expressions rather than words. A good actor can pull this off brilliantly. There are many such examples in this film: Scrooge’s look of confusion when he sees Marley. Young Ebenezer’s look of sadness and regret when he knows he’ll never please his father. And so much more.

The film itself: The entire film is VERY faithful to the original story. It was filmed on location in Shrewsbury, England, giving it an authenticity not found in other adaptations. The costumes are perfect. The attention to detail is meticulous. Nothing looks like a "set," All the places -- the homes, the markets, the offices, look real. The scenes of commerce at the exchange, the frenzied shopping at the market on Christmas morning, the bustling city -- it looks and sounds very real.

The foggy, dreary London described in the Dickens story is very well created here. The streets where Scrooge walks to his home are dark and creepy.

The majority of the special effects are conveyed by traditional stage effects with smoke, and lighting. It's all very effective.

The scene at the when the horses and Marley’s funeral carriage pass by -- we see it but Scrooge doesn’t -- creepy.

Marley’s makeup, lighting and clothing -- all a deathly blue -- is well done.

The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come first appears as spotlight shines on him in the distance, and it is conveyed mostly through shadows of hands and hoods. It’s all very well done.

The transitions from one scene to the next during the time-travels are unique to each ghost -- the cap the Ghost of Christmas Past holds in her hand reflects each scene as we transition from one time to the next. The Ghost of Christmas Present’s torch bridges one sequence to the next scene, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come transitions each scene with a loud crash and brilliant flash of lightning.

And in each of Scrooge’s visions of the future, after he witnesses the scene the lights dim and only a spotlight effect remains on him -- almost like standing alone on a stage. It’s a very effective presentation.

Liberties with the story (all good): As Scrooge takes his cold gruel by the unlit fireplace, he sniffles, a reminder that (in the story) Scrooge had a head cold.

I love it when Scrooge adds his own "Amen" to the Cratchit's Christmas prayer.

We see several scenes of Scrooge conducting his commodity trading business at the exchange. Scrooge is clearly recognized as a man of business and is deferred to as such, but a hard businessman with no compassion or room for negotiation.

The Ghost of Christmas Present doesn’t age and fade away in this version -- he laughs at Scrooge and abandons him outside in unknown territory.

We finally meet Scrooge’s father in this version -- he’s a cold man, a mean spirited old bastard. He does not love his son -- We learn that Scrooge’s mother died giving birth to him and Silus Scrooge holds a grudge against his son because of it. This makes the characters seem much more real. Also, I think this is one of the few versions where Fan is older than Ebenezer.

There are dozens upon dozens of memorable scenes in this film, but my favorite is the end -- in this version, it’s clear that Scrooge is a man whose newfound joy is tempered by remorse. Not only is his intention to make things right in the present and future, but to apologize for his past behaviors. His apology to his nephew is here an integral part of the story--it is heartfelt. And it works.

Scrooge: "Well, I’ve come for three reasons. The first is to beg your pardon. [What I said about Christmas] THAT was a humbug, Fred."

He goes on to meet Fred’s wife Janet and says, "I, uh, I was in love once. Can you believe that?"

Janet: "Yes."

Scrooge: "But I had neither the courage nor the conviction that you two share."

He then reminds Fred how much he resembles his sister Fan and adds, "I loved your mother, Fred. For a time I’d forgotten how much."

And finally Scrooge says, "May God forgive me for the time I’ve wasted."

Summary: An outstanding adaptation of the story with a perfect cast, believable, flesh and blood characters and meticulously detailed sets and streets. A perfect Scrooge and a larger-than-life stage, an adapt ion that takes a very familiar story and makes it feel fresh, and real. I HIGHLY recommend this Christmas classic.

by Robert Gillis
Published in The Foxboro Reporter 12/2008 and 12/2005, and the Boston City Paper 12/2008

When I was a teenager, our friend Eileen Gustin worked at the information desk at nearby Saint Margaret’s Hospital on Cushing Avenue. Everyone liked her—she was like a wonderful aunt to all the neighborhood kids. She always had something good to say about everyone, and she was a person of very deep faith, with a strong love of God.

After three muggers jumped her on her way home from the hospital one afternoon, the neighborhood kids adopted the daily ritual of walking Eileen home from work. No one ever bothered her again.

Eileen and I were very close friends—we even shared the same birthday, November 19. A very religious woman, she was truly at peace with herself. Although she was a widow, her life was still joyous. She knew, she told me, that her husband Frank was in Heaven. Other people just say that. Eileen KNEW it was true.

I occasionally stopped at her apartment to see her. Over cookies and milk, she talked about where I was going in life, about faith and about God. As the Christmas season approached, Eileen often spoke of the Advent wreath.

As a Catholic, I was familiar with Advent—the four-week season of thoughtful reflection and prayer in anticipation of the arrival of Jesus on Christmas, which in 2008 starts November 30.

The Advent wreath is a round green wreath (which represents the eternity of God and eternal life in Christ) surrounding four candles (which represent the four weeks of Advent). Each Sunday, an additional candle is lit. The three purple candles represent penance and prayer. The rose candle is for the third Sunday, also called “Gaudete Sunday,” a day to rejoice that the time of His coming is so near.

Eileen talked a lot about the Advent wreath that year, and when I realized that she didn’t have one, I decided that I’d make her one as a gift. All it took was a stop at Kresgees for a Styrofoam ring, a plastic Christmas wreath and the four candles.

As I planned to visit her and present my gift, I learned that Eileen was in the hospital again. Although she was only in her mid-sixties, she had health problems. So I headed to Dorchester’s Carney Hospital, and found my friend.

“Hi Lovey,” Eileen greeted me from her hospital bed. She looked pretty good, I thought to myself. Tired, but pretty good. The oxygen tubes in her nose were the only real indication that she was sick.

“I made you a Christmas present,” I explained, unwrapping my gift. “I wanted you to have it now, so you could use it this coming Advent.”

“Oh, Lovey, it’s beautiful!” she beamed as I put the four candles into the Styrofoam ring.

“I know they won’t let you light candles in the hospital, so I made these,” and gave her four “flames” cut from red and orange construction paper that could be taped to the candles.

Sadly, Eileen only used the wreath for a short time; she died two weeks later. Her death was difficult for me, and I missed her smile, our talks, and her wisdom.

Through the years, I’ve often smiled as I thought about what a difference she made in my life—and what a good person she was. I am a better man for having known Eileen. I am closer to God because of her.

Many years later, in the mid 1990s, it was Christmas again and I was in Saint Mary’s here in Foxboro. I noticed the large Advent wreath on the altar. For whatever reason, I hadn’t made one since a year or two after Eileen died. But that morning, I looked at the church Advent wreath and thought, “I’m going to make one of those again.”

I set out to accomplish this special task that same day. A wreath from the local supermarket, four candles and ribbon from CVS, and four candleholders from our closet. I was all set.

It felt so right to have this special reminder of the real meaning of Christmas on the table again. I lit the candles one night and I thought, “Eileen, it’s been a long time, but I haven’t forgotten what you taught me.”

Every year since, I make a new Advent wreath. These days, for safety, I use electric candles with those “flicker-flame” bulbs rather than fire, but I still use a real wreath and colorful purple and rose ribbon on the four candles.

The Advent wreath’s presence helps keep me grounded during an insane and frenzied season, helps me to remember the real reason we celebrate this time of year, and also reminds me of the love of one very special friend from many years ago who will always be in my heart.