Epistrophe

A Backward Glance at Literature, Music, Comics, Film and Reality


Blog: Christmas Music

December 1, 2025

A Dark Hollow Christmas

The following tracks are from the CD A Dark Hollow Christmas, which collected, remixed and mastered nearly all the holiday recordings we made from the 1990s through the early 2000s. The selections range from standards to lesser-known songs and some curiosities in between. Happy Holidays!

Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” is indisputably a classic and staple of holiday music, so it seems appropriate that the first song of this post should be a version of it. This track features Joe Bocchetti, Katie Coltri and me.

“White Christmas”

We took Clement Clarke Moore’s 19th century poem “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” and added a somewhat skewed jazz backing to come up with this spoken word holiday track. Recitation by Jerry Gormley, instrumentation by Joe Bocchetti and me.

“‘Twas the Night Before Christmas”

“In the Bleak Midwinter” began life as an 1872 Christmas poem by Christina Rossetti. It was set to music by Gustav Holst in 1906 and has continued to be performed as a hymn or a folk song for over a century. Our rendition, featuring Ernie Trionfo, Mike Spina, Joe Bocchetti and me, can be heard below.

“In the Bleak Midwinter”

Here’s a little holiday jazz for the season with our rendition of the Vince Guaraldi classic from A Charlie Brown Christmas. Instrumentation by Joe Bocchetti and me.
 

“Christmastime is Here”

Our version of the Elvis classic “Blue Christmas,” contains a sprinkle of Rockabilly, a dash of Tex Mex and a touch of the Blues. Instrumentation and vocals by Joe Bocchetti and me.

“Blue Christmas”

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About Me

As an educator, musician and author of Road to Infinity: Marvel’s Multimedia Journey, Nothing to Turn Off: The Films and Video of Bob Dylan and Before the Wind: Charles K. Landis and Early Vineland as well as fifteen-years of articles for the SNJ Today newspaper, I am using Epistrophe as a platform for posting new writings, article reprints, book excerpts and original music.

Road to Infinity
Nothing to Turn Off
Before the Wind

2023 Posts

Double Agents

First Live-Action Daredevil

The Smiling Stranger in Bremen

“Hot, Hazy and Miles”/“The Wheel”

Pandemic Arts

Minstrels of the Dawn

Fact vs. Fiction

Assembled!

“Closer to the Wind”/”Sweet Texas Girl”

Many Ears to Please: Fairport’s U.S. Tours 1974-1975

Evening Shades of Gray

Joan Didion & Shifting Phantasmagoria

“Talkin’ to Myself”/“Love for Glory”

Altmanesque

“Kings & Queens”/“Light Behind Her Eyes”

Book Club Corner

Epistrophe/Epistrophy

Joy Abounded at Christmas

2024 Posts

Secret Hours by the Wall

The Spider-Man Movie That Wasn’t

“Driftin’”/“Never Be the Same”

Brian Auger & Oblivion Incorporated

Daredevil @ 60: Part 1 – Hell’s Kitchen

Philip Roth Revisited

Compositions in Spoken Word

Daredevil @ 60: Part 2 -The Netflix Series

All You Need Is Love

The Doors & the Matrix Masters

CSNY ’74: See the Sky About to Rain

Daredevil @ 60: Part 3 – The Charles Soule Run (2015-2018)

Hear the Train A-Coming

Robert Hunter: Tales of the Consummate Writer

Streaming Spook Street

Breaking the Dark: Jessica Jones in England

Dylan: Tour ’74 Revisited

Hot Tuna: Been So Long

2025 Posts

Moon Knight, Venom & What If

Waltzing

Richard Thompson: Time Will Show the Wiser

Daredevil @ 60: Part 4 – Miller’s Elektra

Steven Wilson’s Overview

Daredevil @ 60: Part 5 – Born Again

Kisses in the Rain

Joan Didion’s Notes

The Lost Mick Herron Story

Fairport: It All Came Round Again

A Leaf on a Windy Day

Guitar Tales: McLaughlin & Davis

Mick Herron’s First Novel

Cold Day in Hell/Hush 2

The Rascals: The Complete Atlantic Studio Recordings

Don’t Come Knocking

Smiley’s Choice

Clown Town: Past, Present & Pitchforks

The Geography of Neil Young

Duchovny, Hartley & New Criticism

James Douglas Morrison, Poet

The Story Behind The Monkees’ 1967 Christmas Cover 

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Photo by Krissy
Photo by Krissy
Photo by Krissy
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