X-MASsacre-X 2012: A New Order?

The Mayan calendar ends seven days after the X-MASsacre ascends to a new order: X-MASsacre, by the power of ten! Turn on and tune in, Friday, December 14, 2012 3:30pm - 11:30pm.

Damage Report 2011 XMASsacre

2011 disclaimer: Since facebook seems to have improved at maintaining its "pages" and "events" over long periods of dormant time--that is, all the stuff I did laast year is still there, as it was, including the specific event page of X-MASsacre VIII)--this year, all the pre-X-MASsacre activity went on at facebook. A facebook account is *not* required to see all the information associated with the page or event, but one does need a facebook account to "like" WXYC X-MASsacre (please, do!), write on the wall, *post* pics, make comments, or to "officially" join/attend the event (i.e., admit to all facebook you intend to listen to some of the show!). Hopefully anyone who had been relying exclusively upon this page for X-MASsacre updates saw the facebook feed in the right column and didn't miss a thing! I have the sense that blogger is still overall more reliable in terms of lifetime, so this blog will remain here, and will be updated, even if it is currently acting as rather a sort of back-up.

Now on to the damage report!

I admit the spirit of X-MASsacre was slow to infect me this year, even though I knew well-in-advance it had been successfully instilled in vivo. The symptoms took hold roughly 48 hours prior to transmission, thanks to a nudge from the Germ Warfare Repository, conveniently located right next-door to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault...


This year, perhaps surprisingly for the first time, we had a repeat winner for All-Time Favorite Holiday Tune. The Pogues' "A Fairy Tale Of New York," a perennial nominee since the very first X-MASsace, as well as the 2007 winner, was first into the race, but shortly afterwards was languishing in a tie with multiple other single entries for about two hours, then during the last 45 minutes of voting, a ballot hailing from New York City, itself, helped push it past "Christmas Time in Hell" (Satan, The Dark Prince), both of which surpassed Jethro Tull's "Christmas Song," and the rest of the tunes which had been nominated, but received no additional votes.

All of this year's nominees for All-Time Favorite Holiday Tune:

A Fairy Tale Of New York* - The Pogues *(2007 winner)
Christmas Time In Hell - Satan, The Dark Prince
Christmas Song - Jethro Tull
Happy Ghoul Tide - Ray Oddis (!)
Christmas Wish - NRBQ
The Christians And The Pagans - Dar Williams
Happy Xmas (War Is Over) - John & Yoko
Father Christmas - The Kinks *(2009 winner)
Little Drummer Boy* - Bing Crosby & David Bowie *(2002 winner)
Last Christmas - WHAM!
I Am Santa Claus* - Bob Rivers *(2010 winner)

(!) Since this was the first time I'd ever heard of "Happy Ghoul Tide," and it was not on any of our station's discs and I did not have it on any of my discs, it did not get played, yet it is still a valid nomination. Nominees need not be in our collective libraries. You know, for anybody wondering about that. That said, if this request had been sent via email or to the facebook page in advance, it probably could have been actively included. Please drop off requests, *any*time, year-round, through email or the facebook page or even in comments on this blog. When and if we begin preparations for X-MASsacre-X, requests will much more likely be included in the setlist if we learn of them before the show actually starts. This applies for all requests, but goes x10^6 for anything truly unusual, rare, or out-of-print. Since there are so many different ways to submit advance requests, I must assume last minute requests and entries for truly rare cuts are from first-time listeners. If you are a repeat listener, and you truly want people to hear your brilliant, original, rare request, you will contact us in advance! Thanks! In conclusion, if we can find this Ray Oddis tune, we *will* play it, when and if we do an X-MASsacre-X.

(There are a few requests that I hurriedly scribbled on the All-Time Favorite tally sheet, which I'm pretty sure they were simply requests, especially by the way I wrote them down, *but* if you were the person who called it in, and it was supposed to be a nominee, let me know... I'll amend the above list.)

So once again, now for the ninth time, we've had a successful sleigh of air-waves, thanks most especially to all the people who called in with requests, votes, and enthusiasm, as well as all the happy people who played with us on facebook. Join us there, and invite all fellow fans of the celebrations of December. The page and event is only active a couple weeks each year, so no one has to worry about us clogging the newsfeeds on a regular basis.

Finally, here is the text-based flowsheet of this year's damage:
2011 XMASSACRE IX
...and click da pic--pull the pin, if you will!--to get blasted over to the associated facebook event page....



Hope everyone had a very, very, very, very, very, very, very happy/grim, warm/frostbitten Solchrismachannakwanyaksmasuhzaastice!


From the same guy that brought us the superlative Slayer holiday light show of 2009, here's my pick his !3 offerings! this year:

 

Damage Report 2010 XMASsacre

This X-MASsacre was indisputably one of the best, ever. The first hour was so quiet it was almost scary, but the request for Steve Mauldin's "O Holy Night" instantaneously whipped listeners into a festive frenzy, honing their antlers to wicked points in order to extract the jolliest holiday DOOM! ever heard in reindeer games north *or* south of Finland.

Voting for All-Time Favorite Holiday Tune was even more fantastically popular this year than as noted in 2008 for X-MASsacre VI. Voting was even more wildly *diverse*: As in 2008, many, many single votes were cast; at 8:30 the leaders were once again in a three-way tie. In 2008, Vince Guaraldi's "Linus and Lucy" won by two votes that came in during the mandatory 10-minute sudden-death overtime. This year, Bob Rivers' "I Am Santa Claus" made its sudden appearance just shortly before 8:30, entering the race and almost immediately tieing the front-runners, just in time to make the final cut. The announcement of sudden-death brought a flurry of calls and IMs that easily pushed "I Am Santa Claus" furlongs ahead, heavy boots of lead and all.

Here is the text-based flowsheet of the show:

2010 XMASSACRE VIII

Hope everyone had a very, very, very, very, very, very, very happy/grim, warm/frostbitten Solchrismachannakwanyaksmasuhzaastice!

 

Holiday Festival of Blight Burns On Into Its Eighth Year!

XMASsacre VIII
is shining bright!

...as always on the last day of exams at UNC...
Friday, December 17, 2010

...at the same time as last year...
3:30 - 11:30PM

...at UNC's student-run radio station...
WXYC Chapel Hill
89.3FM
www.wxyc.org

Be there!

...another Besser Spät Als Nie™ Production...

But even for me, this is slightly outrageous.

I guess I just assumed whoever was curious about our efforts towards breaking the 7th seal would get the info from my regular, year-round blog at wordpress: X-MASsacre VII - Tale of the Tape.

If you're just interested in the text of the setlist, hit this one:

2009 XMASSACRE VII

...and... if anyone is interested, I do have all the mp3's of the entire 8 hour massacre. Not super, super hi-fi quality, but sweet enough to thoroughly enjoy at >192kbps, 44kHz, average about 46 MB each, as they're all in half-hour blocks. If ya see a half hour or so you wanna have from the setlist link above, drop me an email, I'll see what we can do to hook you up! :)

Anyways, I've returned, in actuality, to prep up for this year's X-MASsacre, so I'm just gonna zip on out of *this* way over-due post and set in on the main course...

Trumpets and bowls will be provided!

XMASsacre VII
approaches!

...as always on the last day of exams at UNC...
Friday, December 18, 2009

...at the same time as last year...
3:30 - 11:30PM

...at UNC's student-run radio station...
WXYC Chapel Hill
89.3FM
www.wxyc.org

Be there!

Dear Carnival of Shame,

Too late for XMASsacre 2008, but at long last I have located at least a couple mp3's of tracks from your celebrated Happy Alcoholidays 7".

I found it somewhere online. Not all the tracks from the EP, tho' happily the tracks I have so long been missing. I don't know if you guys authorized the presentation of those tracks, but dudes, I am so grateful I have finally re-acquired it. The XMASsacre has not been the same since its disappearance from WXYC's library about 4 years ago.

Hopefully you guys will be pleased as this holiday release resumes its esteemed role in all XMASsacres future.

RESPECT!

Richard

Preliminary Damage Report 2008 XMASsacre

2008's XMASsacre had a stalwart onset, with WXYC's electronic flowsheet fully functional, performing without so much as a hiccup or twitch from beginning to end, save those arising from inevitable operator error. (Spectators and participants of last year's massacre may recall the flowsheet failed during the first hour of desecration, and was not recovered until well after the damage had been committed, foiling all who had wanted to follow the blow-by-blow hits as they happened.) Hail the electronic flowsheet that flows!

Despite lessons learned from last year's holiday havoc, it appears Richard made a last minute decision to extend the massacre an additional half hour, for better or for worse... updates on that, as incoming observations are collected.

Voting for All-Time Favorite Holiday Tune was especially popular this year. As this preliminary report is published, voting was apparently more wildly diverse in 2008 than shown in any extant records of all previous XMASsacres. Many, many single votes were cast; at 8:30 the leaders were in a three-way tie with 2 votes each. Vince Guaraldi's "Linus and Lucy" won by two votes (a total of 4 votes cast) that came in during the mandatory 10-minute sudden-death overtime.

There were--what has turned out to be--a few missing albums from our library that had been there for massacres previous. Having all but given up on the return of the Carnival of Shame's "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" from their Happy Alcoholidays 7", which has been missing since at least 2005, Richard is shocked and still in denial that Bing Crosby's "Merry Christmas" album has vanished, as has a particular Muppets album. The search is on-going for these two lost (misplaced?) vinyl LPs. Final results pending.

A more poignant exposition of XMASsacre VI will be posted in the coming days. Until then, however, we have the most incriminating evidence recorded in the setlist, linked below, from which you may draw your own conclusions:

2008 XMASSACRE VI

If I don't see or talk to ya before, hope everyone has a very, very, very, very, very, very, very happy/grim, warm/frostbitten Solchrismachannakwanyaksmasuhzaastice!

Sweet XMASsacre!

Yes, Virginia, even cookies are part of the XMASsacre dominion:






(Click here for even more beautiful, scary xmas cookies like the one directly above, complete with recipe and directions!)

Colonel Sanders Prepares For Xmassacre In His Own Special Way!