Bach Soars, Mel Gibson Crashes: Passions of Christ (& Christmas)

There's apparently a movement out there to "put Christ back in Christmas." Did someone take the rum out of the eggnog? I have no idea why anyone would want to codify this most intelligently designed of holidays, especially in the United States, where it freely evolves according to whatever you want it to be. What's Christmas if you always know what's in the wrapping? It's an annual gift of endless meanings and occasions (and debt and hangovers and depression, but Bethlehem wasn't Nirvana, either).

I'm particularly grateful this time of year, not just because of the luck of my present surroundings. As a child, of course, it was all about the presents. Childhood gave way to adolescence's shoe-faced years, when a hard line against happiness might have been a requirement had it not been for WKCR, the radio station of Columbia University in New York. Someone there had the heavenly idea of putting Bach back in Christmas. Read the full column...