Howdy, and welcome to the last Gazette post of 2025. My editor [1] has warned me not to even contemplate applying the phrases I’ve saved the best for last or last but not least to this post, but this is one instance where that admonition is not necessary. Folks, I’m just phoning this one in. [Ed.— Like they haven’t already figured that out.]
A Digression of the Scriptural Persuasion
I’m starting this post on December 30th, and this is my favorite day of the year in one very specific and important context. Each year, I make it a priority to read through the Bible, and for the past decade (at least) I’ve used one of the programs provided by Bible Gateway. The one I use has daily readings from both the Old and New Testaments, and each year on December 30, the New Testament reading is Revelation 21.
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
Revelation 21:1-5 (NIV)
The overriding message of that chapter is one of almost incomprehensible hope, comfort, and peace. This, my friends, is exactly what I wish for you and yours in the coming year.
Now, on to less weighty matters…not the least of which is a duck fight.
A Muscovy Melee
We spent a few days before Christmas in San Antonio, with the Pearl [2] as our anchor. If you’re not familiar with that area, it’s at the north end of the famed Riverwalk (that section is generally referred to as the Museum Reach because of the presence of…well…museums situated along portions of the San Antonio river.
Our room at the Hotel Emma overlooked the river:
This section of the river is a haven for waterfowl. A wide variety of species of ducks congregate in the water along the walking paths, awaiting handouts from the throngs of tourists who also congregate there. Most of the ducks seem to coexist peacefully, regardless of feather color, but that peace can be tenuous, especially within species.
On one or two occasions, we witnessed a pair of ducks brawling with each other, and I finally had the presence of mind to video a couple of avian adversaries in an amusingly active altercation. Here’s a one minute clip of that brawl.
These are Muscovy ducks (Cairina moschata) — note that the name probably (it’s an unsettled subject) doesn’t refer to the Russian state of Muscovy; rather it’s a reference to the musky odor of the birds (I shall resist the urge to speak of foul/fowl odors, although it appears that I just did) — and they are somewhat common in parts of Texas and sprinkled around other areas of the United States. Outside of far south Texas, they’re considered to be a non-native species.
According to the All About Birds website, the males (aka drakes) behave aggressively toward each other throughout the year, they do not defend breeding territories. In other words, they like to fight.
So, laugh at the University of Oregon at your own peril.
All That [Christmas] Jazz
Our stay at The Pearl [District] included a late night show at Jazz Texas, a unique venue located in the basement of the food court where every weekend show is sold out (make your reservations early). The Doc Watkins Orchestra keeps jazz (occasionally with a Texas twang) alive and well, and during this time of year, it performs a special Christmas program. Much of the music is derived from A Charlie Brown Christmas, the TV special that first aired on CBS in 1965 [3]. That special, which has maintained an impressive degree of popularity for six decades and counting, was scored by Grammy Award-winning Vince Guaraldi, and the Jazz Texas program features music from the TV program (along with tunes from other sources). It’s an absolute blast to hear in person; we highly recommend it.
Most or all of the Christmas program is available via iTunes and other online sources. I had not previously listened to it, so I was caught completely off guard when Watkins introduced an immediately-recognizable-but-not-as-a-Christmas-song entitled Für Elise (in English, “for Elise”), composed in 1810 by some random dude who went by the name Ludwig van Beethoven. Perhaps you’ve heard of him; if not, Linus Van Pelt will be happy to introduce you.
Doc Watkins is, of course, the band leader; he’s a decent vocalist, but his real strength is as an arranger and pianist. Both skills are front and center on his orchestra’s take on Für Elise. I think Linus would give hearty approval to the first 52 seconds; I’m doubtful that he would dig what follows, but I certainly do. Give it a listen.
All About That Bass
Jazz Texas isn’t the only great music venue at The Pearl. We also attended a concert at Stable Hall. The venue is housed in what was actually a stable built in 1984 for draft horses that I assume pulled wagons filled with the ingredients for brewing beer, as well as taking the final product to customers, and, in my fevered imagination, taking overserved customers to their designated drying out spots. I admit that I couldn’t find any historical references to support that last thing.
Music for the concert was provided by two acts: The Wilder Blue opening for Silverada (formerly known as Mike and the Moonpies). We had previously heard The Wilder Blue at a music festival in Horseshoe Bay several years ago, when they were just starting out, and we were very impressed by their musical skill, and especially their vocal harmonies, reminiscent of The Eagles.
I won’t say much more about the evening other than to opine that the bill should have been reversed…we were much more entertained by the opening act than the “main attraction.” That might have been due partially to the lateness of the hour or the fact that the sound level was cranked past eleven (and I freely admit that both of those issue are directly related to our ages), but The Wilder Blue’s songwriting and the skill of the multi-instrumentalists comprising the band were just more impressive to us.
Anyway, at one point TWB’s bassist, Sean Rodriguez, and the bass-, guitar-, dobro-, and banjo-playing (and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him show up with a sitar and a harp, as well) Andy Rogers collaborated (if you can call it that) in an extended four-handed riff on Rodriguez’s electric bass:
Now, why would I select this specific scene from all the others I had to choose from during the concert? At the time, I thought it was pretty entertaining, and it wasn’t until recently that I realized that this wasn’t the first time I’d seen something similar.
Alert Gazette readers will no doubt remember this post from 2016 in which I list some song covers that one might consider to be better than the originals. One of those songs was Postmodern Jukebox’s arrangment of Meghan Trainor’s All About That Bass. You can see the video of that excellent performance in my post, but here’s why it’s relevant to what we saw in San Antonio:
I’m not sure why basses, whether electric or upright, lend themselves to this application. I would have guessed it’s because there are fewer strings to deal with than on a guitar…but the following performance blew my theory out of the water:
Closing Shot: Happy New Year, I guess
I tried to find a HNY meme that hit the mark, but, man, they were all terrible, so let me just leave you with this…
Seriously, though…I pray that each of you will have a year filled with unexpected blessings, and all the cake you could wish for. And chocolate. And some really good brisket. Yeah, that’ll work.
Fabulous Footnotes
[1] It occurs to me that some of you might be under the impression that there’s a Guiding Hand in the form of an actual editor who exercises some semblance of control over what goes into a Gazette post. This could be because I often attribute certain observations to that editor, but the truth is that the only editorial overwatch that comes into play here is derived from the voices in my head and, frankly, they’re terrible at their job. [Return]
[2] For years I’ve referred to this general area as “the Pearl District,” but that reference is either passé or was never correct in the first place, although it’s a helpful and accurate description, if you ask me. Anyway, the “official” references just call the general area The Pearl. I think that’s somewhat high-falutin considering it had its beginnings as a brewery of a beer of no significant quality other than its plebeian price. Multiple thousands of underaged college students may beg to differ. [Return]
[3] If I may, I humbly suggest reading the entire Wikipedia article about A Charlie Brown Christmas, because it has some fascinating details about how the program came about. Out of respect for your valuable time, let me steal borrow part of a paragraph from that article to give you a bit of context for the controversy and ground-breaking impact of this 25-minute program:
Its lack of a laugh track (a staple in American television animation in this period), in addition to its tone, pacing, music, and animation, led both the producers and the network to predict the project would be a disaster. However, contrary to their collective apprehension, A Charlie Brown Christmas received high ratings and acclaim from critics. It received an Emmy and a Peabody Award, and became an annual presentation in the United States, airing on broadcast television during the Christmas season for 56 years before becoming exclusively available on Apple TV+ streaming service.
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