Ella is simply perfection.
Therefore I’m going to let her serenade in my 2021. Relaxing at home with my better half and my pups, that’s what I’m doing this New Years Eve.
Fearsome and I wish all of you happiness, health, joy, prosperity, love and magic in the year 2021.
Ella Fitzgerald – What Are You Doing New Years Eve – 1960
Peace.
Sexy Beard
Blonde Beard
Decorating Beard
Muscle Beard
Decorated Beard
Beefy Beard
Fun Beard
Ginger Beard
Naughty Beard
When settling down for a quiet holiday evening, no one does it better than Nat King Cole.
Nat King Cole – The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire) – 1961
Happy Festivus!
Festivus Pole Lot
Air your Grievances here!
We here at Fearsome Beard love our Drag Queens, and Manila Luzon never lets us down. She simply outdoes herself with her sickening version of Slay Bells!
Manila Luzon – Slay Bells – 2015
Damn she’s beautiful!
That highly anticipated week is here and that means it’s time to have fun. So let’s get this week into high gear and get our tush in motion!
Si Cranston – A Christmas Twist – 2015
Pure fun!
It’s a beautiful winter solstice evening here in San Diego California. We’ve just returned from a 4.7 mile walk as the sun set over the Pacific ocean to our west for its final time before our earth begins its tilt northward marking the beginning of winter. Today was a stunningly beautiful 75 degree F day here with crystal blue skies, warm but with a refreshing nip in the air. Simply the optimum Southern California winters’s day, kind of a cordial welcome to longer days that are on the horizon as we march toward spring.
Moments after arriving home we found this a cappella recording of Veni Veni Emmanuel. It’s simple yet refreshingly stunning. We found it an appropriate to welcome winter.
Enjoy!
The Gesualdo Six – Veni Veni Emmanuel – 2014
Happy Winter Solstice…
May peace be with you.
Long time Fearsome Beard readers pretty much expect this one to pop up somewhere in the Fearsome holiday play list. It’s a tradition as well as a favorite!
Take it away Gayla!
Gayla Peevey – I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas – 1953
Dolly has been a guiding light throughout my life.
I still vividly remember the very first time I heard her sing Jolene through the speaker of the AM radio of my mother’s white 1967 Buick Electra 225 as we drove through the back county of Tennessee late at night on the way to my uncle’s house in Missouri. I also remember being at my friend Melissa’s house when she played Dolly’s new 45 of Two Doors Down as we danced to it in the living room of her mother’s small apartment, as well as hearing Dolly and Kenny Rogers sing Islands In The Stream while running the cash register at my very first “real” job at the corner convenience mart gas station.
I consider her a blessing to not only my life, but to our society as a whole. She’s a kind and giving soul. May her message of hope light up your holidays as it is lighting up mine.
Dolly Parton – I Still Believe – 2020
I still believe in Dolly Parton.
Peace.
No one sings it better than Ella!
Take a moment and enjoy that fire delightful.
Ella Fitzgerald – Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow! – 1960
…you’ll look angels in the eye and they will sing back up for you!
This one is a Fearsome Beard Staple. We post it yearly.
B.D. Wong – Wishing You A Drag Queen Christmas – 1993
I was introduced to Mahalia Jackson by a previous lover. He adored her. I found her very talented, yet very campy. Her voice is amazing, her timing perfection and her style classic high church drama.
Even though I prefer more contemporary mid century holiday classics and am not too keen on the christiany carols, I can listen to her every year and her CD is a staple in my Xmas playlist.
So we present to you our favorite of her repertoire, Sweet Little Jesus Boy.
Mahalia Jackson – Sweet Little Jesus Boy – 1962
Get a load of that organ accompaniment, pure perfection.
This tune kind of speaks for itself. No further explanation needed.
Clarence Carter – Back Door Santa – 1968
My YouTube feed has pestered me with suggestions of a clown covering songs for at least the past two years. Some clown called Puddles Pity Party. I hate clowns. They just simply freak me out. So I have avoided clicking on any of those suggestions and a couple times thought about clicking the button to remove any suggestions of his channel to me period.
It was contempt without investigation. All because clowns just give me the heeby jeebies.
Then recently one day the suggestion was Ozzy Osborne’s Crazy Train, which I love, but by this Puddles clown guy. I finally gave in and was pleasantly surprised. This clown was good. Really good. I subscribed after just that one video,
So what did my YouTube feed suggest this week? Puddles singing Silent Night.
“Oh shit” I said to myself. Not only do clowns give me the heeby jeebies but Silent Night is like almost my least cared for Christmas tune ever…period. I just don’t like that tune. We sang it and sang it when I was a kid and I’ve never liked it at all.
I almost ignored it and then remembered that this guy is good, really good. So I clicked play and wow, just wow. I can listen to this version of Silent Night over and over.
Did I say this clown is good? Oh I did and I meant it. Enjoy.
Puddles Pity Party – Silent Night – 2020
Almost nothing says mid to late 1970s better than the Salsoul Orchestra. Since it’s a Saturday evening we’ve decided to move our tush around with a toe tapping Salsoul holiday tune. Enjoy!
Salsoul Orchestra – Merry Christmas All – 1976
This islander tune has been covered by many however, in our humbly bearded opinion, no one has ever come close to the original Bing Crosby & Andrews Sisters classic. Yes that is the Andrews Sisters singing with Bing on this one.
We don’t have an in depth memory or attachment to the tune, but just like it’s easy going islander feel. Seeing that we are starting a weekend at the moment, we felt it a good way to keep the holiday feeling while relaxing into a weekend. May yours be an enjoyable one.
Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters – Mele Kalikimaka – 1950
This evening as the first candle is lit on the menorah we’ve decided to kick it all off with one of Adam Sandler’s renditions of his now famous The Hanukkah Song.
Adam Sandler & The Dreidells – The Hanukkah Song III – Live on SNL 2002
Happy Chanukah!
Coming out as a young gay man in the early 1980’s means that Eartha Kitt had a huge influence on my early gay years. The only moment I clearly remember my very first Tea Dance, at Ft. lauderdale’s infamous oceanfront Marlin Beach Hotel in 1984, was the moment that Where Is My Man started to play and suddenly the dance floor was full.
Being a woman of color, Eartha had a challenging start to her career in the 1950s. It was in the 1953 that she recorded and released Santa Baby. Her studio recording of it still remains one of the most famous and beloved releases of what is now a Christmas staple. Actual video of her performing Santa Baby are rare. Recently I stumbled on this video of her singing it from the 1954 movie New Faces and decided to share it here. She is simply beautiful.
Eartha Kitt – Santababy – 1954 – from the film New Faces
In the mid 1960s a young towheaded boy loved Snoopy so much that his father nicknamed him just that, Snoopy. Needless to say that when The Royal Guardsman released Snoopy’s Christmas in 1967, a 45 rpm copy of it was at the top of his list to Santa. Santa brought him his wish and he played that little record over and over until he wore it out.
That little towhead grew up, as all little boys do, and his nickname fell by the wayside. The towhead turned dirty blonde and eventually mousy brown and his beard came in a thick dark brown. Today his beard has become rather Fearsome, although the color has become salt and pepper with more and more salt every day.
The little boy inside of this fifty something large bearded man still loves Snoopy and to this day can never get enough of this Christmas tune.
The Royal Guardsmen – Snoopy’s Christmas – 1967
