Yes...I'm surprised I loved this too, ESPECIALLY since there's no cannons, spandex, explosions, blood (Gene Simmons style), fire/pyro, OR "Big-Hair"!! I think I linked that Jamie Pugh video too a while ago here! THAT was a stunner for sure! Caminnc- That's hilarious!! Brings new meaning to "I gotta have more Cowbell!!" (Christopher Walken in that "famous" SNL skit! DAMN that's funny!!) My3d- Most of the time, I'm a little weird...just ask DW!! (this may SHOCK everyone here...but I DID love the early days/80's of MTV!!!) BUT...I DO enjoy beautiful music like in Les-Mis! I love a good stage-play, and rescued some stage-walls for our HS plays in the late 70's! I was VAN-HELSING!!!!! LOVE going to plays in Chanhassen, MN (a SW suburb of the Twin-Cities) at the Dinner-Theater there. Les-Mis and Sound of Music were wonderful! DW & DD just went to see "Hairspray" there 2 wks ago! Another version if you haven't seen this. The four main Male singers that sing this are together! You're jaw will drop when Alfie starts.... Faron Here is a link that might be useful: 25th Anniv. concert of Les-Mis...

Update: everyone gone, party a huge success, music fabulous, birthday boy received enough wine to stock a package store. Exhausted, even with two helpers who served and cleaned up after, as I spent most of the day working in the back yard grooming flowers, refilling hummingbird feeder, weeding, etc.-----and then it RAINED! But we had drinks and hors d'oeuvres in our new lower level before dinner and I loved the way we could go in and out between the inside and the covered patio despite the rain. Final head count of 14, two went out of town unexpectedly so it was a nice manageable number. Everyone had a wonderful time and honoree was in his element. Plans made for a repeat get together with this group plus a few absent friends at in December, for our Choral Society's Christmas concert and supper afterwards here. These people travel more than an hour to visit us, so we do our best to make it a festive occasion when they do.

Red Lover beat me to it, my favorite is also Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. It's such a bittersweet song; it captures the joy of the season but also something I think every year--how precious it is to mark a holiday and have those you love with you. Especially as I (and those I love in my family) get older, it is a thought that resonates with me. I don't ever sit down for Thanksgiving or Christmas without silently giving thanks that we are all together making another memory. "Through the years we all will be together, if the fates allow. Hang a shining star on the highest bough. And have yourself a merry little Christmas now."

This is a good thread, very enjoyable. There are so many favorites, but two that are special to me are: 1. I'll Be Home for Christmas. My father would tell us every time that the song came on about how this was the song they played on the ship on his way to Germany during the Korean War. It became such a funny thing that when I was older, I would end up calling him when I would hear it and say "Dad, did I ever tell you about the time you were on a ship in the army and they played "I'll Be Home for Christmas?...well it's on the radio right now". What a great guy he was, miss him a lot. 2. "Oh Holy Night" a memory created only about 6 years ago--we were on a cruise for Christmas, and we were leaving St. Lucia on Christmas Eve, so standing at the aft of shift watching the island disappear, this was the song that was softly playing on the ship's PA system. Oh, the goosebumps I get. I still don't know if it was Celine Dion or Gloria Estefan singing it. So of course, I have both versions on my iTouch.