Essays, Interviews, Observations, Pop Culture, Stories, and other Dodginess

The Christmas Song

Posted on September 15, 2012

I’m just going to start it this way. A few years ago I was YouTube searching for a Christmas song. It was just before the holidays. I’m always looking for something new (or old) that I have not heard yet, Yule-wise. That’s when I came across My Favourite Time of Year by The Florin Street Band and was intrigued by all its Victorian Englandness. And I wasn’t alone. I’ve mentioned this song/video in previous Christmas-themed posts. Now the mastermind behind it all talks to The Dodgy about it.

 

The Florin Street Band

 

There are several reasons why Leigh Haggerwood decided to write My Favourite Time of Year and follow it through with a Victorian-themed band and music video. For Haggerwood, as a child in the late 70s and 80s, Christmas songs and the Christmas “No. 1” were something to get excited about. The chart countdown after lunch on Christmas day was something his entire family gathered to watch. “As an 8-year-old kid I remember getting goose bumps when I heard Christmas songs on the radio, and they were very much the soundtrack to the season; making British Christmases quite magical,” he says. “As the years passed and the music industry became watered down and more and more orientated towards TV talent shows, I thought it was really sad that nobody seemed to write new Christmas songs anymore and that we’d been listening to the same ones for thirty years.”

Haggerwood says this was highlighted when people started to protest against the X Factor by buying non-festive songs and he thought it was sad that kids today don’t experience the same anticipation and excitement he did.

“The other aspect is that I think most songwriters and composers have a go at writing a Christmas song at some point in their careers,” he says. “They’re very hard to write because they’re full of clichés, so a strong melody is key. I found it challenging and I knew that I wanted to write something in a traditional style, and go to town on the production with real strings and a choir, instead of using samples which are so often used due to budget constraints. I could imagine the Victorian music video as I was writing the song, and I was convinced that the concept could work. So when I’d finished the song I approached the major record companies. Sadly, they didn’t share my enthusiasm.”

They liked Haggerwood’s song and  idea but told him it would be too big of a risk in these days of illegal downloads and weren’t prepared to back the project. They play it safe these days; finely grooming new artists and spending very little on things like music videos. “My  idea of an elaborate Victorian winter wonderland seemed ridiculous to them and they gradually all turned their backs on me,” he says. “However, I’m not one to be beaten.”

After overcoming cancer at the age of 26, facing death, enduring a lot of painful chemotherapy and surviving, Haggerwood came out the other side with a real sense of optimism and a belief that anything is possible. “I realised that life is short, and that you have to make things happen and do the things you believe in,” he says. “So I formed my own independent label, Calmsound, and used my life savings to fund the recording and the video. As the ball started rolling, people started to get excited and wanted to get involved. I ended up on set with over 100 cast and crew, some of which were at the top of their game like cinematographer John Perez, who normally works with the likes of Coldplay and Beyoncé. It was as if the whole thing was meant to be, and I am so glad that I took it upon myself to go for it in such a big way, despite the amount of stress I went through.”

 

 

Haggerwood says while the project hasn’t recouped the costs involved, it has been a great success in terms of people’s response to it. Last Christmas a young lad wrote and told Haggerwood that he suffered from depression, had been feeling suicidal, and was planning on walking the streets alone at Christmas so his family wouldn’t have to suffer him being around. “He said that when he watched the video, it filled him with so much joy that it made him want to be with his family at Christmas for the first time in years,” Haggerwood says. “I’ve had messages from war veterans, widows, people who have suffered great sadness and losses, who have said that after watching the video they could feel the happiness and positivity of the season once again. This has blown me away, and as I see more and more renditions of the song posted on YouTube, by young children, schools, theatres, choir  etc., I’m just amazed at how much it continues to touch people around the world.”

 More Songs

Haggerwood is planning on writing an upbeat, party-orientated Christmas song one day, but probably won’t make an entire album of original Christmas songs – for now. Over the past year he’s been developing a Florin Street musical which ends at Christmas with My Favourite Time of Year, so the songs are mostly winter-themed and they tell the story of  his character Travis (Haggerwood’s alter-ego in the video) and his musical journey. “I have to be careful not to overshadow My Favourite Time of Year until it is better known, but the new songs are coming on well and I hope to have a Florin Street Band album out in the near future,” he says.

The song is now the theme to Text Santa, a new Christmas charity event run by the UK’s largest commercial TV network, ITV, which is due to take place again this year – meaning that it will be heard by millions of people. “I may be travelling to America to promote the song because there has been a lot of interest from radio networks and TV over there, but those plans haven’t been finalised yet,” he says. “Basically, I’ll be in costume promoting The Florin Street Band as best I can.”

My Favourite Time of Year is currently being put forward to the major film studios. “I would love it to be included in a film and the instrumental version is proving very popular with TV producers, so hopefully it will it get a big break and reach a wider audience soon,” he says.

Haggerwood has  been discussing the possibility of developing a Florin Street musical animation with the original animators of The Snowman.  “The animation would include 8 to 10 new songs and have the feel of the intro sequence to the video; really magical and quaint,” he says.  It will be aimed at families and I believe that it could become a modern-day snowman that will be watched every Christmas.

Travis Shenanigans

Haggerwood on his video alter-ego.

“I made a very silly home movie with my family a few years back and for some reason I called myself  Travis Shenanigans,” he says. “There was a scene that I kept mucking up and we ended up with about ten minutes of funny outtakes as I knocked at the door introducing myself as Travis Shenanigans over and over again with a daft Scottish / Irish accent. The home movie was terrible but those outtakes are really funny, so when I got my costume together for the music video, it was an in-joke between myself and my close friends and family who’d seen the clips. Also, my mother’s side of the family are originally from Ireland so it was a slight nod towards my Celtic family history.”

The Location

Blists Hill Victorian Town is very popular with fans of the music video. “It’s one of ten museums run by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, and they’ve been very supportive of the whole project and welcomed me to their Victorian Christmas fair each year,” Haggerwood says. “I really hope that any success of the song and video will encourage people to visit the museum in the future because they are quite a remarkable charity welcoming over 100,000 school children through their gates each year. It’s a beautiful part of the country and I first visited the museum on a school trip as a kid back in 1984.”

The Girl

The dark-haired girl in the video is a model named Romany. The director decided that Haggerwood’s character should have a love interest in the video and they filmed a number of scenes where they caught each other’s eye and smiled at each other. “It didn’t really work and were eventually left out, but because Romany looked so good in the video, the director, Nick Bartleet, decided to keep some of her scenes in,” Haggerwood says. “As a result, lots of people ask who she is, and all will become clear when the Florin Street story is finished – she’s Travis’ childhood sweetheart, and she doesn’t know he’s returned to Florin Street.”

Once things take off and we have a few more songs, Haggerwood plans to perform live with The Florin Street Band. And as far as the obligatory beer question, he says all the British ales served in the New Inn pub go down well. “Travis is also quite partial to spirits – all of which result in a sing-song on the piano.”

I’ve Kissed

Posted on September 5, 2012

“You’re breathing in fumes/I taste when we kiss” ~ Depeche Mode

I’ve kissed. I have an earlier post, The Kissing Booth, where I refer to an actual kissing booth experience of mine. This post is about kissing, but not necessarily in a booth.  So grab a pint and wet your lips and deal with this.

Maybe it sounds like a cliché, but my first French kiss was forced upon me by my older sister’s friend. She was in upper high school. I was in 7th grade. Prior to that, when I was about a year or two younger, I was kissed on the lips by my friend’s babysitter. I don’t remember all the details. Just her lips on mine on the side of his house.

A forced kiss happened again at a work party. A lesbian co-worker planted a violent one on me as I was leaving. I think it was to piss off  her girlfriend/roommate, who was flirting with me earlier. Either that or…well it was a goodbye party after all. The place where we worked closed down. Maybe she had these pent-up feelings. Maybe not.

I briefly dated and kissed rather well a girl named Effy. She once slid down my stairs in her high heels and nearly broke her ass. One memorable kiss around that time was from a lass named Tracey. She was a south side girl from Mother McAuley High School. Then there was Lisa, a friend who asked me to accompany her to a high school dance – as friends. Somehow we ended up kissing on her porch at night’s end. We remained friends and never talked about that kiss again.

I’ve kissed cheerleaders, foreign girls, smart girls, goth girls, and punk girls. I’ve kissed two girls two weeks apart who shared the same first and last names. I’ve had several sloppy kisses with the ex-girlfriend of a close friend. I’ve kissed Abby, a fiddle player, at a Chicago bar in what was a group kissing section among all my friends. Guys with girls, girls with guys, girls with girls, guys with guys. It was an orgy of kissing. The waitress came over with a pitcher of beer and asked “what all the kissing was about?” The pitcher was on the house.

One ex-girlfriend…at first I couldn’t stand her kisses. Then I couldn’t get enough of them. I kissed a girl in a confessional at church. And in the safe in what they called the sacristy, where they kept chalices and unconsecrated hosts.

I kissed an Irish girl I just met down the street from my Bucktown apartment. Afterwards I invited her back to my place. She declined and said to “just go home and masturbate.”

I’ve kissed.

Looking for Lilliana

Posted on August 22, 2012

I went to Annunciata Fest on the East Side of Chicago. It’s one of those church festivals with a beer garden, bands, music, dancing and kids’ rides and games.

I went there looking for Lilliana.

Lilliana is an ex-girlfriend of mine. She attended Annunciata during grade school. I didn’t. But last year I came to this fest and ran into her.  I happened to be in the area anyway, I thought I’d drop by this year for a few beers, some tacos and music. And to see if Lilliana would be there. She would be hard to find. It was crowded, and Lilly has shoulder-length straight black hair. And being this is a largely a Hispanic neighborhood, most of the gals in attendance had that look. Blondes really stood out at this thing. I saw younger and older versions of her, but not Lilliana herself. I stood alone, with my beer, near where you purchase the beer and where most people would walk by. You have to be careful here. You don’t want to be tagged as “the weird guy.” The other danger about being alone at these things is being found by “the weird guy.” You know, where he comes and talks to you. I watched one of the volunteers empty garbage cans. He seemed happy. He was singing to the music and smiling a lot. At least I thought he was singing. He had a strange tic or something to where every few seconds he had to open his mouth wide like he was saying something, and he looked real happy doing it. I dubbed him “Smiley Guy.”

There were some gals in softball uniforms, drinking beers. Local softball league girls, 21 and over league. They wore knee-length orange socks and black shorts and shirts. The kind of gals who drank Miller Lite beers between innings. I decided to take my phone out, jot down some notes, look busy. Yea, I’ve got someone I’m texting. I’m not the weird guy. Besides, the way I dress…you can’t ever put me in that category. Most of the time the weird guy has unusual fashion sense.

Weird guy found me. He was alone, walking “sideways” and wearing some sort of sleeveless T-shirt. He had an unlit cigarette in his mouth. He said something to me. I couldn’t understand a fucking word he said. I asked if he wanted a light, which was strange, because I had none to offer. But that unlit cigarette dangling from his mouth disturbed me. I believe he said something about he doesn’t smoke, that he just likes the cigarette in his mouth.

Later I got myself a steak taco and thought of Lilliana. I taught her how to drive stick shift. She would wear these sexy work boots on her tiny feet and it was quite a site seeing her work the pedals. When she got buzzed after drinking, her left eye would do this cute droopy thing. She had a unique walk, and I used to imitate it. I would have done it that night but she wasn’t there. I never found her. Maybe next time.