Getting Off that Bipolar Express

Photo courtesy of The Delaware River Railroad Excursions

Every time I turn around it’s Christmas. Whatever happened to those seemingly interminable days when that long wait for the seasonal magic and that big payoff on the 25th of December was more than any child could possible bare? Now I wish that I had it within my power to slow down that express train of time. At best, a very brief detour onto a siding is the most we can hope for before the conductor yells roll on. But still there is a lot time and space between the flicker of a flame, the notes of a song, the words on a page, or the turning of a wheel. All we need do is to look and to listen–and that time will be ours to keep.

We invite everyone to look and to listen as we share some of our favorite musings and memories from Christmases past.

 Let us set the mood for the festivities by providing you with the recipe for the proper libation. Of course, we’re talking about a Smoking Bishop. Click here to listen to  a detailed history about the makings of this delightful English concoction. The recording was part of a radio broadcast of The Bleecker Street Cafe heard Fridays at noon over the airwaves and internet of WDVR-FM.

And now that your settled in front of the fire with your steaming bowl of the Bishop. Please enjoy The Bleecker Street Players from one of their more memorable past performances of  A Christmas Carol, recorded live at WDVR-RM in December of 2013. Click on the links below to listen or download. As always, we extend our sincerest apologies to the decedents and devotees of Charles Dickens

• Part one of A Christmas Carol
• Part two of A Christmas Carol 

And what would Christmas be without a bit music? I’m happy to report that I have finally found a new favorite collection of holiday tunes. Bing Crosby has been relegated to the backseat in favor of singer/songwriter Ellis Paul. His release City of Silver Dreams is just absolutely wonderful! Please enjoy this live performance of Christmas Lullaby from that release.

And before you climb back aboard that fast moving locomotive of life, please receive into your heart this benediction from my compadre  and co conspirator in this venture, Ed Petersen.

Glasses Raised..Spirits Lifted…Journeys Shared

Posted by: Chris Poh for American Public House Review

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Another Bah Humbug on Bleecker Street

“A merry Christmas, Bob!” said Scrooge, with an earnestness that could not be mistaken, as he clapped him on the back. “A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you, for many a year! I’ll raise your salary, and endeavour to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon, over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop, Bob!”          

– Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843

Though our journeys together over the last twelve months have been to some extent curtailed because of our individual circumstances, me and my cohorts at American Public House Review  were at least able to once more gather together at year’s end to celebrate the season with yet another attempt at properly paying homage to Mr. Charles Dickens. The following version of A Christmas Carol was recorded during The Bleecker Street Cafe in the broadcast studios of WDVR-FM in Sergeantsville, New Jersey on December 20, 2013. It is with great pleasure that we share this year’s somewhat faithful adaptation of Mr. Dickens’ finest work.

So stoke the fire, stir the Smoking Bishop, and sit back and enjoy by clicking on the following links:

A Christmas Carol – part one

A Christmas Carol – part two 

Here’s Wishing Everyone  a Very Merry Christmas!

Christmas Wishes from American Public House Review

Our lives at American Public House Review and Parting Glass Media reflect the greater human condition. There is ample strife, a bit of hardship, copious challenges; but there are those occasional victories, many reasons to smile, the comfort of kin and comrades–and of course that most precious of all gifts ~ Love! 

So to all those who like to fill their cup with the milk of human kindness, benevolence and holiday cheer as much as we do, we wish you, your family and friends a Very Joyous and Blessed Christmas–and a Peaceful and Substantial New Year!

As a special gift to our readers we invite you to enjoy a couple of podcasts concerning our very favorite seasonal tradition, Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol.

In episode ten of Sit Downs and Sessions we explore our mutual connection to this timeless story of rebirth and reclamation. And in the episode that follows, we replay an actual performance of Dickens’s masterpiece recorded at WDVR-Fm in December of 2010, and featuring The Bleecker street Players (another incarnation of those same rascals that are responsible for the content of our online magazines).

Episode Ten: http://partingglassmedia.com/podcast_roster/introduction_to_the_christmas_carol/index.html
Episode Eleven:  http://partingglassmedia.com/podcast_roster/wdvr_christmas_carol/index.html

As always, all podcasts are available on iTunes and on our sites at:   
http://americanpublichousereview.com/ and http://partingglassmedia.com/

Glasses Raised…Spirits Lifted…Journeys Shared

OF CHRISTMAS CAROLS AND SMOKING BISHOPS

Chris Poh, the editor of AMERICAN PUBLIC HOUSE REVIEW and I, the Creative Director of the said on-line journal, produce a weekly, free form  radio show called THE BLEECKER STREET CAFE on WDVR FM – 89.7 in central New Jersey. We are on the air Fridays from noon until three E.T. You can catch us on the web at www.wdvrfm.org.  Every year on the Friday before Christmas we perform an impromptu, unrehearsed, hugely improvised, and otherwise completely unprepared radio-play of Charles Dickens,’ A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

Because we at AMERICAN PUBLIC HOUSE REVIEW are blessed with a staff that share, for better or worse, a distinctive worldview and similar opinions as to what constitutes thespianic talent, we, of course, engage the profound, theatrical faculties of Kathleen Connally, our photoblogger extraodinaire and David McBride, our intrepid Marketing Director in our yearly ruination of this Dickens’ classic.

In our “improvisation,” which has been an annual event now each year for about eight, The Bleecker Street Players seem to unknowingly rehash identical attempts at comedy year after year, and we forgetfully over-play the same dramatic elements of the good ol’ story every time too. It’s loads of fun though.  We likewise repeat much ado about the selfsame curiosities that crop up in the story which are unique to those Dickensonian times in 19th Century London. Among those curiosities is a libation that Scrooge, after his epiphany, proposes as a shared consecration of the new found friendship between himself and his long-suffering employee, Bob Cratchit. The drink is called a “SMOKING BISHOP” and it never fails to prompt questions as to the recipe and lore of this enigmatic elixir.

It seems that in certain regions of England at that time, spirited beverages, especially wines, acquired figurative, popular-culture, nicknames from the world of the ecclesiastical. “Pope” meant burgundy, “Cardinal” was champagne, “Archbishop” represented claret, and “Bishop” was the apellation for port. So “SMOKING BISHOP” indicated a hot and steaming, port-based beverage to be enjoyed in the candle light as a brace against the chill of the London winter and perhaps as an analgesic to soothe the sinus headache effected by the all-pervasive and tormenting coal smoke.

Because we at AMERICAN PUBLIC HOUSE REVIEW consider it our mission to serve the pub community with the history, the traditions, the legends, the news, and any practical knowledge as to the world of spirited beverages and their purveyors, we offer this recipe for an authentic, Dickens’ style “Smoking Bishop.”

Procure six bitter oranges such as Sevilles and bake them in a medium oven until they begin to turn golden brown. If you can’t find bitter oranges, use four, regular, juicey oranges (not navel oranges) with one grapefruit, or perhaps two lemons.

Prick each orange with five whole cloves. Put them in a bowl (not a metal pot) with a bottle of decent, but hardly world-class red wine and 1/2 cup of sugar. Cover with a towel or board (no metal lid, nor foil). Leave it out on the counter for a whole day and night. Don’t refrigerate.

The next day, remove the oranges and squeeze the juice back into the wine. Pour everything into a pot (now you can use metal) with a whole bottle of port. Heat, but be careful not to boil or evaporate all of the Christmas spirit. It should be steaming however when it is enjoyed in warmed glass mugs preferably with handles.

Ed Petersen, Creative Director of AMERICAN PUBLIC HOUSE REVIEW