We recently passed this normally inarticulate guy hanging out in a doorway on a Tokyo street. His smile was frozen, yet he whispered to us, ever so softly, that the year was coming to a close. (Remind us to stop consuming those moldy-oldie leftovers at the back of the fridge, will you?) And so it is.
We would like to end 2024 by wishing our readers a Happy New Year and a prosperous 2025. We would also like to take this opportunity to blow ours and someone else’s horn. (Don’t worry: we wiped the mouthpiece.)
From time to time on drinkingjapan.org, we make references to popular songs. However, on such occasions we do not include audio files for the enjoyment and edification of those readers who might be unfamiliar with them. Nor do we provide much in the way of background information. Fortunately, for all parties concerned, there is someone who does. His name is Lorne VanSinclair, the driving force behind and weekly host of the radio show Backbeat, which is broadcast on a number of radio stations in Canada and the United States, is accessible at Backbeat’s website, and available as a download at radio4all.net, an invaluable repository of a variety of well-worth-knowing podcasts. If you value articulate, knowledgeable DJs who have confidence in the quality of their commentary and therefore have no need for gimmicks like buzzers, gongs, hyena-like outbursts, and fawning laugh tracks that are employed to compensate for the jocks’ vapidity, you will look forward to hearing from Lorne every week. Therefore, starting in 2025, whenever we mention a popular song that Lorne has once played, we will link to his site so that our readers may obtain a better understanding of the selection. That, dear readers, was the sound of Lorne’s horn being blown. Now for ours.
At the end of the year, Backbeat plays a number of songs chosen by listeners as being the best songs played on the show during the current year. One of us here at drinkingjapan.org selected a drinking song—what else, right?—that he firmly believes deserves to receive a wider audience. Well, rather than go on about it in print, why don’t you have yourself a listen, while you pour yourself a glass of Champagne (champagne?), which will do just fine, of course? The song is called “Nickel of Wine,” and it is by Brad Strang and it can be heard on the December 29, 2024 broadcast available here.
Happy New Year!
Backbeat: https://backbeatradio.ca/
radio4all.net: http://radio4all.net/
Drinking Japan 