I had a little holiday moment last night while getting pizza with the girlfriend in Bethlehem's South Side involving a crooner and a Christmas song I thought was dead to me. See, I've worked in radio for most of my professional career and have therefore come into more than a few holiday seasons fearing the glut of hacky Christmas pukers put out by pop stars looking to fulfill a contract obligation. I found last night that the classics still get me, though, so hearing Paul Anka or Perry Como or Bing Crosby or whoever it was sing a Christmas traditional while sitting in the middle of the Christmas city put me right into the "spirit." It's too bad that a Christmas tradition in the next city over will end as of Sunday night, however.

The Lehigh Valley Christmas Concert has been going strong for 10 years now, but as you may have read in the Morning Call, it's become too much work for the husband and wife team who have been putting it together since 1996. I'll be honest, this year's show will be my first, but it's sad to see any kind of localized showcase go by the wayside disappear after ten years. Never mind the fact that the show has long been a great collaboration of the Lehigh Valley's best, as the same people who walked away with about six thousand Lehigh Valley Music Awards on Monday will be on stage at the Civic Theatre this Sunday, it's the simple fact that a collaboration of local musicians crossing musical genres even occurs. Set in the Civic's beautiful theater in the height of the holiday season and you've got something that should go on for much more than just one decade. Don't be surprised if the Lehigh Valley Christmas Concert does, in fact, come back next year as people willing to help shoulder the planning of the event do come out of the woodwork. More power to anyone willing to fight off the Clay Aiken's and Kenny Gs of the Christmas music world.

This being said, there are a couple interesting holiday CDs out there for those of us who can't quite take the 564,328th butchering of White Christmas. One is a Target (yes, the store) "alternative Christmas" CD I've sampled a couple times now while my girlfriend asked strangers whether or not the gift wrap she had matches her sweater; I normally see through the marketing of these so-called "alternative" compilations, but they had me at The Polyphonic Spree. There is also the emo-riffic Taste of Christmas for those who don't mind a bit of grown men cryin' with their sleigh bells jinglin'. Seriously, though, the Street Drum Corps version of John Lennon's "Happy Christmas (War is Over)" is not only really damn good, but especially damn topical today.

Take it from a jaded radio industry insider, there are still plenty of holiday music experiences out there that are well worth your time. Catch the Lehigh Valley Christmas Concert just in case it does not come back and look a little harder for holiday favorites with a new twist from your favorite artists; just because they're not stupid enough to put out a whole Christmas album doesn't mean they're not creative enough to contribute to a kickass compilation.

-Ryan