For over four centuries, Old Key’s Almanacke has proved a spookily unerring guide to the coming twelvemonth. This year, the mysterious figure in the black cape who, it is said, communes with Old Key himself, has granted The Dabbler exclusive permission to publish these oh-so-cogent utterances. In the year of Our ... Read More...
Year: 2010
The unstoppable festive party monster Merry Xmas Everybody will ensure Slade's immortality but in fact their finest hour is the 1972 album Slade Alive! I bought it on second-hand vinyl about 15 years ago, and whenever I make the effort to dig it out and play it, the raw power of Noddy’s ... Read More...
In a special double-bill today, Gaw and Brit write in praise of a couple of bands you're probably heartily sick of by now... At this stage of the proceedings to ask you to pay some attention to a Christmas song is about as palatable a proposition as asking you to polish ... Read More...
Today, the fifth and final part of our Christmas Compendium, subtitled The Bleak Midwinter.... Richard Williams (of Tales from Bibury Shop) – Hay on hard ground I find a very heartwarming sight at this time of year is fresh hay left on the ground of a hard, white wintry field. There is not ... Read More...
Part IV of our Christmas Compendium is subtitled Festive Dabbling Around the World... Hey Skipper (of The Daily Duck) – ‘an anchor for the year’ I can only get to what Christmas means to me by going through what it has meant: Stuff and Santa. Stuff and God. Stuff without God. Nothing. ... Read More...
Hope you're all recovering. Here's Part III of our Christmas Compendium, subtitled Turkey Curry... Frank Key (of Hooting Yard) – ‘It is always Christmas inside my head’ It is always Christmas inside my head. More accurately, I could say that Christmas recurs, on an almost daily basis, through all the seasons of the year. ... Read More...
Mahlerman brings you a special festive edition of our regular Sunday music feature... and plans your Boxing Day so you don't have to... Too cold for Midnight Mass? Or did you road test a couple of Ian Buxton's whisky suggestions - just to cut the phlegm? Fear not, just click below for ... Read More...
Exclusively on The Dabbler, we have an alternative Royal Christmas Message from a certain Harry, who blogs at The Red Tuft... Dear Subjects (of my grandmother), It’s three o’clock on Christmas Day and, if any part of you is Englishman, you’ll be sat at home, nursing a mince pie, and watching this ... Read More...
Merry Christmas from all at The Dabbler! Here's Part II of our special Christmas Compendium....subtitled 'A Toast to Absent Friends: Excess and Remembrance'... Susan Muncey (of ShopCurious) – ‘Vulgarity, excess and curiously coloured drinks’ Please note: this is about Christmas style (rather than substance). My ideal Christmas includes baroque church music, the smell ... Read More...
Are you sitting comfortably? Snuggle down by the fire with a mince pie and a glass of warm grog, as Frank Key brings you a festive tale for Christmas Eve... Good King Wenceslas, The Imposture Of “Hearken ye, stooped mendicant at my gate! I am Good King Wenceslas, and I am looking ... Read More...