Life and Life Only

WitnessLA Going on a Christmas Break – Back January 4

December 20, 2011
by Celeste Fremon
7 Comments


As noted below, we’re saving our next Jails/LASD story until we come back. I will run early in January.

However, if something urgent comes up on the main the issues we’re following—topics like the jails, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, or LA’s juvenile probation system—then look for us to post.

Otherwise, here’s to a joyous (and music-filled) winter solstice, Happy Holidays, and a very Merry Christmas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12qBoy2rhVw

I know that last year I posted this same video above of Rufus Wainwright singing Minuit Chrétiens on Dec. 9, 2009, at the Royal Albert Hall, while his mother, Kate McGarrigle accompanies him on the piano, laughing with delight at his antics. The show was, of course, her last public performance before she died of clear-cell sarcoma six weeks later on January 18, 2010. Yet, in spite of what was to come—or more likely because of it—I never get tired of seeing Kate’s unfiltered momma love as she watches her golden-voiced eldest kid.

And then there’s this….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5owUdvwcQ0

And this…

7 Comments

  • And, to top it off, this….

    For Unto Us A Child Is Born
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f7jhk-IjDo

    For unto us a Child is born,
    unto us a Son is given,
    and the government
    shall be upon His shoulder;
    and his name shall be called Wonderful,
    Counsellor, the Mighty God,
    the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
    (Isaiah 9:6)

    Have a very merry and meaningful Christmas.

  • I’d add Leonard Cohen’s amazing Hallelujah to the queue, though I prefer Jeff Buckley’s rendition to that of Wainwright’s or Cohen’s.

    Happy Holiday’s to you and yours, Celeste (goes double for Lily), and thanks for all the work you put into a site I enjoy on a daily basis.

    And a great Christmas to you, Woody. And keep your fingers out of the wood chipper (sorry, just re-watched Fargo over the weekend:) )!

  • We’ve seen this version before, but it’s worth pulling out again for Celeste and the homeboys. The men in this choir know that Christ came and died for all — including criminals. Filmed at Sugarland Prison, TX.

    “Georg Friedrich Händel – For Unto Us A Child Is Born”
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUio9vCKtfw

    – – – –

    Jim, Merry Christmas to you, too. I’m tossing the baseball bats into the wood chipper. I’m through with the Braves.

  • Celeste, how about a year’s best article for this blog? For funniest comment I hereby nominate when Sure Fire admits how many official complaints he received while on the force. What was it again? I think it was in the hundreds.

  • Wonder what the impact of these arson cases are going to be? Not to mention a guy in the middle of hollywood in broad daylight just capping random drivers. Law enforcement distracted by usual street gang emphasis, and Occupy demos. Yeah, you can chalk that up to a fail. Heads is gonna roll.

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