the joan baez conspiracy

i mentioned below that the joan baez christmas album constituted an integral part of my childhood christmas experience.

in a similar vein, it has also long been to blame for my dad's christmas misery.

for as long as i can remember, we owned "noel" on LP. when the LP format became obsolete, i suspect that my dad secretly hoped that "noel" would quietly accompany it into oblivion.

instead, my mother simply replaced it with a cassette. when cassettes became obsolete, i can only imagine that my dad harbored a similar hope for "noel."

this time, i replaced the cassette with a cd given to me by my hippie friends ben and cheryl, who bought it and then found it intolerable. wow, my dad must have thought, even hippies hate this album. but my mother and i are tenacious that way. our joan baez christmas album has survived several media incarnations. we're not giving it up now.

i happen to know that, given the advent of the ipod, a certain dad is hatching a certain plan to supplant "noel" by way of new technology once again. my dad is an extremely intelligent individual. but with all due respect, dad:

i am one step ahead of you.