The holiday hits from Vermont artists keep coming. In the wake of the recent release of yuletide tunes by EmaLou & the Beat, Bull’s Head and Matt Hagen comes Richmond pop-punk outfit Vallory Falls with their entry, “It’s Christmas, Kid!”
“It’s Christmas, kid, we don’t give a shit,” singer Tristan Gilliss belts out, painting a pretty bleak holiday picture in my favorite tradition of anti-jolly anthems, such as “Father Christmas” by the Kinks.
If Vermont musicians keep writing such bangers, maybe we can finally retire “Little Drummer Boy” and “Jingle Bells”? (Because those songs suck. That’s right, I’m coming for Christmas classics this week. Please write to Seven Days and challenge me if you dare, because those songs are trash. I know it. You know it. Santa knows it. Why would anyone play a drum around a newborn? It doesn’t make sense. Even David Bowie couldn’t make that song not terrible, for Kringle’s sake. Also, “Jingle Bells” has racist origins. Look it up.)
“It’s Christmas, Kid!” hits streaming services on December 20. It follows Vallory Falls’ excellent EP released in the summer, Porch Lights & Field Guides. The band says it’s working on its next album, due for release next summer.
One of the longest-running Christmas traditions in the area returns on Sunday, December 21, at the Saint Michael’s College chapel: Dr. William Tortolano performs his Christmas concert for the 65th year running. This year’s iteration is titled “Sing We Now Noel: 65.”
That’s right: When Dr. Tortolano, professor emeritus of fine arts and music at St. Mike’s, first started playing Christmas music on the chapel’s Casavant pipe organ, John F. Kennedy was preparing to succeed Dwight Eisenhower as president.
Tortolano, who turns 96 in January, has put together a program featuring organ solos of American folk melodies originally set to liturgical jazz harmonies by British pianist George Shearing. There will also be selections from Johann Sebastian Bach and performances of the songs “Greensleeves” and “Simple Gifts.”
The show is free and open to the public.
Cabot Arts will present its seventh annual Cabot Village 12th Night Celebration on Friday and Saturday, January 2 and 3. The weekend-long festival pays homage to the traditional end of Christmas, as well as Twelfth Night’s origins as a pre-Christian, Celtic and Roman tradition of midwinter festivities marking the death of the old year and the birth of the new.
The fest features theater performances, dance teams, Native American storytellers, scavenger hunts, puppets and plenty of killer local music. Tom Azarian, Keith Murphy AND Becky Tracy, Fifth Business, and the Returnables will perform at a variety of places around Cabot, including the Willey Building auditorium, the United Church of Cabot and the Den at Harry’s Hardware.
Admission is free, but check out cabotarts.org for more information.
Doomsbury
By Farnsworth and Slayton
Listening In
Playlist of Vermont jams
This article appears in The Reading Issue 2025.
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