I Hope You're Happy Now

I've always felt that New Year's was the most overrated of holidays, and maybe because it seems a little incongruous and melancholy to watch and celebrate the passage of time. Even when I was a kid, something about it was depressing.

Perhaps it's also because of this song, performed by the only band (to me, anyway) officially licensed to perform it on New Year's Eve, Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians.

Seeing Lombardo perform this from the Waldorf Astoria was a rite of passage in my youth. My parents never stayed up late, except for this night, and when I reached 6 or 7, I got to stay up late as well. As least on this night I did.

We made this night an event because my parents saw it as a tradition and also because I imagine they thought this was the classiest thing anyone could do to celebrate the beginning of another year: New York City. The Waldorf Astoria. Couples all dolled up and dressed to the nines. Champagne.

As this type of music fell out of favor, the night began to belong to Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. But it wasn't (and isn't) the same.

Now, the traditions still involve television, but now it's reliving the past. Which is still somewhat sad.

So, I would like to pull myself away from The Three Stooges marathon on AMC and the Twilight Zone marathon on the Syfy (yes, that's the new, proper spelling) Channel to wish everyone a Happy New Year.