Blogs

New Year’s Eve musical offerings: from pricey to free

New Year’s Eve musical offerings: from pricey to free

Tom Nutile

Economists occasionally devise interesting and novel ways to gauge the strength of the holiday shopping season. Some study the National Christmas Tree Association/Harris Interactive annual consumer tracking poll, which predicts consumer trends based on holiday tree shopping habits.

Here's a new way: see how many venues have put together New Year's Eve packages. Dec. 31 is usually the most expensive night of the year – rivaled only by Valentine's Day. If more places are open for New Year's Eve 2015-16 than the previous year, that means restaurateurs, club owners and event planners believe people are more willing to spend money this year. We wouldn't want to bet against their predictions. While we don't have hard comparative data, it appears that more places are open for New Year's Eve 2015-16 than a year ago. All hail 2016! Here is a very small sample of the musical doings featuring at least a little bit of jazz on New Year's Eve in Boston.

Our biggest national holiday suggests something about our national identity
Blogs

Our biggest national holiday suggests something about our national identity

Adam J. MacLeod

It has become an annual tradition for Christians to observe during Advent and Christmastide that "the Holidays" have become secularized. And our secular neighbors are equally eager to amuse themselves each year by imagining that Christians are up in arms about this trend. (I still haven't met an actual Christian who objected to the infamous Starbucks cup, only people mocking the unnamed Christians who were supposed to have been objecting.)

For sure, the incarnation of the Son of God and savior of the world does not mean much for most Americans anymore. Our biggest national holiday is mostly a time to stress about hosting family, to get stuck in traffic at the mall, to actually host family, to eat well, and to watch a little college football.

Read More