The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 39

THE TENNESSEAN Saturday, Decwnbw 131997 BP The naked city Christmas Eve needn't be silent night songs, some new, and of course the same duet that's on the Peabo Bryson album. The Persuasions, You're AH I Want For Christmas A mix of spirituals, doo-wop and these five guys are quite well persuasive. Like The Fairfield Four, we're talking strictly vocals, uncluttered by all those noisy musicians. Who needs them anyway? RuPaul, Ho Ho Ho Proving that Christmas can be a real drag. Let's see, we have RuPaul The Red-Nosed Drag Queen, "All I want for Christmas is my liposuction," I Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Claus and a disco medley of traditional carols.

Simply festive, JazzBlues Ann Hampton Callaway, This Christmas What's the point of spending Christmas Eve at home when you could be at a smoky jazz club? Callaway gives you the best of both combo-style fare from your own CD player. Sam Levine, Christmas Sax Crystal-toned soprano sax in contemporary jazz settings, locally produced. Roomful Of Blues, Roomful Of Christmas Sssssssssssmokin'! From smoky jazz to boogie woogie. Their re-make of Fats Domino's I Ibid Santa Claus is poppin'. ChristianGospel Ray Boltz, A Christmas Album Slick pop, sometimes catchy, but often gushy and over-produced.

But here's a promise: you won't forget the reason for the season. Gary Chapman, This Gift The husky-voiced host of everything is one of Nashville's funniest figures, but this is a fairly heavy outing. His gift is wrapped in country swing, traditional pop and even brassy boogie woogie. God With Us: A Celebration Of Christmas Carols Classics A produced single with humorous lyrics but a downer musical approach. Spam and beer are the holiday dinner, Aunt Vi's mustache is an annoyance under the mistletoe, and the dog leaves a not-so-special present under the tree.

Sound familiar? You're in trouble if the answer is yes. Sawyer Brown, Hallelujah He Is Bom Mostly new country songs inflected with a bit of rock, some swampy slide guitar and even some mass choir gospel. Sometimes celebratory, sometimes melancholy. Ray Stevens, Christmas Through A Different Window Standard titles become Wont Be Home For Christmas, The Nightmare Before Christmas and The Little Drummer Boy-Next Door, Guilt For Christmas is perfect for any former Catholic or evangelical; and Redneck Christmas mines the same lyrical territory as Lonnie Wayne Flemmer. Sometimes funny, sometimes not Trisha Yearwood, Home For The Holidays The London Symphony offers a lush backdrop for Year-wood's evocative power and Point of Grace's breezy approach.

Available only at Hallmark. Dwight Yoakam, Come On Christmas A Hawaiian Elvis version of Here Comes Santa Claus, a Tex-Mex take on Silver Bells and a honky tonkrockabilly revision of Run Run Rudolph Inventive, though the languid title track is quite avoidable. Rhythm Blues Peabo Bryson, Peace On Earth Bryson's shimmering, crystal voice and the strings and electric keyboards have an implied elegance, though sometimes it's closer to stiff and formal. Includes duets with Sandi Patty and favorite vocal partner Roberta Flack. Roberta Flack, The Christmas Album A clear voice with a plaintive beauty.

Some old Christmas pretty serious compilation of 14 different performers. Best moments include Steven Curtis Chapman's contemporized 0 Come 0 Come Emmanuel, Ray Boltz' haunting Still Her IMle Child and the upbeat feel and stellar harmonies of Anointed's Joy To The World. Miscellaneous Animaniacs Starring In A Hip- Hopera Christmas Scrooge's clas-" sic tale becomes a modern cartoon in the TV version, reoptured on CD without the picture. The Burns Sisters, Tradition Enraptured femme harmonies with a bluegrass bent A beautiful sound on an album that includes not only traditional Christmas stuff, but even a Tibetan monk piece and something Jewish. Vince Cardell, Country Christ-mas Live The glittery piano play-1 er from the Opryland Hotel who re-; placed the late harpist Lloyd Lin- droth.

Yes, in the right hands, even Deck The Halls can become ostentatious and grandiose. Dan Crary, Holiday Guitar A relaxing, often intricate rendering that hinges mostly on traditional fare. Ought to go well with the crackle of a fireplace. It's A Wonderful Life, The Record "Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings." It aint Christmas if you haven't seen this Jimmy Stewart classic. But if you missed it on the tube, Nick At Nite Records has key George Bailey excerpts on CD.

Xmas Marks The Spot The spot it must be said, keeps moving. Lord Nelson kicks things off with a Cuban Christmas, Jerry Jeff Walker gives a barren, rough-edged version of The Christmas Song and Evan Johns and his H-Bombs turn The Little Drummer Boy into a hot Cajun dish, possibly the best version ever made of a maddening song. lawsuit against the city, a pair of such parts repeated over and over around four walls was hardly likely to pass muster. Huhta thought it was "much ado about nothing," but he's a preservationist, not a politician. "Next year's an election year," he said.

"When something like this starts, everybody jumps." It's a thorny problem and not a new one, said Dr. Elizabeth M. Walter, professor and chairperson of the department of art at the University of North Alabama. "In every society, every age and every generation, there have always been people who felt the necessity to determine what other people should look at," Walter said. However, she feels that personal responsibility is in order.

"The key point is that when a person knowingly commits to going into an art gallery or a bookstore, they are expressing a willingness to be open to new ideas and experiences," she said. "They can take a great deal of pleasure in the encounter. If they don't take pleasure in it, they bring their own agenda to it "The responsibility has to go back on the viewer rather than the motivation of the artist." On the other hand, "to be perfectly fair, part of the legal definition that is in vogue is something called community values." That was the crux of the controversy in Cincinnati over the exhibit of photographs by Robert Map-plethorpe. "Who defines community values? Is it the Walter asked. "It is such a complex problem, legally, sociologically, esthetically, psychologically.

It can't be reduced to a simple yes or no. Life is much too complex." I gentle acoustic sound on The First Nowell, and Joe Perry distorts Blue Christmas. Superstar Christmas Yup. This one is loaded with superstars, from Boyz II Men's stark Silent Night to Bruce Springsteen's rough-edged Merry Christmas Baby to Frank Sinatra's wrapped-in-cool Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Lei It Snow to John Lennon Yoko Ono's humanitarian Happy Xmas (War Is Over). Country Annabelk's Wish A mostly country soundtrack for the movie.

Alison Krauss, Nanci Griffith and Dolly Parton give it a fragile core; Randy Travis Beth Nielsen Chapman provide an interesting contrast in masculinity and femininity, and Kevin Sharp delivers an affirming pop melody. Asleep At The Wheel, Merry Texas Christmas, YaU Put some swing in your Christmas. You get an armadillo dressed in a Santa hat, a conjunto version of Feliz Navidad and a Swingin' Drummer Boy that's everything the title implies. Country Cares For Kids Martina McBride's stunning 0 Holy Night makes another appearance, this time in a compilation album with a minor children's theme, thanks to Bob Carlisle's Butterfly Kisses, Alabama's Angels Among Us and the multiartist Mate A Miracle. Money goes to St Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Chinese Brothers, A Window Shopper's Christmas Raw alternative country with some offbeat viewpoints. And To AU A Good Night is Christmas on death row, Making Angels In The Sand is Christmas on the beach, and Missing Miss December is a soft porn Christmas. Lonnie Wayne Flemmer, Another White Trash Christmas A locally A year ago, another breast was spotted in public in Murfreesboro, this one in a painting in city hall. The painting was removed, but the complainant filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the city. And just last week, two days before whistleblowers (not to be confused with wolf-whistlers) stirred the wallpaper paste pot, Barnes Noble Booksellers management at CoolSprings, decided 10 self-portraits by local artist Von Deny were unsuitable for exhibit at the store.

The paintings were not nudes, but there was some cleavage (considerably less than Dolly Parton has, but that's life, not art) and a bit of bare skin here and there (hardly as much as is seen around Shania Twain's navel, but, again, that's life and billboards). Barnes Noble was rightly a little uncomfortable, since they'd been slapped Nov. 21 by the Williamson County Grand Jury with an obscenity indictment stemming from displaying books with nude photos allegedly in violation of Ten-neesseelaw. What's an artist (or a writer or a historian) to do? In the courthouse, a stencil and paint put a frilly bodice where breasts used to be, although Huhta's preference would've been to do nothing. The wallpaper pattern was historically correct, said Huhta, chairman of the committee to restore the public building in keeping with its mid-19th century origins.

But in Rutherford County the late 20th century, county officials nixed the nipples. After all, the courthouse is in the county seat of Murfreesboro. If a contemporary painting revealing a single breast resulted in a sexual harassment mii ii 1 iw mm i ii mm mm i mm i mi i i mmm i hwiiiiwbmum i i imwii wi WO DAVY I miiim Liu. mi jim mi. -u WTO JTJH 0WL2 Ell lllflH SU)WAVif DEC I MB 4 0 iMBQraflBQ; WG fell IJ ALL MENS TIES REDUCED 20 OFF ALL MENS AND WOMENS BELTS 20 OFF ALL LADIES WINTER COATS REDUCED SAVE 18 TO 30 ALL MENS SWEATERS 20 OFF WOMENS SHOES LARGE SELECTION OF FALL SHOES 33 OFF ALL MENS AND WOMENS SOCKS 20 OFF ALL WRAPPING PAPER AND RIBBON 20 OFF ENTIRE STOCK OF LADIES TERRYCLOTH ROBES 20 OFF ENTIRE STOCK OF CASUAL LEATHER SUEDE HANDBAGS 20 OFF LARGE SELECTIONS OF FALL SPORTSWEAR AND DRESSES FOR LADIES, PETITES AND PLUS SIZES HAVE BEEN REDUCED! I 5 0 4 kTTr ijuiiniiiittv -j mS.