The Witzard

A Santa Cause: It's A Punk Rock Christmas sits atop the annual shortlist of "classic" holiday albums I listen to every year right around this time of year; a CD copy still sits on my shelf amidst BADD SANTA: A Stones Throw Records Xmas , Bad Religion 's Christmas Songs , two volumes-worth of Motown Christmas favorites, and a few additional shiny, slightly scratched up CD's. A Santa Cause has been in my collection since at least 2005, if not earlier (and I'm already on my second copy!) although, I'm not really sure how exactly I discovered it, but it's always held a special place in my "cold" heart. A Santa Cause boasts submissions from the likes of Something Corporate , The Matches, blink-182 , Fall Out Boy, MxPx , Sonny "Skrillex" Moore's own From First to Last, New Found Glory , The Mighty Mighty BossToneS, Saosin , and a hidden/bonus track from Nerf Herder. One of my personal favorite tracks on the second half of the CD ...

INTRODUCTION: Maybe, it's in the gray hairs that I've started finding in my thinning hair. Maybe, it's that dreaded third decade of life that seems to have been rearing it's ugly face around every corner. Maybe, it's a quarter life crisis, but something has been keeping me up at night. I sometimes, stay awake into the early hours of the morning spinning records and fumbling with CD jackets from high school, grasping hold of my youth for dear life. I search out elusive first presses of albums I'd somehow, lost to time, hoping that they'll somehow, tighten the thread leading from middle school to adulthood. To be clear, I'm not fishing my torn band T-shirts or bondage pants from the depths of my closet, but as I make the transition into my 30's, shedding roommates and getting oil changes at regularly scheduled intervals, I can't help ruminating on where these albums came from and how they've shaped me. I can't help begging the question, ...