Merry XMas

Last month I sang the praises of XM satellite radio--nothing less than a beacon of hope for those who have tired of obnoxious five-minute long commercials. And I still love my XMRadio and continue to explore its more than 120 stations. Currently two stations are playing Christmas music around the clock, presumably from now until New Year's. This is great but it is not enough. The Christmas genre is actually quite broad and these channels simply cannot accommodate everyone from Duke Ellington and Tchaikovsky to Run DMC and Merle Haggard. The result has been chaos. On one night I was enjoying the London Symphony Orchestra's rendition of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" followed by a beautiful, almost ethereal performance by a woman soloist singing "Ave Maria." I glanced at the display to find out who this angel was and to my horror discovered it was Celine Dion. Feeling ill to my stomach, I immediately switched to the Alternative '80s channel, listened to some INXS, and cleansed my spirit.

P.S.: Thanks to Galley reader "jk" for pointing out XM has four stations devoted to Christmas. But how about one for jazz and crooners?