In response to your inquiry, Rick: I sat down with a John Prine anthology and worked through about sixty minutes' worth of his songs, none of which had anything to do with the holidays, except for maybe "Christmas In Prison:"

It was Christmas in prison,
And the food was real good,
We had turkey and pistols,
Carved out of wood.
(What can I say? I'm weird like that)

Fun stuff to play along to, because structurally the songs don't progress much farther than the three or four "cowboy" chords...easy to pick up, just have to switch keys occasionally. Suits my ability level perfectly. "Sam Stone" has to be one of the saddest songs ever written, IMO..."Hello In There" is sad too, but fun to fingerpick along with. And one of my all-time favorites, because Prine weaves a joke into the lyrics, which I thought would be real hard to do: "The Late John Garfield Blues." It should be apparent I like his older stuff a little better.

And I was all ready to check out Toronto, based on your "Canadiana" description (I agree with Tom Waits: the best use for a stove is as a big cigarette lighter) until I read paddymac's post and realized that if Canada was getting Jimmy and Jerry too, there was no reason for me to leave. For Canada's sake, I hope it's just a vicious rumor.

Regards, Neil (bringing up the rear, as usual)