Kim Wiseman & Mark A. Johnson, Visiting Old Friends at Christmas

This holiday album announces itself with three trumpet blares, and by the time you've checked the case to make sure you haven't made some mistake - Is this mariachi? - the familiar lyrics of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" have clarified what's going on: The CD from Quad Cities vocalist Kim Wiseman and producer/arranger/musician Mark A. Johnson is a modern take on Christmas classics and a few more contemporary songs.

With so many recent pop albums offering up only one or two decent, memorable songs and top-selling artists taking years upon years between mediocre releases, it's no surprise that music continues to slide into nothing more than computer files shared between MP3 players, personal computers, and 10-cent blank CDs. Not to sound like a crusty ol' curmudgeon, but sheeeee-it, I can feel my cerebellum shake when I think that over the course of 28 months, from August of 1965 to November of 1967, the Beatles released Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and Magical Mystery Tour. Imagine my joy, when my teenage son's pals' Christmas wish lists are yearning for "real" copies of The White Album or gift certificates to buy "classic" used vinyl LPs at the ever-dwindling local record store. Wanna save American youth? Pick up any working turntables you might come across at yard sales, and place them at the feet of the next generation.

The Chicago Afrobeat Project could not have a more plainly descriptive name, yet the band's new CD transcends the ordinary. The group, which returns to the Quad Cities with a show on Friday at the Redstone Room, does its fair share of aimless jamming - all pleasant - but on several occasions it reaches highs that lift up the whole endeavor.

Punk rockers old and new can get their literary fix in four terrific new books that revel in the spirit, the lifestyle, and the humor of banging the drum their own way. It's not a sex confessional, but the spurts and snorts of My First Time are just as charged with sweaty adolescent discovery. Originally conceived as a small-run fanzine and now expanded into a full book from the AK Press, editor Chris Duncan invited more than 40 rock writers, artists, band members, and fans to share their first-punk-show stories. Not merely recollections of the concerts themselves, each tale is more the story of where the author was in life at that time, the cultural and social zeitgeist, and the often-hilarious anecdotes of getting to that show. Highlights include passages by Jack Rabid, Blag Dahlia, Jade Tree Records' co-founder Darren Walters, Joe Queer of The Queers, and scene historian George Hurchalla.