iStock Images/GettyChristmas time is here again, and as many of us prepare to celebrate the holiday, some well-known music stars recently shared their own plans with ABC Radio.
The Beach Boys‘ Mike Love tells ABC Radio that while he and his family usually spend the holidays at his home on Lake Tahoe in Nevada, this year he’ll be forgoing a white Christmas and heading south of the border.
“I remember one year going to Mexico and renting a couple of houses. And a lot of the family members would go down, and it was really pretty neat to be in the warm environment,” recalls Love, who just released a Christmas album titled Reason for the Season. “And the place we have in Tahoe is in the High Sierras, and there’ll be snow all around it, so a lot of us are gonna head to Mexico again.”
The Monkees‘ Micky Dolenz lives in the Los Angeles area, but he tells ABC Radio that he’ll mainly be spending the holidays on the East Coast.
“[I’ll be doing] family stuff…in [Washington] D.C. and [Philadelphia], where I got now grandchildren,” says the 73-year-old singer, whose band recently put out its first-ever holiday album, Christmas Party.
The Doobie Brothers‘ Tom Johnston says his Christmas will be a quiet family day.
“I do travel a lot all year,” he notes, “and it’s great to just be around, not have any pressure, not have to be anywhere, not have to do anything and just…enjoy the day together.”
Foreigner guitarist Mick Jones has a similarly low-key holiday planned.
“I’m gonna have a pretty quiet Christmas, I think,” he tells ABC Radio. “We’ve been traveling all year, and I just want to kick back, and I don’t want to go anywhere. I don’t want to go near an airport.”
Creedence Clearwater Revival drummer Doug “Cosmo” Clifford says he will be enjoying the holiday with his kids and grandchildren, noting he especially loves watching his young grandkids get excited about Santa Claus’ arrival.
“More than half of ’em still believe in Santa Claus…I love that,” Clifford says, laughing. “It’s really fun.”
Doug, who continues to tour with CCR bassist Stu Cook in their spinoff band Creedence Clearwater Revisited, points out the family hires a local man to play Santa.
“[H]e has a real beard. And his fee goes to homeless children,” reports Clifford, “so we always double and triple and quadruple his fee, and it’s really cool.”
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