what an impressive holiday display of collective douchebaggery and penile metaphors. I too can’t believe the gall in lighting fireworks on such a windy night, and there’s also the carbon footprint of hauling that monstrous tree from wherever it was unceremoniously ripped.

This makes me wonder, is there / will there be a similar display at The Grove? This shit has got to stop.

Hr. Hooks: Los Anjealous has an awesome expose on the Grove’s not-fake-fake tree here: http://tinyurl.com/5gvkml

No shit. Fireworks? What were they thinking? Palm trees go up like huge torches and with this wind and ultra-dry air we were collectively lucky last night.

AND I will bitch about cutting down a real live tree. I do it every year. I understand the concept of tree farms, friends do just that back east. I even understand that most of our municipal garbage services sort of recycle the unflocked trees for mulch. However it is still a stupid waste of resources to grow it, haul it and mulch it for barely a month of use. Seems like we could put all of that tree farm to better use….grow big enough to be lumber and help cleanse the air in the process.

I do a wicked…artificial tree myself every year. I learned how to “do” a tree properly back in the day when I was a Christmas Dept Manager at Bullock’s. You can do a gorgeous tree without all that waste.

Gah, that’s an abomination. Thanks for the info, Will.

Oh, jeesh. Fireworks may have been annoying for the show, but to suggest they were a fire risk is to question the competency of the Glendale Fire Marshalls who oversaw the whole thing.

I’m also not terribly concerned with the cutting down live Christmas trees. Tree sellers grow the trees expressly for the purpose… they aren’t razing rain forests, or depleting the Redwoods, of evergreens or any other type of trees to sell. These things are farmed like other crops, and like other farmers, people who raise trees are probably more concerned about the environment than most people.

The drive from NorCal to Carusoville was likely the most enviornmentally damaging part of all.

David, not that I suggested any fire risk involved with the display, but what’s exactly wrong with questioning the competencies of our public servants?

And there seems to be the implication either that I’m unaware of tree farms or that I think the Lumberjack Division of Caruso Incorporated callously tromped out into the High Sierra with direct orders to chop down a long-standing resident in some old-growth section. Nah. I’m pretty sure you’re right, this tree was grown with the intent of being killed for this shiny vapid purpose. There’s just something disappointing about felling such a tall fella — and for an end result that can most certainly be achieved artificially and without the long haul involved.

Will, I was mostly just excited to find a post where I didn’t agree with you!

I know, you speak for the trees, but until Christmas tree felling threatens California’s forests, I’m going to worry as much about single trees, however old, as much as I do the cows that taste so meaty.

Not only is the use of fireworks during such a massive fire outbreak irresponsible, it’s downright insensitive. Hundreds of homes lost, thousands of citizens evacuated….

Oh, but wait… let’s celebrate the early lighting of a tree in an outdoor mall to usher in the holiday retail season.

That’s outrageous.

David, I’m totally cool with you disagreeing with me, even gleefully. But when you disagree with points I didn’t make it fills me with a desire to go find a 106-foot tall cow somewhere up in Shasta County, slaughter it, then haul its carcass down here for a big ol’ barbecue.

“The information even goes so far to boast that Americana’s conifer kicks 36-feet of cross-country ass over the Rockefeller Center’s relatively puny 70-footer. Boo-yah! You just know the tree-selection committee over there at Black Rock in the Big Apple has to reeeeally be pissed off!”

Black Rock refers to CBS’ corporate headquarters, not NBC’s at Rockefeller Center.

Geographically corrected Evan.