TREE LIGHTING.

Tonight's official Boston Tree Lighting Ceremony (and the tree itself) was brought to you by Nova Scotia. And the organizers didn't let you forget it, with MC shout-outs to Nova Scotia coming every few sentences, a banner over the stage advertising novascotialife.com, commercials for Nova Scotia between segments on the big video screen, and the Garrett Mason Band and other Nova Scotian artists providing the entertainment.

The Garrett Mason Band, a self-described "blues-influenced rock and roll band," followed up a set of bluesy rock jams with a song called "1917," commemorating the Halifax explosion. As it turns out, Boston was one of the first cities to respond to the chaos created by a weapons freighter exploding in Halifax harbor (which killed 2,000 from explosion, fire, and tsunami).

Bryan Mcknight was there too, wearing a very nice tweed trenchcoat with a bright orange lining under the (popped) collar. He didn't sing "Back to One," opting instead for two songs off his new Christmas album - or rather, one and a half songs, since the second song (accompanied by his two sons! one singing and the other holding a guitar and plonking it morosely!) was cut off midway by a POWER OUTAGE. Yes, the headliner of the Tree Lighting Ceremony suffered the indignity of a technical difficulty and walked off stage after a few seconds, never to return. The Nova Scotian dancers tried bravely to put on a silent show in the darkness. When the power came back, Mayor Menino made a speech and lit the tree, but by that time we were already on our way to get pho and warm our frozen feet.