I don’t have a column for tomorrow, but I have a few things to say — and you know how hard it is to shut me up. I’d like to relate a couple of human interactions. And then I have a music link. (Another human interaction, in a sense.)

Before leaving Manhattan, I was in a barbershop. The woman with the shears related her life story (unprompted but not unwelcome). She said that she was “very Christian.” She added, “I know I’m wearing red lipstick, but that’s just for the holidays. I’m very Christian.”

I marveled at these lines. Had never heard anything like them, that I recall. And this lady was not from the Bible Belt. She was from Brooklyn — the pre-Rudy Brooklyn, when it was very mean. Pajama Boy didn’t live there. Pajama Boy wouldn’t have ventured into this lady’s neighborhood without an escort of Marines.

Okay, Story 2: I get to the Detroit airport, and hop a shuttle bus to the car-rental agency. There is a very cheerful family onboard. And the driver is a warm-hearted Detroit lady. When we get to our destination, she gives her closing spiel, about car-rental things. And she concludes, “Don’t forget any of your belongings. Drive safely. And have a — well, I’m going to say it. I’m old-school.” And before she can say anything else, the family says, “We’re old-school too. Merry Christmas!”

I loved the driver’s characterization, “old-school.” I think I’ve been old-school for a very long time. Possibly starting in kindergarten.

All right, the music. In a post last week, I threw a couple of spirituals at you — Christmas spirituals. Tonight, let me suggest the great bass (or baritone) aria from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio: “Grosser Herr und starker König.” There is little in music more stirring. It is a study in beautiful resoluteness.

For a soloist, let’s have the late, great Hermann Prey — here. He deserves to come out from Fischer-Dieskau’s shadow (where he lived so much of his life).