A Christmas Yuleblog

Whenever I search for Christmas albums at my local thrift store (where the manager knows me by name), I always peruse the used compact discs. As iPods and MP3 players have increased in popularity, more and more CDs are finding their way into Goodwill stores, cluttering up the space formerly reserved for LPs. The manager of the store nearly pulled my arm off when I walked into the store to show me this CD. He had held it behind the counter out of sight just for little ol' me (thank you Darryl!). I own the five Bob Rivers Twisted Christmas CDs already so I sort of already owned this CD. But how many times do you come across an honest to goodness promo sampler in a thrift store? For those who may not know, radio DJ Bob Rivers is the Weird Al Yankovic of Christmas music. He began his broadcasting career in Connecticut where he was heard on WAVZ, WNHC, WCDQ, WELI, WFIF, WCCC, WWCO, and last but certainly least, WLIS. With no more stations left to conquer in Connecticut, Bob ...

Back in my high school days, a friend of mine stood in front of the history class to read a paper he wrote entitled "JFK Blown Away - What More Do I Have To Say?" - an obvious swipe from Billy Joel. His argument was since November 22, 1963, the cultural and moral status of the United States has declined and will continue to decline. I was too busy trying to make points with the cheerleader sitting next to me to pay attention until he brought up how TV shortly after the assassination went down hill - citing "The Munsters", "The Addams Family", and "Bewitched" - all dealing with monsters, witchcraft, and the occult. That was the only point I agreed with. There was a definite fascination with horror in the 1960s... which leads us to this album. Released in 1964, this album was the brainchild of Len Maxwell, a talented writer and voice actor. Maxwell was best known as the voice of Karate and the Chief of Police on the old "Batfink" cartoo...

Two weeks ago , I purchased this CD from eBay and promised a review when it arrived at my home. When I first saw this on eBay, I thought this might have been a homemade compilation someone put together and was selling on the side. But with songs such as "Santa Got A Sunburn" and "All I Want From Santa Is A Girl From Atlanta", it looked very promising. The CD arrived yesterday and I discovered this wasn't printed off someone's computer. TRACK REVIEWS: Track 1 - "White Christmas (3 O'Clock Weather Report)" by the Sicknicks. Not only was the group mislabeled (it was actually Senator Bobby who had a Top 40 hit with " Wild Thing " earlier that year), the sound quality was not great - an obvious 45 rpm to MP3 transfer. Tracks 2 & 3 - Things improved with the break-in record "Santa Under Analysis (Pts 1 & 2)" by Chris Clay. Break-in records were popularized by Dickie Goodman and Clay does a fun job doing his best trying to...

Every music collector has come across this situation: you're looking at hundreds of titles in a section of your local music store. You come across the compilation section, begin looking at the repackaged collections (some you're seeing for the umpteenth time), and find that ONE song you've been seeking. This is very true with Christmas music. How many of you have purchased a Christmas comp knowing three, four, maybe 1/2 of the songs on the CD you already own? This was the case for me with this particular CD. Of the ten songs on this album, only THREE songs I didn't own. So the big question becomes "Do I spend x amount of dollars for three songs?" Unfortunately, if you're a Christmas music collector, the answer is yes. You're not going to be able to download these songs anywhere, legally or illegally. Also, most of the more obscure Christmas music - the stuff that makes collector's minds go batty - is available for three months out of the year...