A Christmas Yuleblog

Received an interesting package at the P.O. Box a few weeks ago.  Inside was an advance copy of a Christmas album (in a clear DVD case) from a band I had never heard of before. The cover letter read thusly: I quickly added December 3rd to my calendar as I sat down trying to figure out more about this band.  From their bio : CB&J has been performing their distinctive style of folky swing since the spring of 2005. They released their first full-length album, “Love and Circumstances” in November of 2006. Their second and most recent album, “Custom Made For You,” was released on December 12th, 2008. In addition to headlining many shows, Christabel and the Jons has also performed at numerous festivals in the US including Bonnaroo, Riverbend, Bele Chere, Blue Plum Festival, Shakori Hills Festival, Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion, and Sundown in the City. They’ve also opened for many national acts including The Brazilian Girls, The Be Good Tanyas, The Red Stick R...

This is the last of four new Christmas releases that I received at my P.O. Box that I'm reviewing this week. Ironically, this was one of the first of those four that arrived. It's been sitting patiently while I reviewed Emmanuel Shall , Kevin Koelbl , and Silvia Fleming , eyeballing me the entire time, tempting me with its artwork. To quote the press sheet: "Since 2004, The Hipwaders have performed their own original Christmas songs along with their 'wader-ized' versions of Christmas classics. Finally, the band got around to recording their original compositions for the holidays. "Christmas music has traditionally always been "family music" and The Hipwaders carry on this tradition with their songs celebrating all aspects of Christmas with a special admiration for Santa Claus and his exploits. Some say The Hipwaders 'exploit' Santa - but that's for you to decide..." Indeed it is... and I must admit, I'm pretty intrig...

This was the third new Christmas release to arrive at my P.O. Box. Unfortunately, no press sheet or additional material accompanied the CD. So it was off to their Facebook page to find some threads of info off their wall. A post on October 25th states "this album is currently the top-selling holiday album at CD Baby !" I clicked on the CDBaby link and found the answer to several of my questions: "Emmanuel Shall Come to Thee is a Chicagoland collective of musicians led by composer Matthew Prins. The group incorporates classical, folk, new-age, orchestral, jazz, and minimalist influences into their progressive interpretations of familiar works. "Featuring 19 new holiday arrangements and compositions by composer Matthew Prins, Noël fuses a myriad of influences into a Christmas album quite unlike any heard before. Performed primarily by Prins and multi-instrumentalist A.J. Nelson, Noël features a harmonious blend of hand bells, hand chimes, carillon, strings,...

This is the second of four new Christmas releases that I recently received at my P.O. Box. Thanks to the good people at Phil Putnam Public Relations for sending me the CD and cover sheet. Kevin Koelbl (pronounced "cable") has had a long and varied career in music. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin with a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance, Kevin went on to leading roles at various regional theatres across the country. Some of the shows Kevin's appeared in include "Carnival", "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat", "The Fantasticks", "A Little Night Music", "Beauty and the Beast", "Oklahoma", "Anything Goes" and "Show Boat" with legendary MGM star Van Johnson in the early 1990s. This led to his co-starring role with Michael Crawford ("Phantom of the Opera" no less) in the Las Vegas megashow " EFX ", once the most elaborate and expensive ...

Silvia Fleming has been surrounded by music all her life. That's not surprising considering she had a mother who was a professional singer and a father who was an electronics engineer and a music manager for his wife. Needless to say, her mother's influence instilled a deep love of Big Band tunes, jazz, and all of the great American standards by George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Harold Arlen, and Irving Berlin. Fleming combined her love of singing with the study of classical piano and received a B.A. in Music Education from California State University, Fullerton. Last November, Fleming released this album which got a tremendous review from our friends at Christmasreviews.com : "Silvia Fleming has one of those honey-sweet voices that are just made for singing jazzy, romantic easy listening pop tunes. And with occasional support from the great Sam Levine on alto sax, she is able to deliver a sound that supports the romantic aspirations of 'Love for Christmas...

Last week, I reviewed a Christmas comp that was the last present I received last December. This CD was the very first present I received. Back in November, my good friend Martin Johns sent me his annual Christmas comps (which I'll be reviewing some time down the road). Inside the box was a wrapped Christmas package that read "DO NOT OPEN 'TIL DEC. 25". I dutifully tucked it under the tree and there it remained until Christmas morning. What went through my mind on Christmas morning as my kids tore through their gifts with this CD staring at me in the face? I remembered reviewing Martin's 2005 comp " No Rain, No Rainbow: A Contemporary Hawaiian Christmas " and mentioning this very CD when reviewing a version of "Jingle Bells" in Hawaiian: WOW! "Jingle Bells" in Hawaiian! Featured on the 2001 comp "Old Hawaiian Christmas" which is OOP? I'm about to cry here... I also remembered that a year earlier, I sampled a ...

This is the very last Christmas CD I received as a present last December. It came from my best friend Joel who took a brief moment from his Indianapolis holiday getaway with his charming wife Samantha to check out a used CD store to see if there was something inside that I didn't have. Joel actually called me from the store itself to read off titles to see what I had and didn't have (with Sam standing alongside, bored to tears). After reading off the limited Christmas LP titles, Joel scanned through the holiday CDs and found this particular compilation that I had never heard of. Back in the early part of this decade, two guys named Mark Latta & Kevin Phillips decided to help out Habitat For Humanity in Indianapolis with a benefit CD. And that's how Standard Recording Company began. Since then, Mark & Kevin have improvised running an indie label as they've gone along, getting distribution deals, signing up talented Indy bands, and issuing releases when...

Since the beginning of 2009, I've been attempting to review Christmas CDs (and one other DVD) that I received as gifts on December 25th. The CD you see before you was a present from my son Alex who especially liked the "neat" cover artwork when ordering it from Amazon.com (with help from his mom). Shortly before Christmas, this CD wasn't on my wish list. I didn't know a thing about the Garza brothers or their music - my musical tastes have pretty much excluded anything non-Christmas since 2004. That changed during one of my Christmas shopping runs when I turned on a local radio station who was broadcasting Christmas music 24/7 throughout December. I tuned in during the middle of an intriguing version of "Feliz Navidad" that I hadn't heard and my interest was piqued. I dialed 411 on my cell phone, got ahold of the radio station DJ who played the song, and asked for the artist. "Oh man, that's Los Lonely Boys , ain't it cool?...

This was a Christmas present given to me by my son Alex. In the past, Alex chose several Christmas albums ( Oh Santa (Yep Roc) , Gene Autry ) to give to my on December 25th but instead chose a DVD on my Santa list. My Santa list contained several DVD titles and several that I asked for were under the Christmas tree. I'm attempting to lose weight as a New Year's resolution (40 lbs. by my 40th birthday in June) and these will be used while exercising on the stationary bike or treadmill. Back in September, I discovered this DVD would be hitting shelves in October. At first, I was pretty psyched. A full DVD full of vintage Christmas clips from the Mighty Carson Art Players and Johnny himself, I thought. Last December, I posted a YouTube video that had a clip from his 15th Anniversary show that contained a pretty hilarious Christmas clip. My friend Stubbyfears informed in the comments that he had seen the DVD and wished there were more clips like the one I had posted. ...

This was another Christmas CD that was labelled "To Daddy". This one was chosen by my daughter Maggie whose track record in picking Christmas CDs is pretty impressive. In 2008, she gave me a reissue of Lena Horne's phenomenal 1966 album that followed her 2007 gift of the most recent Christmas collection of from Miss Peggy Lee . There was a little bit of drama over the decision for this CD - her younger sister Josie had the number one pick of CDs this year and chose the Christmas CD that Maggie had her heart on. Unlike the various professional sports drafts, Maggie couldn't trade up. After some pouting and a mild fit (wonder if that ever happens in sports?), she selected the album you're looking at now. Back in 1990, I was still living in Illinois and desperately trying to find Christmas music for my annual tapes. In years past, I was content with Crosby singing "Do You Hear What I Hear?" but now I was looking for novelty and Christmas tunes ...

With eight days left before Christmas, I wanted to spend today looking at several new Christmas albums on the shelves this season - perhaps a last minute gift guide for those who love Christmas music. This is review number seven today and the third that arrived at my P.O. Box. A big thank you to Glenn Holmes from On Target Media for sending us this. My wife has been watching me come home as of late with packages from Kasio Kristmas and Verve Remixed and dozens of homemade Christmas comps from friends and others alike. Her quote was "When do you get the GOOD Christmas music?" The look on her face when I opened this package and this brand new Christmas CD fell out was one of total astonishment, joy, and excitement. She's a HUGE Amy Grant fan and I knew this was going to get played early and often on the CD boombox at my house. Amy Grant released her first Christmas album when she was the Queen of Christian radio back in 1983 with " A Christmas Album ...

All this week, I've been writing reviews for CDs that were sent to me at the P.O. Box. This one was sent last Christmas and I'm just finding time to write it up now. This is a crime because the good folks at Double Crown Records were kind enough to send me a copy of " Seasonal Favorites V1 " which I reviewed in January, 2007. What hurts even more is that both volumes are of choice (and I mean CHOICE) surf and garage Christmas tunes. I'm a sucker for surf guitar. Add Christmas and I could spontaneously combust. I have no explanation other than a brain tumor that made me pass on this CD for review. Time to make amends. TRACK REVIEWS: 1.) Pollo Del Mar - Carol Of The Bells The first half of this song is light rock then finishes fast with surf guitar... smooth intro into the CD. 2.) The Pete Curry Orchestra - Drums For Christmas Curry is the bassist for Los Straitjackets and his orchestra is just him playing all the instruments - virtuoso stuf...