A Christmas Yuleblog

Last Friday, our good friend Ernie (of the famed Ernie (not Bert) blog) reposted a share of a great album recorded in 1965 by Jimmie Davis , who in addition to being a fairly good country singer, was the bonafide, duly-elected Governor of the great state of Louisiana! I found this album at Laurie's Planet Of Sound in Chicago. I was extremely surprised to find it and never once paid attention to the background picture until I read the sticker placed directly next to the subtitle "Featuring the song "Forgive Me Santa". Someone on the staff of Planet of Sound wrote: "Forgive Me Santa - for hanging you with a ribbon!" As for the album, it was recorded in 1967 and features more of the same from ex-Gov. Davis - you can't get more old school Christmas country than this. In addition to the standard Christmas fare ("White Christmas", "Silver Bells", etc), Davis includes several new original songs. "Forgive Me Santa" ...

Last year, we shared out a great Christmas album (Jay Jay 1080) chock full of Polish Christmas songs and polkas by L'il Wally and his backing band The Harmony Boys. This album was discovered at Beverly Records in Chicago - one of the greatest vinyl stores left on the planet. Earlier this year, I raided Beverly Records' famed WALL of Christmas music and came up with another gem from Chicago's very own polka king! This album you're looking at was released a year or two earlier judging by the label numbers (Jay Jay 1026) and contains mostly Christmas standards with the full L'il Wally polka treatment. You've never lived until you've heard "Frosty", "Rudolph", and "Jingle Bells" with a polka beat! However, the tracks you really need to listen to are the original tunes. "Merry Christmas Mom And Dad", "How Lovely Is Christmas", and "Dance Around The Christmas Tree" all have that familiar polka...

It is no secret around here that I am not a kiddie Christmas type of guy. While other kids were listening to the Caroleers, Captain Kangaroo, and Peter Pan Christmas records, I was listening to a steady diet of easy listening Christmas music. Over the years, I have shared out a few kiddie Christmas titles that many of you have enjoyed (i.e. A Pink Panther Christmas , The Pac-Man Christmas Album ). Others I've posted because they struck me as odd (i.e. Alex Houston & Elmer , Irwin The Disco Duck ). This one I'm not sure what to think. First, we have the jaw-droppingly inhumane cartoon cover that shows two cops hauling poor St. Nick off to the slammer. Directly above Santa, we can see two kids wailing in agony over the fact that Santa is about to get strip-searched and booked. Add an evil nemesis directly from the Snidley Whiplash School of Villains wringing his hands in delight off to the side and the stage is set. As for the story, you can make up your own sce...

This second share for the 2009 Christmas downloading season is special in many ways. Let me explain. The origin of the album is my original hometown of Chicago - home of my beloved Cubs, deep dish pizza, and multi-ethnic neighborhoods that blend together seamlessly into one giant melting pot by Lake Michigan. The fact this album was performed by Chicago Swedes should come as no surprise. Another reason this album is special is because it's Swedish. Over the past several years, I've become friends with a fellow blogger/Christmas obsessive named Anna-Lena Lodenius . Hailing from Stockholm, Anna-Lena has been posting amazing Swedish Christmas fare at her blog Jul Igen - Christmas Again - be sure to visit and say hello! Hope you like this one Anna! The final reason why this album is special is because it allowed me to re-establish an old acquaintance from my days as a used CD store manager. If you lived in the south suburbs of Chicago back in the day, you knew there w...

Ta daaaaaaa! Here's is my very first share of the 2009 Christmas downloading season. While on a search and rescue mission earlier this year , I found this album in a thrift store on the north side of Chicago. It was the only Christmas album in the entire pile of albums (and with this economy, 50 cents ain't too shabby!). Released in 1956 on the Mercury label, Carlos Salzedo , a well-respected and renowned harpist of his time, plays 20 favorite Christmas carols ranging from "Adeste Fideles", "Jingle Bells", and "Silent Night". And as the cover states, they are in "Hi Fi", making the whole album THAT much more special! Salzedo was a child prodigy, composing his first piece of his at the tender age of five! His love of music is in full evidence here as many of these tracks are "Concert Variations on..." (code for his own arrangements of the songs). Many of these last under 1:15 - this is a quick but fun listen! Judge ...

Longtime readers of this blog will notice that comments haven't been popping up as fast as they once did in months past. That's because the Christmas season is here and the Xmas robots are out in force. These are the people responsible for insightful comments like "I love Christmas. Too. I love Christmas Cards. Get them at (WEBSITE LINK)." I reset the comments so that your comments must be approved by me before it gets to the blog. However, thanks to operator error, I've deleted quite a few REAL comments (do'hhhh!). So if you've posted a real comment here and you don't see it, feel free to post it again. I've got the "Publish / Reject" buttons all figured out now... thanks for understanding! Capt

The 2009 Christmas downloading season is under way. I'm saddened to learn that my friend Ernie (Not Bert) had a computer hard drive crash and burn (I feel your pain - same thing happened to me five years ago.) Don't fret - his collection is so huge that anything he posts is worth a first or second look. In my case, it's the 203rd look. Two days in and there are new releases all over the place. If you haven't bookmarked it yet, Santas Working Overtime does just that - finding all these new releases and highlighting them faster than any RSS feed can ever hope to do. During these same two days, I discovered that two albums I was preparing to share... were already shared out! The first is this amazing chestnut: Recorded in 1954, this 10" was the first full-length Christmas album for Messrs. Ferrante and Teicher. All of the eight songs on this album were later re-released on their " Adventures In Carols " album from 1956 (available to download...

Doris Day Marilyn Monroe Just wanted to sign on quickly to wish all of you a happy and safe Thanksgiving! Capt

What is today? Saturday... okay. I've lost track of time! For the past several weeks, a bunch of local Fort Wayne actors (myself included) have been furiously working on an upcoming Christmas production I had previously mentioned back in September. It's under two weeks now until we are in front of an audience and the whole production is beginning to gel. It's been an amazing process and the cast is having loads of fun getting this on its legs. I've been meaning to post some pictures that I took at rehearsal the other night... it SEEMS like it was the other night... Gee, a guy with a white beard and a kid sitting on his lap - I wonder what this could be all about? The staging of a large group sketch that leads off our show. Another staging of a musical number. Note another guy with a white beard in the center. Forgive the silhouetted foreground figure - he's the director and I couldn't very yell at him to stay out of the shot. During a rehears...

In addition to collecting Christmas music, I have collected nearly 1000 vintage Christmas ads over the years. Many of these include celebrities, radio, television, cigarettes, liquor, modern appliances, and the like. I will attempt every Friday from here until I run out, I will feature an ad from my collection. I invite you to add a fun comment, witticism, clever remark, or observation in the comments section provided. Any comments deemed worthy of repeating will be included into this entry where all the world will see it. In the last installment of this feature (see link above), I selected an ad from the 1920s because of its simple but elegant illustration and its dependence on its text to get its message across. Earlier this year, I came across a 1942 LIFE magazine and found several different wartime ads, Christmas ads, and Christmas wartime ads. But the one ad that struck me as the cleverest and funniest of the lot was this one from a once-popular whiskey brand. Between ...

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...

On September 21, 2009, I typed a blog entry that dropped a hint that I would be interested in reviewing new Christmas releases BEFORE December 25th. Indeed, I received four new Christmas releases that were sent to my P.O. Box by members of the music industry. Then the other shoe dropped. On October 5, 2009, the Federal Trade Commission issued new guidelines regarding the blogging community: "The long standing principle that "material connections" (sometimes payments or free products) between advertisers and endorsers – connections that consumers would not expect – must be disclosed." Failure to do so could mean fines up to $11,000 per post . I quickly called my lawyer (a genial fellow whose name I can't use - otherwise he'd sue me) and asked what I needed to do. He informed me these new FTC guidelines take effect December 1st of this year. All posts after this date will need a quick disclosure clause - no statement is needed on any prior posts. ...

Daylight savings time in the United States is coming to an end this year. It ends Sunday morning at 2 AM. Be sure to adjust all of your clocks before you go to bed tonight - remember fall back - an extra hour of sleep! Capt

In addition to collecting Christmas music, I have collected nearly 1000 vintage Christmas ads over the years. Many of these include celebrities, radio, television, cigarettes, liquor, modern appliances, and the like. I will attempt every Friday from here until I run out, I will feature an ad from my collection. I invite you to add a fun comment, witticism, clever remark, or observation in the comments section provided. Any comments deemed worthy of repeating will be included into this entry where all the world will see it. Several months ago, as I was attempting to complete the reorganization and cataloguing of all of my vintage Christmas ads, I visited Antiques on Broadway near downtown Fort Wayne. This shop usually has a gem or two to be unearthed. In the basement of the store sits a booth that contains three folding tables of vintage ads, all carefully organized and wrapped in plastic for your protection. Many was the time I browsed the table that contained "Christm...

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In addition to collecting Christmas music, I have collected nearly 1000 vintage Christmas ads over the years. Many of these include celebrities, radio, television, cigarettes, liquor, modern appliances, and the like. I will attempt every Friday from here until I run out, I will feature an ad from my collection. I invite you to add a fun comment, witticism, clever remark, or observation in the comments section provided. Any comments deemed worthy of repeating will be included into this entry where all the world will see it. I had many projects over the past summer. One was getting the remainder of my vintage LIFE, Look, Saturday Evening Post, Collier's, McCall's, and Ladies Home Journal magazines organized and cataloged. I reviewed each issue for Christmas ads I either had, forgot to add, or to find new ones I might have overlooked. I've also added to my collection of vintage magazines. When I opened a LIFE magazine dated December 12, 1938 I won at eBay, I was pl...

My thoughts exactly, Grommit! A few weeks ago, I posted an update that got quite a bit of response both online and off. More updates are in the works as well as reviews of several upcoming Christmas releases that arrived at my P.O. Box. However, there was one package that stood apart from the rest. There was no return address and no post office markings anywhere on the envelope. The presumably Pitney-Bowes label had no evidence of its origin. I could post a photo of it but after reading the cover letter, I won't. The cover letter was informative. The Times New Roman font was utilized, printed from MS Word (again presumably), and was left unsigned. I suppose I could go all "CSI" and dust for fingerprints and DNA while doing my best David Caruso impersonation but I won't. The text of the letter: " Hey Capt! Long time reader here - love the blog! You are putting on a Christmas play and I wish you have a great run! I've been involved in the...