Christmas Music 2007, Part 3--"Randi the Handi Elf," "My First Christmas Tree," "Kringle's Jingle," "Peppermint Lane;" more!

Wow. I just googled "Randi the Handi Elf," and three entire matches came up--all by me. I must be the only person who knows about this thing. Or, more likely, the only person who's ever commented on-line about it.

This is a track with "MY(P)WHAE" written all over it. (Took me months to remove it.) I featured this last year, but not (oddly enough) the year before. Yet, I had it in 2005. Why didn't I put it up?

This question will echo forever in the vast, dusty halls of Things That Don't Matter.

And we've got some great stuff from the Royale Concert Orch., including two versions of Jingle Bells (from the same side of the same LP, no less). I'd intended to label them as 1 and 2, but I forgot. However, I accidentally labeled the first as by the "RCCO," so there's your clue as to which is which.

1975's Silver Spurs is the story of Santa's smallest elf--we get to hear the story and the song. I don't have the book that came with the record, but you can buy it at eBay for, respectively, $69.99 or $120.00. The latter is signed.

Best bet: ABE Books, where there are presently 32 copies, most a lot cheaper than the above. No doubt, a lot of folks will be rushing to the site to buy one, so act now.

It's Christmas Again, Peppermint Lane, and If I Were Santa Claus were penned by Mary Peacock (that's her on the piano) for an annual Moorestown, NJ holiday celebration. Mary died in 2003 at the age of 98. Her obit notes that she "worked in radio in its early days and went on to be listed in the International Who's Who in Music." Cool. The performers are The Music Department of the Woman's Club of Moorestown, as directed by Jill Boswell.I found this cool 45 rpm EP in a Columbus, Ohio thrift and first featured it last year.

All these, plus six more titles. What a deal, no?

To the zip file: Christmas Music 2007, Part 3.

SLEIGHLIST

JINGLE BELLS 1--Royale Concert Orchestra
TOYLAND--RCO
MARCH OF TOYS (sic)--RCO
JINGLE BELLS 2--RCO
SILVER SPURS: A CHRISTMAS STORY (Robert Knigge)--Narr. by Dr. Dwayne Jorgenson, 1975.
SILVER SPURS: A CHRISTMAS SONG (Betty Knigge)--Vocal: Keith Lester, 1975.
RANDI THE HANDI ELF (Dan Marshall)--Dan Marshall and Tommy's Chorus.
IT'S CHRISTMAS AGAIN--PEPPERMINT LANE--IF I WERE SANTA CLAUS (Peacock)--Music Department of the Woman's Club of Moorestown, directed by Jill Boswell. Mary Peacock on piano.
SANTA CLAUS IS HERE AGAIN--Lennon Sisters w. Lawrence Welk, 1956.
THE STINGIEST MAN IN TOWN--The Four Lads, 1956.
MY FIRST CHRISTMAS TREE--From Merry Christmas! (Treasure TLP 824).
CHRISTMAS (a.k.a. C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S) (Carson-Arnold), The Lewis Family, 1981.
KRINGLE'S JINGLE (Griffin)--Ken Griffin, organ, 1955.
PARADE OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS--Ray Bohr, organ, 1956.



Lee

Christmas Music 2007, Part 2--The Treasure Xmas Carolers and Orch., Larry Cartell, Santa's Helpers; more!

The four kitties curled up on the chair happen to be Sneaky Pie, Bill, Tucker, and Toughie. As you can see, they couldn't be more excited about the playlist sleighlist we're about to hear.

Of course, this isn't really my second Xmas sleighlist for the year--more like the seventh. But I simply can't let Nov. 25's "Christmas Music 2007, Part 1" die without a sequel, and so, Part 2 it is. This will be followed by Part 3.

You can't accuse this blog of operating without a plan.

For Ernie, we have the Sauter-Finegan Orch.'s 1952 recording of Midnight Sleighride (which happens to be Troika from Sergei Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kije Suite). And we have two from the bargain-basement Treasure label--on a 45, no less. (I've seen their LPs all over the place, but never a single until this find). Dig the way the recording speed catches up during the first second or so of Deck the Halls.

And there are delightful instrumental tracks from the Ultraphonic/Golden Tone/Rondo-lette Christmas Music for the Winter Season. Well... that's what they call it on the jacket. By contrast, the label reads An Hour of Christmas Orchestral Music. All three outfits (Ultraphonic, Golden Tone, and Rondo-lette) are listed on this one issue--same guys, needless to say. At first, I thought someone had stuck the wrong record in the jacket, but the catalog numbers match (51500).

Besides, what would constitute the wrong record in this case? (Update: Four labels are listed on this one issue, seeing as how the tracks are credited to The Royale Orchestra.)

From a Statler Records LP called Dance to the Music, we've got a version of the Nut Rocker, mistitled Parade of the Wooden Soldier Rock. Needless to say, Statler was confusing Tchaikovsky with Leon Jessel. They meant March of the Toy Soldiers, the Nutcracker Suite selection that Nut Rocker was based on.

And I just confused myself so thoroughly, I think I'll step outside for some air. (Oops. Wait a minute--it's snowing.) Never mind.

From Santa's Helpers (on the ultra-cheap Design label), we have All I Want for Christmas, a Chipmunk-style Jingle Bells, and Dicken's (sic) Christmas Carol, the original version of which I found someplace, though I can't remember on what label (Cricket, possibly). Otherwise, I could tell you who's on it. It wasn't "Santa's Helpers."

And we've got a couple of 78 selections AND the return of Larry Cartell's Cowboy Santa, from the 1968 Girl in Gold Boots soundtrack.

I've always wanted to type "from the 1968 Girl in Gold Boots soundtrack."

Presented in a zip file for your convenience: Christmas Music 2007, Part 2.

SLEIGHLIST

Midnight Sleighride (Prokofiev)--Sauter-Finegan Orch., 1952.
Deck the Halls--Treasure Xmas Carolers and Orch.
O Come All Ye Faithful--Treasure Xmas Carolers and Orch.
Boogie Woogie Santa Claus--Patti Page, 1950.
Parade of the Wooden Soldier Rock--Statler Records No. 1169.
Holy Night (A. Adam)--Even Williams, tenor, 1923.
Memories of Christmas--Prince's O., contralto solo, male quartette, 1918.
Dicken's (sic) Christmas Carol--Santa's Helpers
All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth--Santa's Helpers
Jingle Bells--Santa's Helpers
Jingle Bells--Obernkirchen Children's Choir
Cowboy Santa--Larry Cartell, 1968?
March of the Toys--Ron Oliver (Renato de Oliveira), c. 1956.
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town--Royale Concert Orch.
Toyland--Royale Concert Orch.


Soon: Part 3!



Lee

The Nashville Banjos Got Stuck in the Elevator--"Christmas Classics"

Christmas Classics (a.k.a. Christmas Album), released in 1975 on Power Pak, was destined to show up 32 years later in a local Goodwill for yours truly.

Well, the jacket says 1975--the label says 1974. Meaning that Power Pak couldn't agree on the name or the year of this collection. (No one's perfect.)

Power Pak belonged to Gusto Records, which owned (or still owns?) material recorded for Starday and King and I forget which else. I'm sure the label history is an easy Google check away.

This is my first time zipping a file PRIOR to uploading it, so be sure to let me know if it doesn't work. Downloading worked fine for me, so we'll see. Said Lee.

Oh, and it's a zip file.

This collection is from 1975, though it could be older stuff--dunno. Needless to say, this is not the original Bobby Helms Jingle Bell Rock, but there's only one of those, after all. Dee Mullins' I Remember Bethlehem is strange (and my favorite of the bunch--coincidence?), Vic Jordan's banjo rendition of Little Drummer Boy is fun, The Nashville Pianos' (!) version of The Christmas Song is nice (and I don't even like the tune), and The Nashville Sax's version of Here Comes Santa Claus is delightfully mid-seventies country. And I've always wanted to type that, of course.

Delightfully mid-seventies country. Ahhh.

All of the tracks are the best kind of pop-country. Nashville elevator music, really. And there's nothing wrong with elevator music, at least when it's this expertly done.

And there's the Nashville Harmonica, and the Nashville Vibes, and Jeannie and Al. Pull up to the Christmas tree and sit a spell....

Click here to link to: Christmas Classics (Power Pak PO-507; 1975)

SLEIGHLIST

Jingle Bell Rock--Bobby Helms
Remember Bethelehem--Dee Mullins
Here Comes Santa Claus--Nashville Sax, feat. Jerry Tuttle
Little Drummer Boy--Nashville Banjos, feat. Vic Jordan
Silver Bells--Nashville Vibes, feat. Don Tweedy
Winter Wonderland--Jeannie and Al
White Christmas--Jimmy Griggs
Oh Little Town of Bethlehem--Nashville Steel Guitars, feat. Jim Baker
The Christmas Song--The Nashville Pianos, feat. Willie Rainsford
Blue Christmas--Little Roy Wiggins
Silent Night--The Nashville Harmonica, feat. Randy Charles
Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree--Nashville Guitars, feat. Dale Sellers.



Lee

RapidShare

I've spent an hour or more trying to figure out how to make a zip file at RapidShare. In vain. (Wah!) Whoever knows the secret to zipping my files (or, for that matter, getting them uploaded in the first place without 6 out of 10 vanishing), please let me know. (Ernie?)

It took me minutes apiece to learn the basics of SaveFile, 4Shared, and Box, but RS is a study in getting nowhere. I suppose it's possible that the free service has no zip option?

Maybe RS doesn't like me (especially now that I've bad-mouthed it), or vice versa. Anyway, any help will be appreciated.


Lee

Sohio ET #64--Eleven radio ad spots

Ads for Sohio (Standard Oil of Ohio), courtesy of the Cleveland Recording Company. Note that the first spot starts out low in volume but quickly picks up. I found this radio station acetate at a Volunteers of America several years ago in our nearest big city. "HiFidelity" is debatable, but the ads are lots of early-Sixties-style fun.

Click here to reach the mp3 Sohio ET #64.

Ignore all non-Sohio ads on page....



Lee

A new weekly post: Let's Talk the F-word (Faith)

Every week, from now on, I'll be writing a post called Let's Talk the F-word (Faith). Only the subtitles will change to protect the subject flow, depending on the topic.

And I have no idea what "subject flow" means, so asking me will get you nowhere.

This Sunday's essay is up at MW(P)WHAE Text: It's O.K. to Believe in Invisible Beings, But Only If You're Arianna. Basically, you can read the title and get the point, but the text is pretty fun, if I don't say so myself.

It's all about the charming habit on the part of some progressives to bash the living you-know-what out of evangelical Christians for (among other crimes) believing in a higher power. And, presumably because such darlings get bored bashing evangelicals only, they tend to expand their insult-athon to the entire Christian community for that same--and for other--crimes against NPR.

So, of course, we can be certain that they, themselves don't believe in any higher power, do they? Right?

Welllllll... no. A lot of them do, actually. Arianna "I'll do anything to get readers" Huffington, for instance.

So, how do HBO-sters justify bashing others for believing something they, themselves, believe? Simple--they don't!

Some might suggest that Huffington herself isn't bashing faith, just giving occasional space to those who do. I have two problems with that. 1) It's her site, meaning she (presumably) wrote the editorial policies. And 2), in an essay I link to, Huffington shamelessly plays to the common progressive prejudices against organized (read: conventional, middle-class) religion as fear-based. I.e., as fueled by a fear of the ol' eternal flames. In short, she's as ignorant on the topic of religion as richard dawkins. And so I include her with the faith-bashers. Call her an abettor. But don't call her late for her make-up call.


Lee

Christmas By Lee!

Here are some of my Christmas friends saying "hi!" (above). I have many plastic Christmas friends, but not as many as I used to. Once, I had three containers' full--now, I only have one. You'll notice they're all smiling and mugging for the camera as if afraid they'll otherwise be the next to go. I keep assuring them that's not the case. "That's what you told the last group," said Santa on the right. Hm. Maybe I did. Anyway....

All were thrift finds, by the way, except possibly the Frosty.

They'll are excited about Christmas By Lee, the name of the folder I'm about to direct you to. It contains my Stairway to Yuletide (wherein Tchaikovsky is crammed into the cliche chords of Led Zepp); my Napoleon XIV rip-off (er, tribute) called Christmas Is Coming Again, Ha-Haaa!!; and my six-part Yuletide Suite of last year. I used Noteworthy Composer® on/for all.

Oh, and there's Godzilla vs. Christmas, a bit I wrote and recorded in 2006, and which another blog described as "almost funny." (Better than bombing completely, I suppose.) It's an answer to the all the "war against Christmas" nonsense, which I guess Bill O'Reilly is trying to revive (re-revive) as we speak.

Enjoy!

Click here to reach Christmas By Lee.

SLEIGHLIST

STAIRWAY TO YULETIDE (2006)

CHRISTMAS IS COMING AGAIN, HA-HAAA!! (2006)

YULETIDE SUITE (2006; in six parts): Christmas Is Coming/So Is Winter/Winter Storm/The Yuletide Rag/Lovely Weather; Return of Storm/New Year's Eve

GODZILLA VS. CHRISTMAS (2006)



Hm... I noticed a pattern there, year-wise.



Lee