This may come as a shock... but here is an album that I DIDN'T get from Ernie at his blog! Take a moment - let it sink in and we'll proceed...Several weeks ago, I celebrated my 37th birthday and a few of my family members gave me various gift cards to purchase Christmas CDs. They gave up trying to purchase Christmas CDs for me years ago - wonders why...
There were several Christmas CDs I wanted to choose... but there were several DVDs that I've had my eye on for quite some time. A good portion of the gift cards went for DVDs and what remained was used for two CDs. This is the first to arrive.
About two years ago, I was searching for a specific song (more on the song later) which led me to a fellow Christmas music collector who had it. It turns out it was from this very album. We quickly set up a trade and presto! I had the CD!
What I didn't have was the artwork - the trader didn't have a scanner. Luckily, I found a JPEG of the cover online and I had a temporary cover until I could get the full artwork scanned. During the past year, I've been trying to replace CD-R copies with the full Christmas CD and this is one of those upgrades.
Chances are if you live outside of the Broadway community of New York City, you're asking "Jamie who?"
Jamie deRoy is a cabaret performer / actress / singer / comedienne / record producer / TV talk show host. She has worked every club and cabaret in NYC and had her own TV talk show for 15 years. She has helped hundreds of struggling performers on the cabaret circuit that she is affectionately known as "The Fairy Godmother Of Cabaret" - how's that for a title?
Back in 1999, deRoy asked a few of her cabaret friends (Kathie Lee Gifford among them) to help her record an album. It was so well received they recorded a second album in 2000, and a Christmas album in 2001.
Standout tracks include Stephanie Pope's jazzy version of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town", a bluegrass-country version of "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" by KT Sullivan, and a truly demented song by Dee Hoty called "The Twelve Days After Christmas" featuring these opening lyrics:
The first day after Christmas my true love and I had a fight.
And so I chopped the pear tree down and burned it just for spite.
It goes downhill from there. But can you believe this wasn't the song I wanted the CD for?
No no... the winner of this CD is a 4 minute, 4 second version of "Santa Baby" done by one of the huskiest voiced actresses / singers around. She not only has acted in hundreds of movies since the 1950s, her voice has led her to be heard on both radio and TV commercials, even audio books. Are you pacing the floor in anticipation? Do you want to know who sings this song?
The one and only Sally Kellerman - the original Hot Lips from the movie "M*A*S*H*"!
Her singing borders on sing-talk but after 20 seconds, you don't feel a thing anymore. It's sultry and disturbing all at once. It turns you on... then off quickly. You have visions of an enchantress running through your mind only to open your eyes and discover it's your Aunt Claudia warbling the second stanza of "The Star Spangled Banner".
Man, I love that kind of stuff! Thank you Ms. Kellerman, wherever you are!
At times, this CD borders on "too Broadway-ish" - you can hear some singers flashing the jazz hands as they reach for the big finish. However, the good outweighs the bad in this instance and this is quite a fun Christmas CD. Probably the perfect "we'll put on a show, over-the-top, big finish" Christmas CD you'll ever hear.
On to the next new Christmas CD in my collection...
Capt
