Callista Cassady: Videos

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Christabel & The Jons - The Christmas Album (A TWO-FOR-ONE REVIEW)

Received an interesting package at the PO 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 Ramblers, The Wilders, and Loudon Wainwright.

TRACK REVIEWS:

1.) Best Kind of Friend
Original Christmas song written by the lead singer - it's a great showcase for the band's Tennessee swing sound and Christa's amazing sultry voice.

2.) Winter Wonderland
The pedal steel guitar by Brock Henderson gives this one a island feeling which goes well with the overall band sound. Seth's trumpet solo made me laugh out loud!

3.) The Christmas Song
Very straightforward version of this classic. Nicely done.

4.) It Won't Cool Off

I've never heard of anyone covering this old Dean Martin classic until now. Kudos to the song selectors - this one's flat out perfect!

5.) I'd Like You For Christmas

More kudos to whomever chose this song. Written by Bobby Troup ("Route 66") for his wife Julie London, no one ever dared covering this song. Another outstanding song!

6.) What Will Santa Claus Say?

Even more kudos to the person who picked this Prima pasterpiece (okay, I stretched). If Louis Prima was from Tennessee, I'd imaging his Christmas song would sound like this. Great, great, great!

7.) Christmas Island

More pedal steel guitar, Seth's great ukulele, Christa and the band's amazing vocals on this track make this one remarkable.

8.) Santa Baby

Another great version of a Christmas classic. More on this one later.

9.) Baby It's Cold Outside

The interplay between Christa and Andy Bean of the Two Man Gentleman Band adds a special Tennessee touch to this song. Very nice.

10.) Christmas In Prison

I'm admittedly not a fan of this song but this John Prine song given the full CB & J treatment makes it one to listen for.

11.) Silent Night

A very distinctive version that will make you re-listen to this one three or four times. I enjoyed this quite a bit.

12.) Christmas Time Is Here
What better way to go out on than with Vince Guaraldi? Seth and the band reworks the Guaraldi sound to their advantage - I'm a fan of this band's sound.

After I had heard this album for the 19th time, I was inviting all of my friends out to The Brass Rail on December 3rd. Not many wanted to come fearing the bar's former reputation. But owners John Commorato Jr and Corey Rader have done a great job transforming the former dive bar into an alternative band showcase since 2007.

The show started at 10 PM with local band Buffalo Jump playing a lively, 45 minute set before CB & J took the stage. No Christmas songs from Buffalo Jump but I definitely enjoyed the song about the Brass Rail.

Christabel and The Jons took the stage to set up - down time, a chance to get another drink, visit the restroom, or a quick smoke for those so inclined. We waited. And waited. And waited.

Seems the band had difficulty setting up their synthesizer and electric guitar hooked up - many of the effects they showcased on the Christmas album wouldn't be available for the show.

After 45 minutes, the band started with several of their non-Christmas songs that quickly won the Fort Wayne crowd over. Their sound was fast, impactful, and full of swing that you couldn't help tap your toes and sway to the rhythm.

First Christmas song of the night: "Merry Christmas Baby", a song that wasn't featured on their album. From where I was positioned in the back of the bar, I failed to capture it on my cell phone camera.

However, not wanting to make the same mistake twice, I moved up into the crowd and closer the stage:

Other Christmas songs played were "Best Kind of Friend", "Blue Christmas", and "Winter Wonderland". The rest of their amazing two hour set (yeah, these guys wailed) was more of their patented Tennessee swing.

Around 1 AM (this stay-at-home dad's eyes were bleary), I made my way up to the band members and thanked them for an amazing show and an even more amazing Christmas album. Seth, Christa, and Jon (who was about as tired as me when I caught him out dragging a butt) were personable and charming throughout.

This band has one of the best Christmas albums of the 2010 season.

Their other album that I bought at the show - "Custom Made For You" - has won some airtime on my boombox here at my home. It's the first non-Christmas album to do that in December in about fourteen years.

Not digitally dead yet at the ol' yuleblog...

Capt

It's A YouTube Christmas - Pt. 16

Some of these came from the excellent compilations entitled "Hey Folks! It's Intermission Time" from Something Weird Video - there are some amazing ads on here if you like these sort of nostalgia.

What do you think?

Capt

It's A YouTube Christmas - Pt. 15

This mammoth display used to hang off the Wolf & Dessauer department store in downtown Fort Wayne eons ago and was rescued from the trash bin two decades ago - click on the links for more info.

Our next clip is from The Chorus of Fort Wayne, a gay men's chorus that puts a unique spin into their Christmas show. Anyone got a white polyester suit?:

What can I say? If it's Christmas disco, I'm there. The Chorus of Fort Wayne has a website so if you enjoyed the video, drop them a line!

And now, a word from our sponsor:

Russ Moore Transmissions have been rebuilding Fort Wayne's motors since 1955 and have provided many amusing TV commercials over those many long years.

Amazingly, a good majority of these commercials have been posted online for your viewing enjoyment. FYI - the bumbling mechanic in many of these videos (and in Russ Moore's avatar) is my friend Thom Hofrichter, the head of First Presbyterian Theater where I volunteer my time to help them (and my best pal Joel).

This final clip I was thrilled to find on YouTube. If I were to grab my trusty Boy Scout compass, walk out my front door, and start heading directly northwest for about 1/2 mile, I would run directly into this house:

The Mazocks have been dazzling their neighborhood for several years. Six weeks before Thanksgiving every year, these folks hang an estimated 24,000 lights on their house, bushes, trees, basketball court, and driveway. Even the trees 200 feet away from their home in the backyard don't escape decoration.

By the time they flip the switch, they have a state-of-the-art, 200-amp outdoor power board with 32 plug-ins and an electric bill at Christmas time $250 higher than average.

And they don't stop there. As the cars drive by slowly, you'll notice one of the family members sitting on the driveway as Santa Claus welcoming well-wishers and posing for pictures. You can have your "Wizards of Winter" homes and flashy light-shows... the Mazocks celebrate Christmas, period.

We drove by the house a week ago and I noticed that the house directly next door is on the market. Can you imagine the amount of Christmas energy that would flow from that subdivision if I decided to purchase that home?

Honey??? A Happy Fort Wayne Christmas to one and all...

Capt

Capt's Writings, Fort Wayne, Videos, YouTube |

Heino - A Festive German Christmas

Heino is the most successful German folk (Volksmusik) singer of all times. His characteristics are the blond hair, the omnipresent dark shades and the clear, baritone singing voice.

He has sold more than 30 million records in the last 30 years and has become one of the most beloved and famous persons in the German speaking part of the world (98% of all Germans know him - only surpassed by Chancellor Helmut Kohl - 99%).

This album was released in 1969 and it's an epic. Side one is one gigantic Christmas medley (nineteen songs - nineteen minutes in length, all in German!). Side two is a collection of religious Christmas songs (all in German again).

Heino - A Festive German Christmas

If you're not a big fan of Christmas carols, religious Christmas songs, but still want your Heino for Christmas, then this video is for you - all 23 minutes of it! Thanks to Anna-Lena Lodenius for finding this:

The Blonde One reportedly went on a farewell tour recently so who knows if we've seen or heard the last from him.

Glückliches Hören… (aka Happy listening...)

Capt

Christmas, Christmas Music, Heino, Videos, YouTube |

It's A YouTube Christmas - Pt. 14

Jimmy Kimmel gave us this parody a few years back. Scientology, anyone?:

The cast of "Scrubs" originally did this parody for their year-end cast Christmas party. It was so well received that it made it to YouTube:

This final parody came from the mind of Denis Leary. You've been warned...

Good grief...

What do you think?

Capt

The Nightmare Before Christmas - GUEST REVIEW

My friend Scott Marks has been gracious to lend me several of his Christmas movie reviews from his amazing website Emulsion Compulsion.

If you haven't visited his site for some thoroughly honest movie reviews, commentary, and image vaults to die for (including a bunch of Christmas related stuff), take a moment to head over this his site and surf - you'll be there for at least 20 minutes max.

For his final review, Scott chose a movie that was being shown in 3-D at the time and is one of my personal... umm... let me just post the review and let my opinion fall by the wayside:

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Directed by: Henry Selick
Written by: Tim Burton & Michael McDowell
Cast: Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon, Catherine O’Hara, William Hickey, Glenn Shadix, Paul Reubens, Ken Page, Edward Ivory, Susan McBride, Debi Durst, Greg Proops, Kerry Katz, Randy Crenshaw, Sherwood Ball, Carmen Twillie
Aspect Ratio: 1.66 : 1
Running Time: 76 min.

Rating:

Rod Serling didn't known it at the time, but when he spoke about finding another dimension by turning a key and unlocking the door of imagination he was directly addressing the current state of film exhibition.

I have seen the future of movies and it is 3-D... I hope.

The depth expanding novelty process, which has been around since the twenties, saw it's greatest rise in popularity during the Fifties when it was dusted off as a means to combat the onslaught of television. With the exception of Hitchcock's "Dial 'M' for Murder", no other stereoscopic film bothered to utilize depth as a means of storytelling. Everybody just wanted to test the limits of those uncomfortable cardboard glasses.

Arguably, the single greatest exponents of 3-D gimmickry were the Three Stooges. With all the pies and fingers aimed at the lenses there was little time left to stop and savor narrative and textural nuance.

Cost and public indifference brought a quick end to the vogue. Originally it took two interlocked projectors rigged with polarized lenses that were offset by approximately three-inches to bring 3-D to the screen. Theaters had to be refitted with expensive silver screens and doubling the prints meant doubling the shipping costs.

Barely on life support in the Sixties, 3-D experienced a minor revival over the next two decades. By now polarized lenses had all but vanquished their blue and red predecessors. The new single-strip process looked better than ever and, positioned at the dawn of sequelitis, found steady employment in third-part installments of horror films. ("Jaws 3-D", "Friday the 13th Part III" and "Amityville 3-D".)

(CAPT'S NOTE: Don't forget "Comin' At Ya!" from 1981 - first 3-D movie I ever saw)

Ultimately, 70mm killed 3-D as well as Cinerama. Audiences didn't have to endure tri-panel seams, nose-creasing glasses or higher ticket prices. Oddly enough, the sharper image resolution wasn't what gave the film stock its celebrity, but the fuller range of stereophonic sound.

Too costly to shoot in the wide-gauge process, for a period Hollywood was ordering 70mm blow-ups on every fifth picture slated for release. As much as I adore "Gremlins 2", even I was stunned to see it in the grandeur of 70mm. With the advent of digital sound, 70mm was put on the disabled list.

Not until IMAX combined 70mm and stereoscopic cinematography had the potential for worldwide acceptance shown such promise. Glasses were now replaced by helmets equipped with polarized visors and tiny speakers that sat behind your ears assuring optimum stereophonic separation.

Attempts to incorporate narrative into the otherwise flaccid Disney-esque nature documentaries proved fruitless. The domed dinosaur that sits in Balboa Park is a far cry from what came to be known as the IMAX Experience. The closest San Diego comes to true IMAX exhibition is up the road a piece in Irvine.

The IMAX thrill quickly came and went, until now. The brainiacs at Industrial Light and Magic devised a way in which any 2-D film can be digitally catapulted into the third-dimension. It is expensive and time consuming, but the results are staggering.

The original 2-D negative is scanned into a computer and digitally spruced up. Coming up with the second strip was a laborious process as Nightmare producer Don Hahn explained in an interview with animationartist.com: "If you want to see the original version, you just look with your left eye. But then we have to create a whole right eye version... and that's done by rebuilding the whole movie as a digital picture. In other words, if you have a shot of Jack Skellington, you have to build Jack, and you have to build the background behind him, his house and the snow, or whatever is behind him in a digital world. And then we project a movie on to that digital geometry and then move the digital camera over to the right and re-photograph that for the right eye version."

You still have to wear glasses, but Disney has thankfully devised lightweight and comfortable, if not aggressively unfashionable, lenses.

With its surplus of musical numbers and paucity of plot, I confess to not being a fan of the original Goth-approved Nightmare. In 3-D it's a revelation. The studio promises at least one film a year will be converted to 3-D. I vote for a deep-focus enhancement of "Bambi's" Multiplane Camera pyrotechnics. If not a Disney feature, why not one that influenced Uncle Walt like "Triumph of the Will"?

- - Merry Christmas to everyone and Happy Hannukah to all my Jewish friends. Scott Marks

Thanks Scott for this fantastic review! I hate this film and I think Tim Burton is a totally overrated director who can't tell a good story because the dark themes or special effects backing him up get in the way ("Ed Wood" was the lone exception).

Capt

It's A YouTube Christmas - Pt. 12

I had heard about this sketch many times but until today, I had never seen it before. God bless us, one and all...

What do you think?

CrimsonCrow says: I love that man!

Any other opinions?

Capt

It's A YouTube Christmas - Pt. 11

From time to time this Christmas season, I'll be posting some amazing videos that have been rescued by people like us and posted at the mecca of all things wonderful and obscure - YouTube.

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.

Back in 1977, Twentieth Century Fox haggled with George Lucas concerning his "science movie" - the studio heads derisive nickname for "Star Wars". In the process, Fox gave away the merchandising rights to Lucas and barely promoted the film. We all know what a bum decision that turned out to be.

"Star Wars" and Christmas became synonymous in 1978 when Lucas gave his blessing to the Star Wars Holiday Special with Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher (who later admitted she was stoned for most of the taping), and guest stars Art Carney and Bea Arthur. We all know what a bum decision that turned out to be as well.

During my searches on YouTube, I came across this 1977 Bob Hope Christmas Special that might be the first tie-in with Christmas and "Star Wars".

Hope presents his parody called "Scar Wars" (I wanna tell ya...) and features Olivia Newton-John in the Leia role, Perry Como as a very relaxed astronaut, and Hope as evil baddie Barf Vader who kidnapped Santa.

You'll have to endure about 7:25 of these three - cracking one-liners, mangling songs, and breaking up over themselves. It's hard to believe this is the type of television we grew up on.

At the 7:25 mark, we cue Mark. As in Hamill. Bounding into the shot dressed in full Luke Skywalker gear, he calls on the Force to end the skit. Total time Mark's on screen? 35 seconds.

Bet George Lucas had used his Force concerning his beloved character of Luke Skywalker. Not even the power of Bob Hope could squeeze more airtime out of George.

What do you think?

Jeffco.Productions says: Wow. That was bad. Real bad. Real, real bad. Ouch.

HMcNally says: For a moment, I thought Bob Hope said, "I'm the pimp." Now that's funny!

Any other opinions?

Capt

Amy Grant - The Christmas Collection

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". Several years later when she went mainstream, she released "Home For Christmas" in 1992. Then in 1998, we were treated with "A Christmas To Remember".

Now a fourth Christmas collection?

To quote Amy in her liner notes: "In The Christmas Collection, I've chosen my favorite songs from my earlier projects and added four new recordings." Aha! Those four new songs are:

TRACK REVIEWS:

1.) Jingle Bells (Track 1)
A remake of Barbra Streisand's classic arrangement right down to Bab's vocal inflections. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery never sounded so good.

2.) I Need A Silent Night (Track 3)
A great Christmas song that asks pertinent questions about the lost message of Christmas (fast forward to 0:35):

3.) Baby It's Christmas (Track 5)
Written with husband Vince Gill (who plays guitar = bonus), this is a perfect "end of a Christmas day" song, full of the exhaustion and wonderment only these weeks before Christmas can bring.

4.) Count Your Blessings (Track 7)
With the London Session Orchestra behind her, Amy sings Bing's song from the 1954 Irving Berlin movie "White Christmas". Lush and majestic.

If you don't own anything Christmas related by Amy Grant, this CD is a great collection for your archives. The four new Christmas songs are definite highlights - especially "I Need A Silent Night".

This one got my wife's endorsement - what more do you need?

Capt

Kasio Kristmas

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 my fifth review of today and the first CD that was sent to our P.O. Box earlier this month.

It arrived in a bubble mailer with very sloppy handwriting for the addresses which I found odd. When I opened it up, out slid an entirely black CD with this very cryptic message:

Since then, there's been an oversized white truck parked outside my house from time to time. What have I gotten myself into here?

The inside cover tells us only Casio instruments were used in this recording. For those technical people reading, their arsenal includes the SK-5, SK-1, VA-10, VL-Tone, Rapman, EP-10, PT-87, CZ-1, SA-21, TA-10, DH-100, Turbo Drive Calculator, Karate Fight, CG-610, DG-20, and PG-380 (no relation to PG-13 at the theaters - throwing out my bad pun book).

The 8-bit Peoples released a Christmas album a few years back that used old computer systems to produce Christmas music. However, the Kasio guys really improved on that theme with this album. The end result is a Christmas album that must be heard to be believed.

To that end, I found several YouTube videos that give you snippets of what their music is like. The visuals are something out of "Yo Gabba Gabba" that I watch with my kids now and then.

Some things just can't be explained...

Amazon.com is reporting at present that this CD is out of stock but you can still download the full album. You might want to check Kasio Kristmas' MySpace page for more info and extended listens.

Thanks for sending us the CD fellas and in the future, you might want to put a full return address on ... excuse me, there's a knock at the door...

Capt

It's A YouTube Christmas - Pt. 10

And anything that involves Christmas and Louis Prima is fine by me!

Capt

Kristin Chenoweth - A Lovely Way To Spend Christmas

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 my third review this morning and thanks to my friends at First Presbyterian Theater, I never would have known who Kristin Chenoweth was.

A veteran of many Broadway musicals including "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" and "Wicked", TV series, Old Navy commericials, and one miserable Christmas movie called "Deck The Halls" (what were you thinking?), Kristin stands barely 4' 11" but has an incredible voice that booms from her small frame.

That voice and Christmas music were destined to meet. "A Lovely Way To Spend Christmas" indeed!

Kristin's voice is so versatile - she can sing a lovely ballad like "I'll Be Home For Christmas" or "The Christmas Waltz", have some giddy fun with "Christmas Island", and give solemn carols like "What Child Is This?" majesty and solemnity.

This alone would give you a good Christmas CD but Kristin throws in some surprises. Her duet with John Pizzarelli on "Sleigh Ride / Marshmallow World" is brilliant, her cover of Peabo Bryson's "Born On Christmas Day" is remarkable, and "Come On Ring Those Bells" is a surprisingly good country Christmas delight.

Two songs of special mention: I grew up with "Sesame Street" and was introduced to The Carpenters' through the Joe Raposo song "Sing". It was great to hear again but it's not a Christmas song.

The other song is "Sleep Well Little Children / What A Wonderful World" - yep, someone's trying to take Louis Armstrong's great song and transform it into Christmas.

Memo to Sony Records (who aren't sharing their YouTube videos for this album): no matter how many lush strings you throw at us, no matter what extra song you tack on at the beginning, or even getting someone as talented as Kristin to sing it for you, you are not turning "What A Wonderful World" into a Christmas song. Brutal.

Despite that, this is a great Christmas album in large part to Chenoweth's take on the material - her refreshing voice and style is so good even Sony can't screw it up (much).

With that in mind, here's a video of Kristin at this year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade singing "The Christmas Waltz" to a bunch of ice-skating Care Bears (another Sony masterstroke):

Shout-out to all the theater people at FPT - they're in the middle of their annual run of "It's A Wonderful Life" right now. See some of you at the wrap party!

Capt

Tony Bennett (featuring The Count Basie Orchestra) - A Swingin' Christmas

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.

We start with Tony Bennett's new Christmas album with the Count Basie Orchestra.

"Snowfall: The Tony Bennett Christmas Album" is required for any Christmas music enthusiast's collection (novice to expert). I purchased this album at the beginning of the 2008 Christmas season and after much, MUCH airplay on my CD boombox, I'm convinced this one should be mandatory as well.

New swingin' renditions with the Basie sound of "I'll Be Home For Christmas", "Winter Wonderland", and "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" are definite highlights. The duet between father and daughter (Antonia Bennett) on "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm" is fun, bouncy, and full of warmth - no surprise there.

Even at the tender age of 82, Tony's voice has no problems with the slower ballads like "Silver Bells", Vince Guaraldi's "Christmas Time Is Here", and "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas".

This brings us to the best track on the CD - "O Christmas Tree". One solo piano and a solo legendary voice. It's stirring, moving, and conveys more Christmas feeling in 3:27 than most artists do in an entire CD.

For the record, I don't consider "My Favorite Things" a Christmas song but as I'm getting older, I'm learning to appreciate it more during this time of year.

It's doesn't hurt that Tony's version swings either...

Capt

It's A YouTube Christmas - Pt. 9

Why is there a ghostly image of Frank Sinatra and Johnny Carson on the paused screen? This was taped off Johnny's 15th anniversary show and the clip immediately after the Christmas skit is with the pair. Watch for a surprise visit from Mr. Warmth Don Rickles!

What do you think?

Stubby says: What do I think? I think that first skit should have been on the DVD. It wasn't.

Any other opinions?

Capt

Robert Maxwell & His Harp - 40 All-Time Christmas Favorites

This was a from a lot of Christmas records I purchased from a Canadian dealer off eBay earlier this year.

Robert Maxwell was a songwriter (he wrote "Ebb Tide") and harpist innovator. This was a man who wired his harp into a light display back in the late 1950s for club appearances and was considered in the same light as Ferrante & Teicher in the way he produced sound from the harp.

Maxwell composed a number of songs and instrumental pieces, including the exotica standard, "Ebb Tide," and "Shangri-La," which gave him a Top 40 hit in 1964 after Jackie Gleason began using it on his variety show - a mere 18 years after Maxwell first composed it!

Another of Maxwell's pseudonyms is familiar to any fans of "The Ernie Kovacs Show": The Nairobi Trio. Maxwell wrote "Solfeggio: The Song of the Nairobi Trio," which played along with the recurring bit about the trio of mechanical monkey musicians.

I had been looking for a Christmas album by Maxwell and just about gave up hope when this 1958 Canada-only album came along. 40 Christmas tunes on one album? WOW!

Eight medleys (four on each side). One solo harp. It sound deadly but Maxwell's playing draws you into the web and you're hooked. It's a stimulating album.

Robert Maxwell & His Harp - 40 All-Time Christmas Favorites

Happy listening...

Capt

It's a YouTube Christmas - Pt. 8

From time to time this upcoming Christmas season, I'll be posting some amazing videos that have been rescued by people like us and posted at the mecca of all things wonderful and obscure - YouTube.

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.

We're barely into the second week of December and believe it or not, the Post Office is giving you important deadlines. Tomorrow marks the last day to mail military and international packages around the world if you want it guaranteed to be delivered by December 25.

In that spirit (and the fact that I have to deliver two such packages - one military, one international), here is a truly astounding 30 second video from the late 1970s.

Featuring stars as Robert Klein, Rose Marie, Willie Mays, Bobby Riggs, Milton Berle, and Lynn Redgrave, they drive home the point across to (what else?) mail early:

Yes, mom and dad - your tax dollars and what you paid for postage back in the day helped pay for that!

What do you think?

Ernie says: I always see these YouTube posts when I'm at work. Problem is, we've got YouTube blocked here, so all I see is a big post with lots of white blocks that have nothing in them. *sigh*

Stubby says: Very cool (said the former postal worker). (Be sure to read Stubby's other comment below)

Any other opinions?

Capt

Mary Mayo - The Magic of Christmas

I found this album at Musicstack listed for $85 - a dealer was offering the LP and a CD transfer. The cover artwork grabbed my attention but eighty-five bucks? Luckily, this copy from eBay didn't cost as much.

Mary Mayo first got started as a radio singer in North Carolina just after the end of World War II. Gifted with a four-octave range, she was spotted by Tex Beneke, who was leading the post-war version of the Glenn Miller Orchestra. While singing with Beneke, she married Al Ham, an arranger and bass player in the band.

With the birth of their daughter Lois-Marie (the little girl on the cover), the couple settled in New York. Ham joined Columbia Records and became a producer while Mayo recorded dozens of albums as a faceless singer on "original cast" albums of numerous Broadway musicals.

She released a couple of singles for Columbia in the 1950s, but none even came close to the charts. LeRoy Holmes was the house arranger and conductor for MGM Records in the 1950s and decided to give Mayo her big break with this album in 1956.

With twelve original songs written by Fay Tishman (words) and Marjorie Goetschius (music), Mayo does a fine job singing these reverent haunting melodies on this album. LeRoy Holmes does another typical brilliant job with the orchestra.

I've listened to this several times now and it gets better with repeated listens:

Mary Mayo - The Magic of Christmas

Mayo kept busy within the recording industry - appearing on Dick Hyman's legendary 1963 "Moon Gas" album where she sang on every single track with wordless vocals. She also made a huge splash at the end of the 1960s when she appeared at Duke Ellington's legendary 1969 jazz concert at the White House for President Nixon.

In 1971, ad agency McCann Erickson wanted The New Seekers to record a new song for their client but the group was booked elsewhere. So they called Ham who assembled a group of singers (including Mayo and daughter Lori) and called themselves The Hillside Singers. The song they recorded was Coca-Cola's "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing" and it was an immediate smash.

Mayo had several follow up albums with the Hillside Singers and continued to work in the music industry right until her death in 1985.

Capt

Vera Lynn - Christmas With

This was a from a lot of Christmas records I purchased from a Canadian dealer off eBay earlier this year.

Someone offered this a year or two ago but there was incomplete artwork (good front, no back cover). When I listened, I thought something about this sounded familiar.

Vera Lynn was a popular British singer who toured British army camps and the front lines throughout World War II. She was a favorite of all the doughboys who nicknamed her "the Forces' Sweetheart" while yank reporters dubbed her "the female Bob Hope".

Her post WWII career was very popular with the returning vets and their families. She had dozens of hits and albums throughout the late 1940s and 1950s for Decca Records. However, her popularity began to wane a bit and her recording career wasn't doing too well when she got an unassisted boom.

Stanley Kubrick had filmed "Dr. Strangelove" and originallly ended the film with a pie-throwing scene that simulated an assassination of President Merkin Muffley (Peter Sellers). After the events in Dallas on 11/22/63, Kubrick cut the scene and added the montage of atomic explosions sung to the tune of Vera Lynn's trademark song "We'll Meet Again".

Her popularity began to rise again and she appeared on albums, radio, and television shows throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Lynn was appointed an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in 1969 and a DBE (Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 1975.

When my copy of this 1976 album arrived, I knew it sounded familiar and WOW! The Mike Sammes Singers accompanies Vera on four of the twelve tracks! "Sleigh Ride", "Let's Have A Merry, Merry Christmas", "Do You Hear What I Hear?" and "The Little Drummer Boy" all have that special Sammes sound!

And Vera does her standard fine job with the rest!

Vera Lynn - Christmas With

Lynn kept performing concerts and on television show well into the 1980s. She became the heads of several charities and always made time for the doughboys she sung to all those years earlier at any of their reunions or benefits.

In 1995, a ceremony marking the golden jubilee of VE Day was held at Buckingham Palace. Lynn, then 78, came out of semi-retirement for a surprise appearance. To quote Vera:

"These boys gave their lives and some came home badly injured and for some families, life would never be the same. We should always remember, we should never forget and we should teach the children to remember."

She then sang "We'll Meet Again" for the final time - it was her last known public performance.

Happy listening...

Capt

Harry Secombe - White Christmas

This was one of the last albums I purchased this year to share and it has a special place in my heart.

During this past year, I worked overtime to get nearly 150 downloaded Christmas albums and nearly 2000 Christmas MP3s - some dating back as 2006 - off my hard drive.

Most of the time I was working on the computer doing this, I would listen to a collection of old-time radio Christmas programs on my Windows Media Player (Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Fibber McGee, WWII shows, Jean Shepherd).

The one show I kept coming back to over and over was the lone Christmas episode of the Goon Show in my collection. Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan, and Harry Secombe ad nauseum was such a delight that it made all the work on the computer more bearable.

Secombe had one of the most remarkable voices for a British comedian. After the Goons ended, Secombe went on to star in several musicals in London and appearing on television and in movies - his best known role was as Mr. Bumble in the 1969 musical "Oliver!" Moooooore??

When I found this 1966 album at Discovery Records' website, I knew my course was clear. It blows me away every time I hear it. Hope it does the same for you.

Harry Secombe - White Christmas

In later years, Harry was a special programming consultant and television director for Harlech Television and a presenter of religious programmes on British television. He was made a knight of the British Empire in 1981 and jokingly referred to himself as Sir Cumference.

I'll end this entry with a clip from 1989 that features Secombe and young Andrew Kennedy singing "Silent Night":

Happy listening...

Capt

It's a YouTube Christmas - Pt. 7

From time to time this upcoming Christmas season, I'll be posting some amazing videos that have been rescued by people like us and posted at the mecca of all things wonderful and obscure - YouTube.

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.

Today ends the first weekend of December. Many of you are probably getting the house decorated - hanging lights outside, placing the stocking by the chimney with care, and clearing a spot in your home where the Christmas tree will stand.

For some of you, this means you're gonna drive down to Lowe's or The Home Depot to select one of their finest fresh-cut Christmas trees. Others will have to drag the box up from the basement to erect the fake plastic Christmas tree.

To those who regularly buy fresh-cut every year and snicker at those who go artificial, just watch this YouTube video and see who gets the last laugh:

What do you think?

HMcNally reminds us: http://www.fire.nist.gov/tree_fire.html - This video, and a comparison of dry tree vs. a watered tree.

Any other opinions?

Capt

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