OK, a little overly dramatic to be sure. But, now that I've got your attention...
If you come to Stubbys, there is little doubt that you are an obsessed Christmas music fan. Most Christmas sites fall into a niche. Don't mean that at all in a bad way. But Stubbys is all over the freaking map. Proudly so. We (by which I mean I) try to bring you news about Christmas music (and Hanukkah music) from Ambient to Death Metal, from Blues to Americana, from soup to nuts. Why? Because I'm an obsessed Christmas music fan and, if you're reading this, you probably are too. Aren't you? Oh, well, never mind then.
Seriously, Bing has his place. It wouldn't be Christmas without him. But, for people like us (and, yes, there are more than you may realize), we want more. We want it all. We want, dare I say it, GOOD Christmas music. Hell, we want GREAT Christmas music. We spend far too many hours digging around in Thrift Shop record bins just looking for that one song or album that is so lost, forgotten, missing in action, never ever heard by anyone...so good (or so bad it's good) that we can rescue it and share it with...the world? Or scouring the Internets in the hopes of finding that one song that will make our annual mixtapes stand above and beyond the rest.
It's insane. We're insane. But, then again, there was always that moment when the fever took us. Maybe your brother bought a copy of "Living In The Past" by Jethro Tull and you just couldn't stop listening to the flip side, "A Christmas Song", over and over again. Maybe you were tuning the radio dial one Christmas and fell unexpectedly upon the Doctor Demento show. Maybe you just got sick and tired of your local Top 40 station playing the 1001 Strings. Or maybe you fell in love with the 1001 Strings and wanted to find more just like it. Maybe there's a song you heard once that nobody will believe actually exists and you set out to find it. Or maybe you came across "Santa Claus Is A Black Man" by Akim at your local record store and said, "Oh, God, I gotta hear this".
Mitchell Kezin is such a man. A Holiday-music-aholic, just like the rest of us. Mitchell's journey, I believe, began when he encountered a Christmas song by Miles Davis and Bob Dorough that is the very antithesis of "White Christmas" and "Frosty The Snowman". And Mitchell, a filmmaker by trade, is reaching the very apex of his journey. He has sought high and low for the answers we all seek. Why can't Christmas music be good? And why is it so important to me to find the good Christmas music? Why are we here? OK, maybe not the last one.
Mitchell has been working for years on a film of his journey--Jingle Bell Rocks!. It's a documentary wherein Mitchell meets all the key players in this annual dance we do--Doctor Demento, Bob Dorough, Andy Cirzan, Bill Adler, The Free Design, Low, El Vez, Tim Sewell, Clarence Carter, and more. Mitchell traces his journey through twelve (and more) of the "weirdest, wildest, most poignant" and, possibly, most important Christmas songs ever laid to vinyl or shellac. Not songs like "White Christmas", but songs like "Blue Xmas (To Whom It May Concern)". You know, the songs that shaped the lives of people like us.
Jingle Bell Rocks! is almost finished. Almost.
We've often brought you news of fan-funded projects, Kickstarter campaigns and the like. Because I truly do support independent music and I truly do love this new, emerging industry paradigm...one where we directly support the artists and music we love by helping to make it happen.
Mitchell is seeking your help, now, to finish and release Jingle Bell Rocks!
If you come to Stubbys, there is little doubt that you are an obsessed Christmas music fan. Most Christmas sites fall into a niche. Don't mean that at all in a bad way. But Stubbys is all over the freaking map. Proudly so. We (by which I mean I) try to bring you news about Christmas music (and Hanukkah music) from Ambient to Death Metal, from Blues to Americana, from soup to nuts. Why? Because I'm an obsessed Christmas music fan and, if you're reading this, you probably are too. Aren't you? Oh, well, never mind then.
Seriously, Bing has his place. It wouldn't be Christmas without him. But, for people like us (and, yes, there are more than you may realize), we want more. We want it all. We want, dare I say it, GOOD Christmas music. Hell, we want GREAT Christmas music. We spend far too many hours digging around in Thrift Shop record bins just looking for that one song or album that is so lost, forgotten, missing in action, never ever heard by anyone...so good (or so bad it's good) that we can rescue it and share it with...the world? Or scouring the Internets in the hopes of finding that one song that will make our annual mixtapes stand above and beyond the rest.
It's insane. We're insane. But, then again, there was always that moment when the fever took us. Maybe your brother bought a copy of "Living In The Past" by Jethro Tull and you just couldn't stop listening to the flip side, "A Christmas Song", over and over again. Maybe you were tuning the radio dial one Christmas and fell unexpectedly upon the Doctor Demento show. Maybe you just got sick and tired of your local Top 40 station playing the 1001 Strings. Or maybe you fell in love with the 1001 Strings and wanted to find more just like it. Maybe there's a song you heard once that nobody will believe actually exists and you set out to find it. Or maybe you came across "Santa Claus Is A Black Man" by Akim at your local record store and said, "Oh, God, I gotta hear this".
Mitchell Kezin is such a man. A Holiday-music-aholic, just like the rest of us. Mitchell's journey, I believe, began when he encountered a Christmas song by Miles Davis and Bob Dorough that is the very antithesis of "White Christmas" and "Frosty The Snowman". And Mitchell, a filmmaker by trade, is reaching the very apex of his journey. He has sought high and low for the answers we all seek. Why can't Christmas music be good? And why is it so important to me to find the good Christmas music? Why are we here? OK, maybe not the last one.
Mitchell has been working for years on a film of his journey--Jingle Bell Rocks!. It's a documentary wherein Mitchell meets all the key players in this annual dance we do--Doctor Demento, Bob Dorough, Andy Cirzan, Bill Adler, The Free Design, Low, El Vez, Tim Sewell, Clarence Carter, and more. Mitchell traces his journey through twelve (and more) of the "weirdest, wildest, most poignant" and, possibly, most important Christmas songs ever laid to vinyl or shellac. Not songs like "White Christmas", but songs like "Blue Xmas (To Whom It May Concern)". You know, the songs that shaped the lives of people like us.
Jingle Bell Rocks! is almost finished. Almost.
We've often brought you news of fan-funded projects, Kickstarter campaigns and the like. Because I truly do support independent music and I truly do love this new, emerging industry paradigm...one where we directly support the artists and music we love by helping to make it happen.
Mitchell is seeking your help, now, to finish and release Jingle Bell Rocks!
Mitchell has started an IndieGoGo fund raising drive. Just like Kickstarter, there are various levels of support and various incentives for that support. $15 will get you the All Access VIP Backstage Pass to Jingle Bell Rocks!, including special exclusive mp3s, and Mitchell's eternal and heartfelt thanks. For just $50, you can reserve your own personal DVD copy of Jingle Bell Rocks! For $250, you'll get that DVD PLUS a box set of Mitchell's own annual "MerryMixes". $1000 will net you all that and more PLUS a credit in the film. And, if you happen to have $2500, you could score yourself all the above AND more AND Mitchell's Mom's famous shortbread cookies. Even if you can't spare any cash, you can still contribute by spreading the word, "liking" the Jingle Bell Rocks Facebook page, signing up for the All Access VIP Backstage Pass at the Jingle Bell Rocks web site. Anything and everything you do is important. We HAVE to get this movie made. This is OUR movie. Jingle Bell Rocks! is ABOUT us. Help Mitchell Kezin save Christmas! Because Soylent Green is made out of people and, dammit, there IS great Christmas music out there. And it is OUR job, our solemn responsibility to mankind, to make sure everybody knows that.
Watch the trailer below and I guarantee you'll want to see this movie. And the only way we're going to see Jingle Bell Rocks! is if we all pitch in and make it happen. This is important. This is our movie. This is our moment. Let's git'r done.
Watch the trailer below and I guarantee you'll want to see this movie. And the only way we're going to see Jingle Bell Rocks! is if we all pitch in and make it happen. This is important. This is our movie. This is our moment. Let's git'r done.
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