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Stubbys House of Christmas

ALTERNATE ROOT HOLIDAY SAMPLER #3 (2012)

12/20/2012

1. Darlin' (Christmas Is Coming) - OVER THE RHINE
2. In Dulci Jubilo - ST. AGNES FOUNTAIN
3. Northern Lights - GRETCHEN PETERS
4. Jon's Silent Night - JON BYRD
5. Jesus And Mohammed - JACK TEMPCHIN
6. Breaking The Ice - SAMANTHA CRAIN
7. Christmas In St. Paul - LAST TRAIN HOME
8. Duke's Christmas - DUKE ROBILLARD
9. Mama, I Know You Ain't Santa - TRACY NEWMAN
10. Mad World - ALBION CHRISTMAS BAND
11. Christmas In Dixie - NU BLU
12. Silent Night At The Bar - THE WILD RUMPUS
13. You Put The X In Xmas - DEAD MEN'S HOLLOW
14. Let's Get Blazed For The Holidays - BRIAN ASHLEY JONES
15. Santa Is A Swinger Now - CANDYE KANE
16. Yes, Virginia - SCOTT MILLER
17. Xmas In The Jailhouse - OX
18. Winter Song - JAIME MICHAELS DOWNLOAD FREE AT ALTERNATE ROOT
19. Go Children - LITTLE FAITH
20. Not On Christmas Eve - BOCA CHICA

It's been a wild couple of days. Yesterday, we got both the 2012 Cigar Box Nation Christmas set, which I expected, AND the 2012 Alternate Root Holiday Sampler, which I didn't. There was no voting on the tracks for the 3rd annual Alternate Root Christmas album, but they did put together a 20 song collection featuring lots of Americana, Alt Rock, and Folk Christmas favorites. Even a little Blues from the legendary Duke Robillard. 'Tis the season, so pig out. A Christmas feast awaits. Start with this one from Alternate Root, or save it for dessert. Either way... Here. We'll even get you started.

E4RTH - IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT

12/20/2012

It's The End Of The World As We Know It (REM Cover) by E4RTH

Yes, tonight we're gonna party like "It's The End Of The World As We Know It", because the Mayans predicted it, right? This isn't really a Christmas song, of course, it's a cover of the old REM hit by E4RTH. But they do it very well and quite different and you can definitely dance to it at your End of the World soiree.

I don't think anyone truly believes the world is ending tomorrow. Personally, I've always said the Mayans weren't predicting the end of the world, just the end of their calendar. I mean, you know, you get a calendar for Christmas, do you flip to the last page and say, "Oh my God! The world's ending on December 31st!" No. It's just a calendar, dude. Although I have to admit it's kind of funny how the History channel is running through all their End of the World programming this week. I mean, it'll be useless tomorrow, right?

So get yer free download of E4RTH's "It's The End Of The World As We Know It". And you'd best do it quickly. Not because the world's ending, but because Soundcloud caps their downloads. And, anyway, you never know. You just never know.

TAD WAS HERE - IT'S A BAD BRAINS CHRISTMAS, CHARLIE BROWN

12/20/2012

By now, you've all downloaded "Santastic 7", right? Our annual aural MashUp delight put together by the incomparable djBC? Well, you can never have too many MashUps in a holiday season. This one is a video MashUp--it wouldn't mean a thing as an mp3--and it is just ambrosia for the soul. Tad Was Here on Vimeo with "It's A Bad Brains Christmas, Charlie Brown"--a MashUp of A Charlie Brown Christmas with Punk Rock's Bad Brains' "Pay To Cum". Watch and enjoy. Brilliant! Just brilliant! Now THAT'S what Christmas is all about!

It's A Bad Brains Christmas, Charlie Brown from Tad Was Here on Vimeo.

THE GOOD NATURED - CHRISTMAS WRAPPING

12/19/2012

Needless to say, we haven't been doing our usual good job of keeping you up on all the holiday singles out there. Here's a nice one from British synth pop band The Good Natured, this track featuring Colette Carr. It's their cover of The Waitresses' "Christmas Wrapping". Nicely done. Grab it at Amazon.

LUCY ROSE - MERRY CHRISTMAS

12/18/2012

Lucy Rose - Merry Christmas (Shakin Stevens) Live on BBC1 *(www.fromgotowhoa.com) by youarethemusic1000

Well, these last few days before Christmas, most of the action, here, is definitely on the Free List (though I did actually add a new listing on the Previews page). But I did want to share this wonderful song from Lucy Rose. You can't download it, but its worth the listen for sure. You may recall that Lucy, who is definitely one to follow, last year performed "Driving Home For Christmas" (briefly a free download) on BBC Radio One. This year, she performed "Merry Christmas", the old Shakin' Stevens number. And, man, she finds depth and beautiful shades and colors in that song that I never knew were there. So have a listen and enjoy your day. Peace and Merry Christmas, y'all. And keep watching Lucy's Facebook page. She's giving stuff away.

LIE IN THE SOUND

12/17/2012

I mentioned the other day that one of my very favorite blogs at Christmas time is Lie In The Sound. It's a German blog. I don't speak a word of it. But music is a universal language and Lie In The Sound features some of the best free Christmas downloads year after year. Some they even find here and, in a normal year, I find just as many there, if not more. I haven't had much chance to peruse their offerings this year. But you would all be wise to do so.

Your humble hostess at Lie In The Sound is Brigitte, and she has excellent taste in music. She's also real good people and she's been very kind and encouraging to me over the few years I've been doing this. As it happens, Lie In The Sound posted a whole sleigh load of new free Christmas tunes yesterday. So now's a great time for y'all to catch up over there since I can't promise I'll get around to many of them myself. Here's some of what Lie In The Sound has posted this year.

Kalla Hus - Damien Jurado and Kyle Zantos
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Claus - The Timburtons (yeah, I figured that would get your attention; and it's awesome)
Wonderful Christmastime - Ex Cops
Christmas Wrapping - The Lost Calvary
Angels We Have Heard On High - Ormonde
Christmas In California - Ash Reiter
Ho Ho Ho Canada 4 - Various
Aleksander/The Storm - Sunturns
Christmas Of Love - Paper City
Breaking The Ice - Samatha Crain
Blithe Spirit - Golden Fable
A Very Cornshed Christmas - The Cornshed Sisters
Jolly Old St. Nicholas - Pitch Feather
A Harvest Star Christmas - Harvest Star Christmas Collective
Paste Holiday Sampler - Various
Dine Alone Holiday Sampler - Various
Scarves And Sweaters - Carter Moulton

And it goes on and on and on and on. It's truly amazing to me. Now I have purposefully not linked up the individual tracks and albums because I think you should go over to Lie In The Sound and discover this Christmas gold for yourselves. Enjoy and tell Brigitte that Stubby sent ya.

CHRISTMAS RADIO ON LINE/ON AIR 2012

12/17/2012

Hey, boys and girls, cats and kittens, buckeroos and buckerettes (owe that last one to Timothy, a DJ I worked with many years ago). Do you know what time it is? It's time for Christmas music on the radio! No, not the schlock being oozed out of those "all-Christmas" stations. The real good goods from collectors like you and me!

First up, tonight--yes, this very night--it's Roy's Record Room on Canada's CKUA with an hour of Santa Songs. Expect to hear from Bob Seger & The Last Heard, Terminators Of Endearment, Marty Martin (aka Boxcar Willie), Big John Greer, Barbara Mandrell and more. Your host, Roy Forbes, is an accomplished Folk singer, but also one heck of a Christmas music collector.

The program runs between 6 and 7 pm, Alberta Canada time. Now, me, I always screw up the time zones. But, this year, we have a new tool, we seekers of the distant radio signal. DAR.FM is a new service that will record radio programs for you for delayed listening (or even if you're just forgetful, left to your own devices). They give you something like 50 gigs of free storage and you can absolutely pay them more to give you more, if its more you need. But 50 gigs free? That's all I need. Now I've already programmed Roy's Record Room into my free DAR account (search for CKUA and scroll down "Today's schedule" until you see him, then click record. Damn, that was easy. Anyway, if you'd prefer to stream it live, you can do that on the CKUA web site. DAR says it's 5 pm Pacific which is like, what, 8 pm Eastern? I think.

Next up, on Wednesday, December 19, it's our old friend Rob Martinez (better known in the interwebs as CaptainOT of A Christmas Yuleblog) with an encore broadcast of last year's 2 hour Christmas Spectacular. And it truly was. Well worth hearing again, or for the first time, if you missed it last year. That's on radio station WBOI from 7 to 9 pm (and I think we established last year that that's EST). Stream it live (on tape) from the station or program it on in to your DAR. Now I didn't see this one on the DAR schedule, but it was easy to program it in the "record later" box just below the listed schedule.

Rob also has a show, with Sarah Delia, on Thursday night at 9 pm, called "Under The Influence". On this Thursday's program, Rob and Sarah will play Christmas songs submitted by YOU, the listener, along with the memories that make that song special to you. As they'll begin producing the show on Wednesday, you've still got a day or so to submit your songs and stories via the Under The Influence Facebook page (so don't dawdle). Pretty neat.

Roy Forbes, who is really getting around this year, shows up on North By Northwest on the CBC Radio One this Saturday. The show runs from 6 to 9 am (Vancouver time, which would appear to coincide with Pacific time). Roy's segment is a half hour of--Snap, Crackle, Pop--Christmas 78s. Not sure which half hour Roy will appear, but the whole show is pretty interesting in its own right. Once again, using DAR, you'll have to schedule this one in yourself, using CBC Radio One Vancouver as your station. If you're into the streaming, you may be able to locate a different time as that program is aired in different time zones.

Now, Monday the 24th--Christmas Eve--is gonna be Christmas radio nuts. And it's here you'll really appreciate having DAR available.

There's Christmas Eve on Roy's Record Room on CKUA. Same time as tonight's show (8 pm? Ah, just program yer DAR and record Roy every week). Expect an eclectic mix from Santa Roy that'll include the Sonics, Wilf Carter, Etta Jones, Voices, Bobby Gimby, Art Grant & His Northern Lights (an Aragon 78), Bert Jansch, Staples Singers etc.

Rob Martinez is back between 7 and 9 pm (EST) with the first of two all new Christmas specials on WBOI. Two more hours scheduled for Christmas night.

And, lest we forget, Jon Solomon is back with his Christmas Eve marathon beginning 6 pm (EST) Christmas Eve on Princeton's WPRB and ending 24 hours later. I guarantee that, if you listen to Jon for just a little while, you're going to hear Christmas tunes you have never heard before. We told y'all bout Jon back in 2010, if you'd like to refresh your memories. And this is, I believe, his 24th year of 24 hour Christmas Eve marathons. Whoa! That's impressive.

ENDS & ODDS

12/16/2012

Because of our time crunch (which we've referenced far too often), a lot of stuff has kinda slid by. We've entered the discs on our List, as we've found them, but not mentioned them much beyond that. Here are a few 2012 releases you might not want to miss.

One of the great Christmas album series is "Cashing In On Christmas", the sometimes almost annual collection from Punk label Black Hole Records. And Volume 4 allegedly arrived without the usual fanfare around December 1st. You can get the download via Bandcamp, but you may want the limited edition colored vinyl version (which should come with a complimentary CD version, I think). At the moment, everybody is "out of stock". That could be because it's sold out, or because it hasn't actually been released yet (as sometimes happens with Indie efforts). Check the availability at Interpunk or direct from Black Hole.

01. The Authority – O Come Emmanuel
02. Blessed Muthas – Blessed Christmas
03. Broken Heroes – New Tradition
04. The Dirty Shirleys – Johnny Thunders X-mas
05. Dog Company – Snoopy’s Christmas
06. Explosive Head – All I Want For Christmas
07. The Flyswatters – Santa’s On Acid
08. The Gonads – The Greatest Cockney Christmas
09. Guitar Gangsters – Christmas Time Is Here (Oh Shit)
10. Hateful – Hateful Merry Christmas
11. Jenny Woo – Christmas To Me
12. Mad Pigs – City Of Nightmares
13. Missile Toads – Ultra Christmas
14. Plan Of Attack – Hey Santa
15. Splodgenessabounds – Fairytale Of Mongolia
16. Toughskins – It Could Be Worse
17. Missile Toads – Ultra Christmas (Radio Edit)

Another bit of vinyl (well, flexi almost vinyl) that escaped our attention until it was all sold out, Joyful Noise released Kishi Bashi doing "It's Christmas, But It's Not White Here In Our Town" as a limited (to 1000) white snowflake flexi on December 4. Sold out within a week. What're you gonna do? All proceeds, at least, went to the Ear Candy Music Charity. The same won't be said of purchases on the secondary market. It's a great song, though, which you can still get as an mp3 via Amazon and the usual suspects. And you can listen to it right here, right now.

I love me some good ol' time Cajun Swamp Pop. We're talking that unique blend of bluesy R&B with C&W, the kind you only find down in Louisianne. And this album gives you some of the giants of the genre. Here you'll find the soulful blues of Lynn August, singing "Merry Christmas Baby", Tommy McClain's "Winter Wonderland", the always popular Johnnie Allan with "Merry Christmas Wishes", and Jivin' Gene singing a little known Delta classic "A Letter To Santa" that's been recorded by a number of New Orleans artists. You'll also get Charles Mann, Don Rich, and Warren Storm. Getting all these great artists together on one Christmas disc is virtually a Christmas miracle. You can get it from Amazon or the Louisiana Music Factory.

1. Will You Be There (Jivin' Gene)
2. White Christmas (Don Rich)
3. Merry Christmas Baby (Lynn August)
4. Merry Christmas Wishes (Johnnie Allan)
5. Please Come Home for Christmas (Warren Storm)
6. Winter Wonderland (Tommy McLain)
7. White Christmas Makes Me Blue (Willie Tee)
8. This Christmas (Ken Marvel)
9. Christmas Fais Do Do (V.J. Boulet)
10. Christmas Comes but Once a Year (Charles Mann)
11. A Letter to Santa (Bring My Baby Back to Me) (Jivin' Gene)
12. Signed Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (Ken Marvel)
13. It Won't Be a Merry Christmas for Me (V.J. Boulet)

Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert closed out his 2012 season with a "carol a day". Most were unremarkable, but the song from the final show, "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)", was a real gem featuring Mavis Staples, Sean Lennon, Jeff Tweedy and the Harlem Gospel Choir. The track, as well as an earlier one featuring Mandy Patankin and Michael Stipe, is available via iTunes with proceeds going to the Rockaway Waterfront Alliance.

I'd happily buy it but it seems iTunes, in their desire to force everyone to upgrade their computers to Mountain Lion, has disabled my ability to purchase from them. And a 99 cent song isn't worth me spending 2 grand I don't have on a new computer. I've been trying to resolve the issue with them, but they (so far) are telling me the new software update should be compatible. The software itself, however, says differently. So I guess they don't want my money. Tough luck for the Rockaway Waterfront Alliance.

Matinée advent calendar by Matinée Recordings

Eclectic Indie Pop label Matinee Records has been running a pretty cool Advent Calendar. The songs are posted to Soundcloud and, while there haven't been any free downloads, it makes a heck of a holiday soundtrack. The Math And Physics Club has been garnering the most plays with their "Cold As Minnesota", but I'm partial to Northern Portrait's "Leave The Trees Alone" (of course, that's the latest add--might explain the low number of plays). Just sayin'. That one comes from the 2010 "Matinee Holiday Soiree" collection, still available on CD-EP from Matinee or as a download from Amazon.

It's hard to imagine any act that has a longer tradition of releasing annual Christmas presents than the string of brightly colored lights that has come from Pennsylvania's Flashcats. 2012 marks their 32nd year of doing so. Although their last physical Christmas set was the huge 30th Anniversay collection, The Flashcats last year released a free Christmas download (still available I believe) and, this year's tunes come in the form of YouTube clips. Here they are with "Santa Claus Needs Some Lovin' Too" and "Time To Decorate The Neighborhood".

Also recently added to our list are Alt Folk/Rock efforts from Morrison Hawkes, Classical crossover from 15 year old Leslie Ashworth, Surf Rock from California's Mermen, and Americana's Eve Selis with "A Merry Little Christmas". Go find yourself something you like. It's nearly Christmas.

ON THE EIGHTH NIGHT OF HANUKKAH.....

12/15/2012

Alright. I've been avoiding this one. But it is supposed to be a celebration after all. And I know some of you were waiting for this one. The annual Hanukkah video from the B-Boyz (no single or MP3)..."You Gotta Fight For Your Right To Dreidel".

First Night: Hanukkah Lovin' - Michelle Citrin
Second Night: It's Chanukah - Jeffrey Paul Bobrick
Third Night: Shine - The Maccabeats

This one's from 2011, but it's a Hip Hop Hebrew happening. Buy the mp3 at Amazon or iTunes. OHT Crew with "No Latkes".

Fourth Night: Six13 - Haneirot Halalu
Fifth Night: The What's Up Band - Pass It On
Sixth Night: People On Vacation - Don't Forget About Hanukkah
Macaroon 5 - All Eight Nights

Who knew there were Chanukah Chipmunks? The Sababas with "Spin To Win".

Seventh Night: World On Fire - Shir Soul
More Here: Ain't We Got Hanukkah
And Here: 2011 Eight Nights of Hanukkah
And Here: 2010 Eight Nights of Hanukkah

One more? Yeah, what the heck. Pella Productions for 2012, available at Amazon and CD Baby. "8 Nights Of Hanukkah".

And one for the road. Jon Caspi with "8 Days" from 2005. Available on the 2006 album "Holiday Heart".

Oh, OK. One more. But this is the last one. Mar Heshvan. I think you can guess the title. Happy Hanukkah everybody. Now turn out the lights and get to bed.

ON THE SEVENTH NIGHT OF HANUKKAH.....

12/14/2012

Shir Soul is the inspiration of New York based artist David Ross. While the group is largely known as a wedding (and other events and occasions) band, they've been bubbling up into a wider consciousness, especially in the Tri-State area. "World On Fire" is a Hanukkah adaptation of Alicia Key's "Girl On Fire" mashed up with Rihanna's "Diamonds". And, though it was only advertised for the first two nights, you can still grab the song free from the Shir Soul web site. If you hurry. "The Flame", from David's 2006 solo outing "The Power To Be" might also be worth checking out for your Hanukkah playlist.