Welcome to Stubby's House of Christmas!
This is a test. This is only a test. Had this been a real blog, you would have received instructions to report immediately to your turntable or CD player.
As you may have guessed, I'm Stubby. And this site is about Christmas music. New Christmas music, old Christmas music, Christmas music yet to be made. Hopefully, if this all works out, there will be lists of all the coming new releases (for this year's list, head over to FaLaLaLaLa), reviews of independent Christmas CDs that don't get the attention they deserve, recommendations and recaps of the year's best (and the essentials no collection should be without), links to FREE Christmas music on the Internets, suggestions for making your own holiday head tapes in whatever genre you'd prefer, tributes to the artists of Christmas music old and new, a bit of blog, the occasional mp3. Hey, if it all works out, I envision a virtual Disneyland for Christmas music fanatics--all one of me!
But, for now, this is Stubby's House 1-point-oh. Come on along and watch me try to figure this whole thing out (Hey, look! I've got an RSS feed! And I don't even know what that means!). It'll be fun! Because, for now......this is a test. This is only a test....
To kick things off, here are the pages we intend to offer:
YOU ARE HERE: Our blog, our home. Here, we'll post about Christmas music, old and new, look at and remember some great Christmas records long forgotten, pay tribute to fallen heroes of the genre and muse about whatever my mind coughs up on any given day. We'll also notify you of significant updates to the other pages. And cats. We'll end up talking about cats a little bit. It's unavoidable.
THE LIST: The List will feature a continuously updated, chronological list of the season's holiday releases--all linked either to our previews, reviews, or some site where you can purchase. As noted above, I constructed this year's list over at FaLaLaLaLa, before I thought it might be more reasonable to waste my own bandwidth rather than someone else's. So, for now, we'll leave that page more or less empty.
PREVIEWS: Previews will feature the basic info you want to know in determining holiday CD and download purchases--cover art, track list, a link to purchase and, perhaps, some brief info about the artist(s) in question. I pride myself on finding the information before most other sites have it. Again, this year, I've been doing this at The Fa and at Imwan; so we'll forego most of that here, for the time being (we've tossed in a few to give you the flavor). But come back next year and put me to the test.
REVIEWS: Actual reviews of the actual albums I've actually listened to. Generally, I'll try to remember what my Mom & Dad taught me: If I can't say anything nice, I'll try not to say anything at all. Of course, I'm old and curmudgeonly these days, so I promise nothing. Might come a day and an album where the only review I can muster will be "Bah! Humbug!"
THE NICE LIST: This is where we'll put the reviews of what I believe are the best releases of the year, plus (when and if we get around to it) the all-time essentials. Your mileage may vary, of course. I think the real value to the casual Christmas music buyer will be learning which of the many off-the-beaten-path albums I listen to each year rise above the rest.
THE FREE LIST: Here, we'll point you to some of the free Christmas music available on the Internets. Many independent artists just want you to hear them, confident the exposure will lead you to explore the rest of their catalog, or attend a performance. Others simply feel the spirit of the season and give you their holiday performances as a gift. Whatever the case, it's a fact that some of the best new Christmas music I've heard in the last 5 years didn't cost me a dime.
And, if I think of anything else, I'll throw that in, too. Sounds like quite the ambitious undertaking, doesn't it? Am I up for it? Nah! Not even close.
This is a test. This is only a test.
As you may have guessed, I'm Stubby. And this site is about Christmas music. New Christmas music, old Christmas music, Christmas music yet to be made. Hopefully, if this all works out, there will be lists of all the coming new releases (for this year's list, head over to FaLaLaLaLa), reviews of independent Christmas CDs that don't get the attention they deserve, recommendations and recaps of the year's best (and the essentials no collection should be without), links to FREE Christmas music on the Internets, suggestions for making your own holiday head tapes in whatever genre you'd prefer, tributes to the artists of Christmas music old and new, a bit of blog, the occasional mp3. Hey, if it all works out, I envision a virtual Disneyland for Christmas music fanatics--all one of me!
But, for now, this is Stubby's House 1-point-oh. Come on along and watch me try to figure this whole thing out (Hey, look! I've got an RSS feed! And I don't even know what that means!). It'll be fun! Because, for now......this is a test. This is only a test....
To kick things off, here are the pages we intend to offer:
YOU ARE HERE: Our blog, our home. Here, we'll post about Christmas music, old and new, look at and remember some great Christmas records long forgotten, pay tribute to fallen heroes of the genre and muse about whatever my mind coughs up on any given day. We'll also notify you of significant updates to the other pages. And cats. We'll end up talking about cats a little bit. It's unavoidable.
THE LIST: The List will feature a continuously updated, chronological list of the season's holiday releases--all linked either to our previews, reviews, or some site where you can purchase. As noted above, I constructed this year's list over at FaLaLaLaLa, before I thought it might be more reasonable to waste my own bandwidth rather than someone else's. So, for now, we'll leave that page more or less empty.
PREVIEWS: Previews will feature the basic info you want to know in determining holiday CD and download purchases--cover art, track list, a link to purchase and, perhaps, some brief info about the artist(s) in question. I pride myself on finding the information before most other sites have it. Again, this year, I've been doing this at The Fa and at Imwan; so we'll forego most of that here, for the time being (we've tossed in a few to give you the flavor). But come back next year and put me to the test.
REVIEWS: Actual reviews of the actual albums I've actually listened to. Generally, I'll try to remember what my Mom & Dad taught me: If I can't say anything nice, I'll try not to say anything at all. Of course, I'm old and curmudgeonly these days, so I promise nothing. Might come a day and an album where the only review I can muster will be "Bah! Humbug!"
THE NICE LIST: This is where we'll put the reviews of what I believe are the best releases of the year, plus (when and if we get around to it) the all-time essentials. Your mileage may vary, of course. I think the real value to the casual Christmas music buyer will be learning which of the many off-the-beaten-path albums I listen to each year rise above the rest.
THE FREE LIST: Here, we'll point you to some of the free Christmas music available on the Internets. Many independent artists just want you to hear them, confident the exposure will lead you to explore the rest of their catalog, or attend a performance. Others simply feel the spirit of the season and give you their holiday performances as a gift. Whatever the case, it's a fact that some of the best new Christmas music I've heard in the last 5 years didn't cost me a dime.
And, if I think of anything else, I'll throw that in, too. Sounds like quite the ambitious undertaking, doesn't it? Am I up for it? Nah! Not even close.
This is a test. This is only a test.
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