P.O. Box 13207 - Fort Wayne, IN 46867-3207

We're always on the look out for deserving Christmas CDs to review here at the yuleblog. Major releases, indie labels, out-of-print discs, homemade Christmas compilations, and, of course, vinyl transfers of long forgotten Christmas albums to CD.

With that in mind, I decided to rent some space from the US Government over at my local post office.


WHAT WOULD I LIKE TO FIND AT MY P.O. BOX?

• Any new Christmas releases on CD
  
• Christmas cards and letters
• Annual Christmas compilations from other Christmas enthusiasts
• Anything on 33/45/78 from Christmas Seals
  
• Any of the "Kapusta Kristmas" albums from Al Kooper
• Your favorite Christmas samples (Simpsons Christmas sound bites, etc)
• Questions about lost Christmas music (I'll try my best to answer them here at the blog)
  

Please include an e-mail address with any and all correspondence - especially with the Christmas compilations!

As of January 5, 2009, we are not trading anything further from my collection. We've had several bad experiences during the past 2 1/2 years with trades and we chose to end it.


For anything else, please don't be shy... give us a shout!


Capt

P.O. Box 13207 - Fort Wayne, IN 46867-3207

We're always on the look out for deserving Christmas CDs to review here at the yuleblog. Major releases, indie labels, out-of-print discs, homemade Christmas compilations, and, of course, vinyl transfers of long forgotten Christmas albums to CD.

With that in mind, I decided to rent some space from the US Government over at my local post office.


WHAT WOULD I LIKE TO FIND AT MY P.O. BOX?

• Any new Christmas releases on CD
  
• Christmas cards and letters
• Annual Christmas compilations from other Christmas enthusiasts
• Anything on 33/45/78 from Christmas Seals
  
• Any of the "Kapusta Kristmas" albums from Al Kooper
• Your favorite Christmas samples (Simpsons Christmas sound bites, etc)
• Questions about lost Christmas music (I'll try my best to answer them here at the blog)
  

Please include an e-mail address with any and all correspondence - especially with the Christmas compilations!

As of January 5, 2009, we are not trading anything further from my collection. We've had several bad experiences during the past 2 1/2 years with trades and we chose to end it.


For anything else, please don't be shy... give us a shout!


Capt

October 2006 or "YIKES! We're behind schedule!"

Dear readers of the yuleblog,

As you can tell, one month wasn't long enough for me
to complete my annual Christmas CD.

I'm almost done.

Check back soon, k?


Capt

October 2006 or "YIKES! We're behind schedule!"

Dear readers of the yuleblog,

As you can tell, one month wasn't long enough for me
to complete my annual Christmas CD.

I'm almost done.

Check back soon, k?


Capt

September 2006 or QUIET! RECORDING IN SESSION

When I'm recording in the studio, I always have an assistant
so I'm never short on help.

Dear readers of the yuleblog -

A flip of the calendar means that it is officially September.
For the past eight years, I have always set this month aside to produce
my annual Christmas CD.


During these next four weeks, I have a TON of work to do. E-mails and snail mail pile up. Phone calls seldom get answered or returned.


Even watching my beloved Chicago Cubs falls by the wayside
(as do the Cubs every September).


Needless to say, it will be very quiet here at the yuleblog.
Check back with us around October 2nd.


Have fun watching either the leaves begin to turn or
the start of football season around the country.


Thanks for reading this far.




Capt

September 2006 or QUIET! RECORDING IN SESSION

When I'm recording in the studio, I always have an assistant
so I'm never short on help.

Dear readers of the yuleblog -

A flip of the calendar means that it is officially September.
For the past eight years, I have always set this month aside to produce
my annual Christmas CD.


During these next four weeks, I have a TON of work to do. E-mails and snail mail pile up. Phone calls seldom get answered or returned.


Even watching my beloved Chicago Cubs falls by the wayside
(as do the Cubs every September).


Needless to say, it will be very quiet here at the yuleblog.
Check back with us around October 2nd.


Have fun watching either the leaves begin to turn or
the start of football season around the country.


Thanks for reading this far.




Capt

Original Music Box Favorites V2

Earlier this year, I found this album in an antique store in the antique town of Pierceton, Indiana. At first glance, I nearly passed over it because of its non-Christmas title. However, the songs were and I added this to my pile of albums that I was preparing for the upcoming holiday season.

Then in July, our friend Bongolong at Bongolong Land offered this album as part of his "Christmas In July" celebration.

Earlier this month, Bongolong decided to create a new Christmas ONLY blog entitled Bongobells and is currently offering this album to download.

In his first three weeks, Bongo has offered 31 different albums with such diverse titles as:

"Ren & Stimpy's Crock O'Christmas"
"Mae West - Wild Christmas"
"Christmas In The Stars: The Star Wars Christmas Album"
"Guitars Inc. - Guitars At Christmas"
"Jackie Gleason - Merry Christmas"

This music box album is one of the TWELVE albums I've downloaded from his site (each one of these albums will be reviewed, I promise!).

Now...

Err...

How does one review music boxes? Do I compare alloys from the machine and the discs? Are music boxes made in Switzerland better than the ones you can get at the San Francisco Music Box Co.?

Music boxes and Christmas have long been a tradition thanks in large part to Rita Ford. Ms. Ford's passion for collecting, restoring, and repairing music boxes led her to open her famous store in New York City back in 1947.

In 1961, a clever guy from Columbia Records approached Ford and asked about recording several music boxes for Christmas. A Music Box Christmas was a HUGE smash (you've heard at least one track off this album in your lifetime) and it was followed up in 1962 with "Music Box Wonderland Christmas with Rita Ford's Music Boxes".

Suddenly, the imitation music box LPs began popping up all over the budget labels. One album in particular released by Pickwick Records (the very same label that released the album before you) even claimed the music boxes were from Rita Ford! She quickly disavowed any connection with that album and has done many other times since.

As for this album, it was released by Pickwick in 1980...

And it's chock full of music boxes playing Christmas tunes.






(nervous grin)






That's about it. Bongo, thanks for beating me to the punch with this one!

On to the next new Christmas CD in my collection...


Capt