Randy? Wake up , Randy.

One more day till Mikey's Christmas Mix 2011 is released upon the earth! Every year I scour the deep dark corners of record stores and the Internet for the strange and unusual Christmas songs. We have all heard Bing Crosby's White Christmas and Wham's Last Christmas, but have you ever heard Christmas Day by Detroit Junior or All I want For Christmas is a Go-Go Girl by Ben Hinds? Well you will tomorrow! I am never a fan of just plain stupid songs, or song that are weird just to be weird. Trust me when I say you will think some of these are bazaar, but I know you will still enjoy.

Today I am giving each and every last one of you a copy of Mikey's Christmas Mix 2010! I must say, last years was pretty great, and I was worried about how I could possibly out do myself, but I think when you hear 2011 you will think it the perfect companion piece! Click on the link below to download!
Daddy's Gonna Kill Ralphie Presents: Mikey's Christmas Mix 2010

Let's go over a few favorite tracks from 2010:

Space Age Santa Claus//Hal Bradley Orchestra w/Patty Marie Jay. (1961)
The A-side of a single written by Ross Christman...hmmm, and performed by the Hal Bradley Orchestra with Patty Marie Jay on vocals. Height of the Space Age goodness! Love the echo on the guitars.

Cool Yule//The J's with Jamie
I'm sure you have all heard the Louis Armstrong version of this song, but I actually like this one best. The awesome harmonies and lounge white bread America spin on this one makes me quite happy.

Snow Flake//Pebbles & Bamm-Bamm
Yes this is supposed to be the same Pebbles & Bamm-Bamm from the Flintstones, and I believe this was from a kids Christmas record, but I love the dreamy guitars and vocals.

Come On Ring Those Bells//Evie Torn
The Norwegian invasion of Evie Torn makes me nostalgic for Christmas in a 1985 snowy Detroit Michigan.

Christmas Journey//Wayne Newton
Again, the dreamy sounds on this one put me in such a happy place. On a side note, I played this for my wife the other day and she asked if it was Judy Garland.

Enjoy the tunes!!!

Even something as momentous as the Scut Farkus affair....

Hope your Thanksgiving was super!

I will be releasing Mikey's Annual Christmas Mix in two days right here on Daddy's Gonna Kill Ralphie, and I thought it may be time to take a look at what I'm listening to this year. Thanks to the power of Spotify, I am able to keep a vast collection of my Christmas favorites at my fingertips, and continue to find new and old gems. Still, I always try and have a hard copy for those times I am not around any of the internets. Remember to click on any of the highlighted words for fun links!

I was very happy to discover the official Christmas story soundtrack was available on Spotify and in stores. This thing has been available for a few years, but for some strange reason, I never thought to look for it till just days ago. Now I can relive the Black Bart shoot out, Bumpus Hounds wreaking havoc in the kitchen and the Scut Farkus yellow eyes scenes in living stereo glory.

Now, you may think you see a typo in the previous paragraph when I mentioned Scut Farkus. Believe me, I would have thought the very same just two weeks ago. How on earth have I seen the greatest holiday movie, dare I say the most influential experience of my life countless times, and the namesake of the very blog you are reading now, and have never noticed who I thought to be Scott was indeed Scut? I, your humble narrator and creator of all things Daddy's Gonna Kill Ralphie, must hang my head in holiday shame for a brief moment and ask for your forgiveness.

OK, let's get back to the music. As any in any great Christmas film, the score for A Christmas Story automatically brings visions of the film to mind and fills my ears with nostalgia of Christmas past. Written by Carl Zittrer and Paul Zaza, and I believe released in 2009 by Rhino records, it is now on constant play, and even though not all the music is necessarily "Christmas music", it is directly from the film and therefore counts as Christmas music in my book!

Here is a little sample...








Next up is Christmas With Jimmy McGriff (1963). I am familiar with Mr. McGriff from many a Lounge music compilation. His haunting Hammond B-3 organ graced Sleigh Ride/Jingle Bells Medley with Al Caiola (one of my favorite Christmas recordings). I was recently joyed when I found his Christmas album. I'm not gonna lie, it may have been the cover photo that brought it to my attention at first, but then I noticed the name. Here is a sample. Just listen to that organ!




Check back tomorrow for some more selections of what I am playing this season, and don't forget December 1st Daddy's Gonna Kill Ralphie's Third Annual Christmas mix!

What is a lamp, you nincompoop? It's a Major Award. I won it!

One more day till the Feast of Thankfulness! I have a few things to share with you that you will in turn be thankful for. Although this is not my highly anticipated annual Mikey's Christmas Mix (still to come), this is a great four hour collection of Christmas tunes that I meticulously slaved over for you to enjoy as you slave over that bird, ham or tofurkey!

You will need spotify to partake in the audio cheer, but it's free, and you will not be sorry you signed up! just click this link to be directed to the playlist.

I also found some pretty neat Thanksgiving commercials and such.....

Dadgummit! Blow out!

Thanksgiving is the day after tomorrow, and what a extravaganza I have planned( for my belly and for the blog). Turkey Day will kick the Christmas season into full gear, and this blog along with it. So here is the two day countdown to start he Christmas countdown!

I thought this would be very educational for you all to watch before you make a gluttonous fool of yourself...

I Tripple Dog Dare You!!!

well here we are. the day after halloween, and in my book the beginning of the christmas season. i couldn't pass up a post today, and was super happy to find this on the internets this morning. i'm planning out some fun stuff for this year, and this could be one of them....

A Christmas Story Video Contest

keep checking back!