Christmas Marathon, Pt. 4

It's a Crackpot Christmas, from 2005! Somehow, I skipped 2004, perhaps because I did 3 mixes in '03. Then again, that doesn't explain how I could skip 2006 - '08, which I did, and may yet skip '09. Perhaps Christmas mixes have become too goddam common. It was about the time when I constructed this thing that it became so easy to find Christmas Constructions from The Web that you could easily download more than it was possible for one person to listen to, during the season, without risking severe dementia.

This baby is about halfway between the two preceding mixes, in regard to amusement vs. offensiveness. There's bad taste and cuss-words in a few songs, but most of them are not so bad.

A couple of songs here are so stupid that I can't think what I was thinking when I included them, and I wouldn't mind if you left them out if you decided to make a CD of this anthology. A few more are my favorites of this or any other mix -- The Tradewinds' "New York's A Lonely Town", in particular, is one of my all-time favorite Christmas songs even though it never makes the slightest mention of the holidays at all. I'm guessing that I first heard it during during a Christmas Eve substitute DJ shift on KPFA back in '76.

Let me be your jackass Santa Claus

Song list:

01 - Pete Rugolo - Jingle Bells Mambo
02 - The Cocktail Preachers - Linus And Lucy
03 - DJ John - The Christmas Massacre of Charlie Brown
04 - The Christmas Project - It's Xmas And I've Got A Hangover
05 - Billy Beau - Santa's Coffee
06 - Babs Gonzales - Teenage Santa Claus
07 - Gatemouth Moore with The Tiny Grimes Swingtet - Xmas Blues
08 - Hank Thompson - I'd Like To Have An Elephant For Christmas
09 - HP Lovecraft Historical Society - Carol Of The Old Ones
10 - Jason and The Straptones - I Found The Brains Of Santa Claus
11 - Rev Frost - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
12 - The Tradewinds - New York's A Lonely Town
13 - Mr Green Jeans - Crackerjack Christmas
14 - Louis Prima - Shake Hands With Santa Claus
15 - Linda Scott - Christmas Day
16 - Buck and Sandy Dharma - Baby It's Cold Outside
17 - Michael Landon - Santa Got Lost In Texas
18 - Kelley Ryan - It's Not Christmas
19 - Trailer Trash - Please Daddy Don't Get Drunk This Xmas
20 - Red Peters - Holy Shit It's Christmas
21 - Mel Blanc - Yah Das Ist Ein Christmas Tree
22 - Red Simpson - Truckin' Trees For Christmas
23 - The Christmas Jug Band - Somebody Stole My Santa Claus Suit
24 - Sonny Cash - Merry Xmas Polka
25 - Duke Tumatoe and The Power Trio - Christmas At Grandma's
26 - Voicedude - Santabenz
27 - June Christy - The Merriest (Thunderball Mix)
28 - RIAA - Santa's Acid Hawaiian Space Disco (Excerpt)
29 - Kids of Children's Psychiatric Hospital - O Come All Ye Faithful

PS: Oh, and that's Dan Hicks, if you're like me and care, who's singing in front of The Christmas Jug Band.

Christmas Marathon, Pt. 3

Actually, I made more than one Christmas mix in 2003. The first was outrageously nasty, so I figured I had to have something different to play for a family-type audience -- and hence this little biscuit. All clean and safe to play for all but the most easily-offended folks (and for them, I had yet another mix, which is too boring to post).

One number here, Meryn Cadell's "The Cat Carol", is one of my top 5 favorite Christmas songs ever, and makes me weep like a slashed aloe plant every time I hear it. Be warned.

Almost nice...

Song List:

01 - Buck Owens - Christmas Time's A-Coming
02 - Loudon Wainwright III - Suddenly It's Christmas
03 - Mojo Nixon - Good King Wenceslas
04 - George Thorogood - Rock & Roll Christmas
05 - Li'l Ed & The Blues Imperials - I'm Your Santa
06 - Graham Parker & Nona Hendryx - Soul Christmas
07 - Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass - Sleigh Ride
08 - Chi - Santa Claus Is A Black Man
09 - Shu-Bi-Dua - White Christmas
10 - Nashville Superpickers - Oh Come All Ye Faithful
11 - The Primitives - Silent Night
12 - Tiny Grimes & JB Summers - I Want A Christmas Present
13 - Ralph Marterie & His Orchestra - Dig That Crazy Santa Claus
14 - Gayle Peevey - I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas
15 - Troy Hess - Christmas On The Moon
16 - Thee Spivies - There's No Christmas On The Moon
17 - Webster Webfoot - Who Will Take Me Home For Christmas
18 - Art Carney - Santa And The Doodle Li Boop
19 - Old 97s - Have A Holly Jolly Christmas
20 - The Heptones - Christmas Time Is Here
21 - The Roches - Winter Wonderland
22 - Meryn Cadell - The Cat Carol
23 - Dash Rip Rock - Christmas In El Paso
24 - Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys - Empty Chair At The Christmas Table
25 - Pizzicato Five - Silent Night

Christmas Marathon, Pt. 2

Uh... not so much a marathon, I guess. Too lazy. This is from Christmas 2003, shortly after I keeled over and stopped breathing, briefly. Hence, I think, the incredibly rude nature of the mix. The cover illustration is a product of the demented mind of Goopymart, all hail him. Speaking of stopping breathing, let's dedicate this one to Patrick Swayze, RIP -- I never saw any of his movies, but he is featured, in a way, on this disc.

The turd in the wassail bowl.

Song list:

01 - K Gordon Murray - Santa Claus, The Trailer
02 - Weird Al Yankovic - The Night Santa Went Crazy
03 - Flat Duo Jets - Christmas Time (Hey We're Gonna Rock)
04 - Root Boy Slim - Xmas @ Kmart
05 - Nerf Herder - I've Got A Boner For Christmas
06 - Squirrell Nut Zippers - Sleigh Ride
07 - Joseph Spence - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
08 - The Showcase Showdown - Merry Christmas, I Fucked Your Snowman
09 - Tiny Tim - Santa Claus Has Got The AIDS This Year
10 - Tom Waits & Peter Murphy - Christmas Sucks
11 - Murder City Devils - Dead By Christmas
12 - Man Or Astroman - Frosty The Snowman
13 - Mack Rice - Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin'
14 - Kevin 'Bloody' Wilson - Hey Santa Claus You Cunt
15 - The Kids Of Widney High - Santa's In A Wheelchair
16 - MC Potbelly - Santa Is Dead
17 - Graham Parker - Christmas Is For Mugs
18 - MST3K - (Let's Have) A Patrick Swayze Christmas
19 - The HP Lovecraft Historical Society - I Saw Mommy Kissing Yog-Sothoth
20 - Venus Envy - Lesbians We Have Heard On High
21 - Pansy Division - Homo Christmas
22 - Bob Rivers - Who Put The Dick On The Snowman
23 - SNL - Dysfuntional Family Christmas
24 - Fear - Fuck Christmas
25 - Jimi Hendrix - Holiday Medley
26 - Snoop Dogg Vs. Nate Dogg - 'Twas The Night Before Christmas
27 - The Evolution Control Committee - The Christmas Wrong

Happy Hippie Radio

As promised, here's the complete version of the Happy Hippie Radio mix CD; if you're interested and haven't downloaded all the parts, just download this one -- it has all the same music as the individual episodes, in the same order.

This was my third attempt at making a mix of the kind of music I remember from listening to KSAN-FM, San Francisco, circa 1971, so I pretty much knew how I wanted it to go. There were some difficult choices to make, obviously, in condensing the times down to roughly 79 minutes, and some things got cut. If you're wondering why there's no Grateful Dead here, for instance, well... the station didn't really play all that much -- and when they did, it was usually "Uncle John's Band" or "Casey Jones" or "New Speedway Boogie", none of which I ever want to hear again. Besides, according to legend, Jerry Garcia is present here as the pedal-steel guitar player on "One Toke Over The Line".

Several of the choices to represent certain bands could have been different: "Coming Your Way" probably should have been "Oh Well" or "Station Man", but the song I used was representative enough and was the one I most wanted to hear; "Mama Told Me Not to Come" should have been "Yellow Man", and "Apeman" should have been "Lola", based on how well I remember hearing those songs, but the numbers I used fit the mix better; the Traffic, Steve Miller and John Prine tracks could have all been any of at least 2 or 3 other songs apiece -- and probably will be when I do this again.

Ah well, it's been fun, especially the music. Stay tuned!

The fake jive 95 is here.

Song list:

01 - The Allman Brothers Band - Midnight Rider
02 - The Band - The Shape I'm In
03 - Moby Grape - Murder In My Heart For The Judge
04 - Humble Pie - 30 Days In The Hole
05 - Spirit - Animal Zoo
06 - The Kinks - Apeman
07 - John Simon - The Song of the Elves
08 - Santana - Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen
09 - Fleetwood Mac - Coming Your Way
10 - Ten Years After - I'd Love to Change the World
11 - Quicksilver Messenger Service - Fresh Air
12 - The Fraternity of Man - Don't Bogart Me
13 - Brewer and Shipley - One Toke Over The Line
14 - Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen -
Seeds and Stems (Again)
15 - Randy Newman - Mama Told Me Not to Come
16 - Donovan - Season Of The Witch
17 - Traffic - Feelin' Alright?
18 - Steve Miller Band - Your Saving Grace
19 - Mike d'Abo - Handbags and Gladrags
20 - John Prine - Your Flag Decal Won't Get You
Into Heaven Anymore
21 - The Youngbloods - Hippie From Olema

Christmas Marathon, Pt. 1

Thanksgiving is over, let the screaming begin! This is my Christmas mix CD from 2002. Ah, those were the days... when I had no broadband, when album-length mixes were not so readily available, when I made my own Christmas CDs almost every year...

I suffered for this music; now it's your turn (as they say).

Xmas on a stick.

Song List:

01 - Milton Kaye's Steam Calliope - Jingle Bells
02 - Bob Dalpe - Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow
03 - The Eels - Everything's Gonna Be Cool This Christmas
04 - The Dismemberment Plan - This Christmas
05 - Lou Rawls - Christmas Is
06 - The Vince Guaraldi Trio - The Christmas Song
07 - John Fahey - Hark, The Herald Angels Sing / O Come, All Ye Faithful
08 - Suddenly, Tammy! - Deck The Halls
09 - The Jingle Cats - White Christmas
10 - Porky Pig - Blue Christmas
11 - El Vez - Brown Christmas
12 - The Emotions - Black Christmas
13 - Louis Armstrong & Benny Carter - Christmas Night In Harlem
14 - Louis Prima - What Will Santa Claus Say When He Finds Everybody Swingin'?
15 - Lou Monte - The Italian Christmas Donkey
16 - The Barking Dogs - Jingle Bells
17 - My First Keyboard - Christmas Is Only Good If You Are A Girl (Boy)
18 - Fountains Of Wayne - I Want An Alien For Christmas
19 - The Rubber Band - Jinglebell Rock
20 - Dean Martin - Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
21 - Catherine Irwin - Dirty Little Snowman
22 - The Flaming Lips - Christmas At The Zoo
23 - The Cocteau Twins - Winter Wonderland
24 - Astronaut Frank Borman - A Christmas Greeting From Space

Go Away, Silly Bird!

Another completed mix CD from olden times past. This one was made for a fan of cuckoo clocks, and I believe it was not well-liked because it was so all-over-the-place. Well, what can you expect from a cuckoo? Also, it runs a little short, which makes it just the right length for one side of a C-90.


What's in the cuckoo clock?


Song list:


01. Cuckoo Clock - Winding
02. Cuckoo Clock - Ticking
03. Cuckoo Clock - Cuckooing
04. Big Brother & The Holding Co - Coo Coo
05. The Monks - Cuckoo
06. Rachel Sweet - What's In The Cuckoo Clock
07. Dawn Of The Replicants - Cuckoo Clock
08. The Magnetic Fields - Absolutely Cuckoo
09. The Everly Brothers - The Cuckoo
10. The Beach Boys - Cuckoo Clock
11. The Andrews Sisters - Tico Tico
12. Benny Goodman & Johnny Mercer - The Cuckoo In The Clock Went Cuckoo
13. The Crazy Star Band - The Dance Of The Cuckoos
14. Gracie Fields - The Mockingbird Went Cuckoo
15. The Holy Modal Rounders - The Cuckoo
16. Syncropation Combonation - Serenade to a Cuckoo
17. PDQ Bach - The Cuckoo in the Depths of the Forest
18. György Ligeti - Cuckoo in the Pear-Tree
19. The Cuckoo - Cuculus Pallidus

Highway 61 Revisited, Revisited

It's a sure sign of the greatness of a record if you can put together a collection of cover-versions of just the songs on that record. And, no, I'm not talking about tribute albums; this is my cherry-picked set of personal favorite covers of all the songs on Highway 61, plus 3 bonus versions of songs that were bumped from the original for various reasons. Some of these are live, some are rare, and one (the Winkies track) had to edited to remove an irrelevant introduction. Front and back artwork included.


Love ya, Bobby!

Song List:

01. Like A Rolling Stone - Jimi Hendrix Experience
02. Tombstone Blues - Richie Havens
03. It Takes A Lot To Laugh - The Winkies
04. From a Buick 6 - Mike Wilhelm
05. Ballad of A Thin Man - Willard Grant Conspiracy
06. Queen Jane, Approximately - Mojave 3
07. Highway 61 Revisited - Johnny Winter
08. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues - Bryan Ferry
09. Desolation Row - Robyn Hitchcock
10. Positively 4th St - X
11. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window - The Hold Steady
12. Sitting On A Barbed Wire Fence - Thurston Moore

First post and general tone-setter

Starting off with a long mix on the subject of the end game in romantic relations, with a couple of near-optimistic bookends. After much tinkering with song order, this is something that I can really mope over, yet want to hear all over again.

Blues For Em

Song list:

01 - Doris Day - For All We Know
02 - Dwight Twilley Band - You Were So Warm
03 - Tim Hardin - How Can We Hang On To A Dream
04 - Brenda Lee - The Crying Game
05 - Los Straitjackets w. Leigh Nash - The End of the World
06 - Oysterband w. June Tabor - Love Will Tear Us Apart
07 - Hearts And Flowers - Road To Nowhere
08 - Superette - Knowing Me Knowing You
09 - Billy Bragg - Walk Away Renee
10 - Dummy - Walk Away Renee
11 - Dave Alvin - Fourth Of July
12 - Jayhawks - Blue
13 - dBs - Black and White
14 - Sleater-Kinney - One More Hour
15 - Muck And The Mires - I Never Got Over You
16 - Magic Numbers - Love Me Like You
17 - Badfinger - Baby Blue (U.S. Single Mix)
18 - John Doe - The Unhappy Song
19 - Carole King - A Road To Nowhere
20 - Rodolphe Burger - Love Will Tear Us Apart
21 - Crazy Horse - I'll Get By
22 - Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby - I Still Miss Someone
23 - Orioles - For All We Know