Today we put up our Christmas tree, and when I was rummaging through a stack of holiday-themed cd's that my wife acquired a while back, I came across this Burl Ives classic. Needless to say, I popped this in as we began decorating and it set the mood...despite it being 70 degrees outside!

joey fuckup said:

What?! They never heard of one of the best Rankin/Bass TV specials of all time??? Personally, I think Burl Ives is one THE voices of Christmas music:

You can't go wrong this time of year with this:

trashman said:

I was having a conversation with some fellows from the U.K. and I was surprised they had never heard of the stop animation special; Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer.  I thought this had a worldwide distribution by this point.  Rudolph is an absolute must for xmas time.  We watched it as kids and pass it on to the next generation.  

"I want to be a dentist"; and the Bumble are the greatest.  I like to think how many times I pulled a Cornelius......ta,ta,ta,ta,......nothing (imagine him licking his pitch hoping for gold) when the bowl has been cashed.

 

 

 

Very cool, Mitch, I'd like to get my hands on this album! Thanks for posting this!

Mitch Wilwerding said:

get tired of your regular old hoilday tunes? no i know it aint garage punk but if you can dig old 30s 40s 50s music theres a great album called Papa Ain't No Santa Clause, Mama Ain't No Christmas Tree got some good old tunes to get the ones walmart is blaring over the PA outta your head heres a sample

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9jtEi16bUw

get tired of your regular old hoilday tunes? no i know it aint garage punk but if you can dig old 30s 40s 50s music theres a great album called Papa Ain't No Santa Clause, Mama Ain't No Christmas Tree got some good old tunes to get the ones walmart is blaring over the PA outta your head heres a sample

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9jtEi16bUw

I admire your taste on Christmas music, it could definately give the holidays a more classic spin! The fact that you would do the research on the holiday as much as you are doing is also quite admirable. VERY out of the norm, thanks for contributing!

Matty Fuzzbox said:

Call me old fashioned (YOU'RE OLD FASHIONED), but I tend to ignore the commercialism as much as possible and focus on reminiscing with my family about seasons past and giving out gag gifts with my relatives. Doing research on how Christmas was celebrated in the 18th century, I came across several advertisements from the time of the American Revolution advertising for toys and books "Perfect for Christmas" and a part of me was not surprised that commercialism and the holiday season dated back that far, or even further!

But anyways as for albums my tastes are the complete opposite of Halloween (Misfits, Garage, Surf). I mean the Los Straitjackets and Fleshtones holiday albums are fantastic, but for Christmas I prefer 17th and 18th century albums played on period instruments. Not as cliche and overplayed as what you hear on the radio, with a little more class.

Call me old fashioned (YOU'RE OLD FASHIONED), but I tend to ignore the commercialism as much as possible and focus on reminiscing with my family about seasons past and giving out gag gifts with my relatives. Doing research on how Christmas was celebrated in the 18th century, I came across several advertisements from the time of the American Revolution advertising for toys and books "Perfect for Christmas" and a part of me was not surprised that commercialism and the holiday season dated back that far, or even further!

But anyways as for albums my tastes are the complete opposite of Halloween (Misfits, Garage, Surf). I mean the Los Straitjackets and Fleshtones holiday albums are fantastic, but for Christmas I prefer 17th and 18th century albums played on period instruments. Not as cliche and overplayed as what you hear on the radio, with a little more class.

Would you believe that I've never heard this version before? It definately beats the hell out of Bob Seger's take on it!

swt said:

Since the mid 80s or so, back when my daughter was little, it's been a Terrell family tradition to play this song immediately after placing the Octopus on top of the Christmas tree:

 

 

Since the mid 80s or so, back when my daughter was little, it's been a Terrell family tradition to play this song immediately after placing the Octopus on top of the Christmas tree:

I dig the tree! I would never be able to get away with ornaments like these...Maybe I just need to put up my very own Christmas tree!

swt said:

I like decorating the tree too.

 

We have an octopus instead of a star

Yeah, you can't wrong with these songs, especially Buck! One thing I do hate are all the pale imitators that feel they need to cover this song, and they fail miserably. (In my opinion) I really need to buy this though...

swt said:

These songs

("Amen" isn't really a Christmas song, but I first heard it on my little transistor radio on Christmas Eve and it seemed so right.)

If you lived in my city, I would be at your house everyday in December! I LOVE the gaudy/tacky decorations, and I love your tree! For me personally, I would enjoy going all "trailer trash" gaudiness with Xmas decor from the late '60's-early '70's. I'm robbed of that because my wife does all the decorating with her countrifed arts and crafts items, the very commercialized Hallmark ornaments, the pop country Christmas discs playing on the tabletop stereo...UGH! Please give me creepy Santas, fat glass tree lights, psychedelic lamps shining green and red hues in the living room....And yes, I love eggnog! It's a big weakness of mine this time of year. And I really like kicking back by the woodstove having a bottle of Southern Comfort's eggnog while listening to some Los Straightjackets holiday surf...

El Rey said:

I love this discussion. Here at my house we try to "own it". We've got the white plastic tree with all the terribly gaudy ornaments, creepy vintage Santas, we do an ugly sweater party....all that stuff. Plus (I know you either hate it or love it ,but I LOVE it) EGGNOG is available at all the markets. I'm originally from Mexico, so we do more the posadas and stuff like that. I know all my American friends love coming over cause we make lots of tamales and Mexican pastries.

Here's a pic of our tree from last year. Note the voodoo dolls, New Orleans Mardi Gras beads, and paper foo foo drink umbrellas! LOL

I like decorating the tree too.

We have an octopus instead of a star

These songs

("Amen" isn't really a Christmas song, but I first heard it on my little transistor radio on Christmas Eve and it seemed so right.)

I love this discussion. Here at my house we try to "own it". We've got the white plastic tree with all the terribly gaudy ornaments, creepy vintage Santas, we do an ugly sweater party....all that stuff. Plus (I know you either hate it or love it ,but I LOVE it) EGGNOG is available at all the markets. I'm originally from Mexico, so we do more the posadas and stuff like that. I know all my American friends love coming over cause we make lots of tamales and Mexican pastries.

Here's a pic of our tree from last year. Note the voodoo dolls, New Orleans Mardi Gras beads, and paper foo foo drink umbrellas! LOL

What?! They never heard of one of the best Rankin/Bass TV specials of all time??? Personally, I think Burl Ives is one THE voices of Christmas music:

You can't go wrong this time of year with this:

trashman said:

I was having a conversation with some fellows from the U.K. and I was surprised they had never heard of the stop animation special; Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer.  I thought this had a worldwide distribution by this point.  Rudolph is an absolute must for xmas time.  We watched it as kids and pass it on to the next generation.  

"I want to be a dentist"; and the Bumble are the greatest.  I like to think how many times I pulled a Cornelius......ta,ta,ta,ta,......nothing (imagine him licking his pitch hoping for gold) when the bowl has been cashed.

 

 

 

I was having a conversation with some fellows from the U.K. and I was surprised they had never heard of the stop animation special; Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer.  I thought this had a worldwide distribution by this point.  Rudolph is an absolute must for xmas time.  We watched it as kids and pass it on to the next generation.  

"I want to be a dentist"; and the Bumble are the greatest.  I like to think how many times I pulled a Cornelius......ta,ta,ta,ta,......nothing (imagine him licking his pitch hoping for gold) when the bowl has been cashed.

I've always known about this movie, but I've never gotten around to seeing it. Being kind of a sci-fi fan as a kid in the '70's, this movie was always poppin' up on the radar along with other fare at that time like "Logan's Run", "Slaughterhouse Five", and any other film set in "the future". I really would like to check this out, though, 'cause it's one of those I keep forgetting about.

Spite Classic said:

 ROLLERBALL!!! (1975)  I saw it again BIGSCREEN just 2 months ago.  Won tickets!  Norman Jewison introduced the film himself.  He talked about the difference between European and North American reactions.  "All over Europe they loved it, they understood the socio-political implications, thankfully the Americans loved it too, but they just wanted to PLAY IT!"

 ROLLERBALL!!! (1975)  I saw it again BIGSCREEN just 2 months ago.  Won tickets!  Norman Jewison introduced the film himself.  He talked about the difference between European and North American reactions.  "All over Europe they loved it, they understood the socio-political implications, thankfully the Americans loved it too, but they just wanted to PLAY IT!"

Very cool you posted this link, Andy, because I have this. BUT I have never gotten around to watching those "Babysitter" movies. "The Pink Angels" is great! And the ending was quite a shocker I didn't see coming!

Andy Seven said:

You can buy The Babysitter and its sleazy sequel, Weekend With The Babysitter in this terrific box set for only $8:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Drive--Cult-Classics-Vol-3/dp/B001CB6RSU/ref=...

 

There's also some crazy nonsense about a gay biker gang (The Pink Angels) and a bunch of other stuff. The picture quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Michael Draine said:

My favorite drive-in movie is THE BABYSITTER (1969).  The only DVD release is from a slightly blurry (but uncut) video transfer.  It's got bikers, a nymphet, and psychedelic music by The Food.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0WiHkQQ3HM

Something Weird has issued some great drive-in double bill DVDs, which can be viewed with trailers and concession stand ads for a total drive-in experience.  One of the best is Doris Wishman's BAD GIRLS GO TO HELL/ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER MAN.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1vMA3k7_M8

You can buy The Babysitter and its sleazy sequel, Weekend With The Babysitter in this terrific box set for only $8:

http://www.amazon.com/Drive--Cult-Classics-Vol-3/dp/B001CB6RSU/ref=sr_1_4?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1322062111&sr=1-4

There's also some crazy nonsense about a gay biker gang (The Pink Angels) and a bunch of other stuff. The picture quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Michael Draine said:

My favorite drive-in movie is THE BABYSITTER (1969).  The only DVD release is from a slightly blurry (but uncut) video transfer.  It's got bikers, a nymphet, and psychedelic music by The Food.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0WiHkQQ3HM

Something Weird has issued some great drive-in double bill DVDs, which can be viewed with trailers and concession stand ads for a total drive-in experience.  One of the best is Doris Wishman's BAD GIRLS GO TO HELL/ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER MAN.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1vMA3k7_M8

My favorite drive-in movie is THE BABYSITTER (1969).  The only DVD release is from a slightly blurry (but uncut) video transfer.  It's got bikers, a nymphet, and psychedelic music by The Food.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0WiHkQQ3HM

Something Weird has issued some great drive-in double bill DVDs, which can be viewed with trailers and concession stand ads for a total drive-in experience.  One of the best is Doris Wishman's BAD GIRLS GO TO HELL/ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER MAN.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1vMA3k7_M8

I'VE BEEN WAITING ONE WEEK NOW GADDANMIT!  this must be some extremely famous person.

you win!

erin said:

ha!

The Fleshtones and The Atomic Mosquitos

Awesome! Those kids got one hell of a dad

Also known as The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris. I ordered the boxset last night, should be delivered any time soon. :)

I loved the character on True Blood and when I finished watching all four seasons I was hungry for more. I've read some good reviews on the novels, so I can't wait to start reading!

Who has read any of these books by Harris? What did you think?