60's Christmas

 

With Gareth Jones from Dandelion Radio

1. BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Christmas Commercial 

2. The Go-Go's - I'm Gonna Spend My Christmas With A Dalek

3. Claudine Longet - I Don't Intend To Spend Christmas Without You 

4. The Del Vetts - I Want A Boy For Christmas

5. Patty Surbey & The Canadian V.I.P.'s - (I Want) A Beatle For Christmas 

6. Becky Lee Beck - I Want A Beatle For Christmas 

7. Dora Bryan - All I Want For Christmas Is A Beatle 

8. Bey Ireland - All I Want For Christmas Is A Go-Go Girl 

9. The Surfaris - A Surfer's Christmas List 

10. The Beach Boys - Little Saint Nick (Alternate Version)

11. The Beach Girls - Skiing In The Snow 

12. Pixies Three - Cold Cold Winter

13. The Four Seasons - Jungle Bells 

14. Blues Magoos - Jingle Bells 

15. The Sonics - Don't Believe In Christmas 

16. Bob Seger & The Last Heard - Sock It To Me Santa

17. Kay Martin - Come On Santa, Let's Have A Ball 

18. The Trashmen - Dancin' With Santa 

19. Debbie & The Darnels - Santa, Teach Me To Dance

20. Mark Anthony - Mama's Twistin' With Santa 

21. Tommy Regan - Santa Twist 

22. The Twistin' Kings - Xmas Twist

23. The Marcels - Merry Twist-Mas 

24. Johnny Mendell with Gil and His Premiers - Jingle Bell Twist USA 

25. Lonnie & The Crisis - Santa Town U.S.A. 

26. The Shades - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town 

27. Milton DeLugg and The Little Eskimos -  Hooray For Santa Claus 

28. Bob Morrison - Santa Mouse 

29. Popcorn Rebellion - The Christmas Game 

30. The Stompers - Stompin' Round The Xmas Tree 

31. The Orchids - Mr. Scrooge 

32. Big Dee Irwin And Little Eva - I Wish You A Merry Christmas 

33. Bobby 'Borris' Pickett & The Crypt Kickers - Monsters' Holiday 

34. Bobby Goldsboro - Look Around You (It's Christmastime)

Tom Hanks Christmas Special

 

Poster by Johnny Bartlett

Tune in on Friday, December 24th at NOON EST for the Tom Hanks Christmas Special!  Play Name That Tune and YOU could win a "Songs From The Back Of The Station Wagon" T-Shirt!

PLEDGE

"Make With The Shake" 2016 Holiday Mix!

Shove some extra spice into your nog with this holiday rock & soul mix courtesy of DJ Pat K! Ice cold seasonal stompers direct from the North Pole, guaranteed to shake your tinsel sideways, mixed live from 45s!  Download here!

Where I'd Like To Have Spent Christmas Forty-Seven Years Ago

The Imperial Hotel at 355 Peachtree Street in Atlanta was home to a succession of nightclubs in the old days, and my fellow Ichiban stalwart Greg G has shared many great ads for them in the past, both here and at his invaluable Atlanta Time Machine site. But to the best of my knowledge, he doesn't have this particular one!

Lionel Hampton - Hep Santa Claus

Via the Jet magazine archives (December, 1957).

Santa's Movin' On

Havin' A Cartwright Christmas

Little Joe  -  Santa Got Lost In Texas

Ben Cartwright  -  Stuck In The Chimney

Christmas Fun...or Christmas Misery. Choose Wisely!

(This post was supposed to go up around lunchtime, but I didn't press "post".)

Spike Jones & His City Slickers - "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer"

Bill Anderson - "My Christmas List Grows Shorter Every Year"

WARNING: If you're having a bad Christmas, or are alone right now, I strongly urge you not to click on this one. Seriously. Proceed at your own risk!

All I Want For Christmas Is A C.B. (MP3)

Jim Hubler - All I Want For Christmas Is A CB

Daddy's Drinkin' Up Our Christmas

Here's some indisputably bleak Yuletide "cheer" from Commander Cody & The Lost Planet Airmen, the pride of Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Kentucky Fried Christmas?

OK!

Mrs. Jim Reeves

 A couple of years ago, my buddy Robert got me this pocket date book off of eBay as a Christmas present, because of the Hatch Show Print logo. The only writing in it (other than what appear to be some notes made while doing a crossword puzzle) was the two-page spread seen below.

 Examining this, I realized that it seemed to have some connection to country legend Jim Reeves; my initial assumption was that it had belonged to Jim's manager or some other close

associate, who was making notes toward figuring out what to give Jim and Mrs. Reeves for Christmas a half-century ago. A subsequent perusal of one of my vast collection of postcards would lead me to a different conclusion.

Mary Reeves (1929-1999)

After Reeves' death in 1964, his wife Mary  dedicated most of the rest of her life to preserving Jim's legacy , both by releasing a great many overdubbed posthumous recordings, Norman Petty-style (some perfectly good, others notably less so--- also like Petty's Buddy Holly products), and by operating a Jim Reeves Museum in Nashville for over 20 years. At some point during that period of time, the souvenir shop sold postcards of the widow Reeves, one autographed specimen of which was in my possession.

Comparing her signature to the notebook, I concluded that the book had been hers, and that the "Mrs. Reeves" in the book was in fact her mother-in-law!

Judge for yourself... it's not an absolutely perfect match, but the 20-plus year gap between the two documents, added to the different nature of a signature and scribbled notes would explain that adequately in my view.

So that's the story of my "Holy Relic", as I currently understand it. Regrettably,if this actually was Mary's, it was likely released into the world when her second husband sold off all of her property and all rights to Jim's recordings and name when she went into a rest home. Her obituary has the sad details.

Here's Mary in happier times:

And here's the man himself:

(written by his old buddy Roger Miller)

James Travis Reeves
(August 20th 1923- July 31st 1964)

Postscript: For any Hatch Show Print fans here in the Athens, GA area, American Letter press: The Art of Hatch Show Print is in town at the Georgia Museum of Art until November 26th.

Tannenbaum

The Orchids - Mr. Scrooge (Cinebox Film)

A Disc Jockey's Christmas Eve

Big Loo.