Hot Times in Kansas City

This summer is one for the ages in Kansas City.  We're now in our second wave of 100+ degree heat lasting over a week.  It's about 105 here today, so far.  May get up to 107 or so.  In a few days it gets cooler - down to a crisp 98.  This is the hottest summer ever in my 26 years in Kansas City.  The only summer I can remember that was this hot was 1980, when I spent several weeks working outside at my local high school in southern Kansas.  Hot, hot, hot.

I just got back in town from a week-long vacation in Tennessee, including 3 days in the Crossville area and 4 in Memphis.  And, when in Memphis, you go to Graceland.  Now, I knew that Elvis' "The Wonderful World of Christmas" had been re-released last year in an extended 2-disc set, and that it was only available directly from the Elvis enterprises on the web.  That appears to still be so - it's not available on Amazon.  The re-release contains the entire original record, plus many alternate takes and a recording of "The Lord's Prayer".  One the drive to Memphis, the thought hit that I could probably get this CD at Graceland.  And, sure enough, there it was.  It isn't cheap, but it cost no more than the web price.  So, of course, I bought it :-)  Elvis is an iconic Christmas voice, and I'm very pleased to add this to my collection.  A future blog post will have some thoughts about this record.

Speaking of future blog posts, I have several queued up in mind that are not Christmas related.  There are a few CDs from emerging, independent artists that I want to review on the blog, and I also have a couple of posts related to baseball, and possibly a few others before I get back into the Christmas blog season.  I hope you enjoy them.

I've also acquired a few more Christmas records to post here during the season, and it's about time to start ripping and scanning.

So, dear readers, be looking for a few posts here soon.  If you like the non-Christmas posts, leave a comment.  No politics, nothing controversial, just some musings on various topics.

Thanks for visiting Merry and Bright!  Come back soon!