Kelley McRae Kickstarter project

Hello good readers.  Last summer I blogged about singer-songwriter Kelley McRae coming to my living room and giving my family and friends an amazing house show, as part of her VW Camper Van tour of the US. 

Kelley McRae Kickstarter

Kelley and husband/guitarist Matt completed the 2011 tour and settled for a time in Tennessee, where they worked on a new album (Kelley's third), chock full of songs inspired from their time on the road.  "A Kansas City Living Room and a Kitchen Full of Snacks", perhaps?  Oh, probably not...  :-)

To complete the project and get the CD manufactured, Kelley has a Kickstarter project set up.  Kickstarter is a terrific way for artists to connect with their fans, and allow their fans to be backers for their projects and provide the funds for the artists to complete their work.  I'm a big fan of the Kickstarter philosophy - it's a social network of fans who can fund the artists at any level they can afford.  The artists repay the fans with perk packages based on the amount contributed.  All the details are on the Kickstarter sites.  Kelley is the fourth project I've backed - two Christmas projects from Sam Billen, one by Jessica Frech, and now Kelley's new album.

I love Kelley's music.  She is a gifted songwriter and an amazing, talented singer.  She and Matt give us music from the heart - you can hear it in their performances.  I was a Day 1 backer on Kickstarter, and am anxiously awaiting the new album.

So - here's your chance to be a backer for Kelley.  Now through April 3, 2012, Kelley's Kickstarter project is accepting fund committments.  She has some fab stuff for everyone who contributes.   The link to her project follows (and is at the top of the post, too, for your convenience).  Please check out Kelley's music and go to Kickstarter and be a backer.  You'll feel like a record mogul, just a little bit  :-)

Kelley McRae Kickstarter

Kelley McRae's Website

Spring is Here

Spring doesn't officially arrive until March 20, but with highs in the 70s all week, and a chance for 80 tomorrow (3/13), I think Winter has pretty much gone away.  I believe our official snowfall total for the season was 3.4 inches.  We added a little bit last week at the airport, where they take the official measurements.  That day at my house, which is about 10 miles east of the airport, I awoke to about a half inch of sleet on the ground.

In the past we have had some doozy snowstorms in mid-March, but I don't see anything like that coming.  If that's the case, this will be the lowest snowfall total ever recorded in KC.  It almost seems like the big snow Winters the last two years sucked all of the Winter energy out and left this season just a little weakling....

Well, onward to Spring, and St. Patrick's Day this weekend.  Time to break out my Irish music :-)

Hibernation

There's not much going on in the world of Christmas Music bloggery these days.  Post-Christmas lull across the blogs.  Lack-of-Winter blahs.  For those at the edge of your seat regarding the so-called Winter in Kansas City, we are at an all-time low of 3.1 inches of snow for the season.  Tornados were in the area last night, with Harveyville KS (an hour and a half from KC) getting some pretty major damage.  It's very early in the year for severe weather.

Anyway - I'm hoping to get some more Cuneo Christmas books photographed and posted in the next few days.  I don't know yet whether I'll post any non-Christmas music here this off-season.  I'm leaning more toward spreading the Christmas ripping throughout the year so I'm better prepared once the season hits.  I will need to re-stock with some thrift store runs.

So - Happy Leap Day everyone!  Do something unexpected :-)

Snow! Finally!

It took until Feb 13,  but we finally got our first inch of snow in Kansas City.  The snow arrived early in the AM on Feb 13, and left about 2 1/2 inches at my house.  No pictures, unfortunately, because I was home-bound with cold/flu and didn't feel much like photographing anything.  40's today (2/14), rain tomorrow, so snow will be gone soon.  Hope to get another snowstorm or two before the season ends.

Cuneo Christmas 1947

The 1947 edition of the Cuneo Christmas series is the second collection of stories by William Thackery.  As always, the book concludes with the Pope's Christmas broadcast.

This is the only Cuneo book that I have that is bound in green.

Spine: 

Title Page:

Acknowledgements:

Table of Contents:

Illustration:

Pope's Broadcast first page:

Cuneo Christmas 1946

The earliest Cuneo Christmas book I have is from 1946.  It is the first of a two-year set featuring stories and illustrations by William M. Thackery. 

The Christmas 1946 edition of this series featured Pope Pius XII's Christmas broadcast from December, 1945, the first Christmas following the end of World War II.

Spine (with bowl of fruit):

Title Page:

Acknowledgements by John Cuneo:

Table of Contents:

Story and Illustration:

Pope Pius XII Christmas Broadcast (first page):

The Cuneo Christmas Project

Back in December I posted about some wonderful Christmas books from the Cuneo Press.  Tonight I'm going to start a series of posts featuring the books I've acquired so far.  I've limited myself to the inexpensive end of the spectrum.  There are more in the series that I don't have that are higher priced out on the web, and there are also several years that I haven't found yet.  The older ones are, as expected, more elusive.

These are simply marvelous books.  Each year from 1942 through 1980, John Cuneo published a new edition, selecting stories to share for the Christmas season.  And, each book reprinted the Pope's Christmas broadcast from the prior Christmas.  This creates an amazing historical record.

Here's my helper in this little endeavor:

This antique iron horse bank belonged to my aunt, and dates to the early 20th century.  He will be my helper to hold the books open during the photo sessions :-)