Coming Soon to Merry and Bright!

Spring is here, which brings baseball, volleyball, and dance to the Der Bingle family, leaving little time for new posts here.  But, I have several things in the works, as soon as the schedule allows.  Working on more posts in the Cuneo Christmas book series.  I know photos of books aren't the most thrilling things you can find on the internet, but I hope you are enjoying them.  I acquired a couple more ('53 and '54) from eBay this week, so I'll work them in.

Christmas blog readers may remember Stubby's review of jazz singer Jillaine's Christmas CD release from 2011.  I've received this CD from Jillaine for review, as well as her two other albums.  I'll save my review of her Christmas CD for closer to the season, but I'll get reviews of the non-Christmas works written and posted  here in the next few weeks. 

I'm working on meeting up with one of the major players in Christmas music on the web here in a month or so.  Just a social meet and greet and chat about Christmas music :-)   If it happens, it'll be fully documented here.

I need to get out and visit some thrift stores to stock up for sharing season this year.  I have a few that didn't get shared last season, but I need to add some more to the library to have enough to keep the music flowing all through the season.

Any wish lists from readers?  Albums that I can keep an eye out for?  Others (Ernie, Captain OT) have had great success finding 45s of awesome Christmas songs.  I have not been able to find comparable treasures on 45.  In fact, I don't think I've seen any Christmas 45s yet.  Well, maybe a couple on the Peter Pan label, but they appeared to be in pretty bad shape.  The hit rate is so low in finding Christmas 45s that I shy away from them, not wanting to take a lot of time in a fruitless search.  Anyway - if there are special Christmas music wishes, post them in a comment and I'll see if they turn up.

That's all for now - back soon......

Cuneo Christmas 1949

To continue the series of posts about the Cuneo Christmas Books, here are some photos of the 1949 edition.  In 1949, John Cuneo chose to feature Christmas stories by Charles Dickens, including two stories of three chapters each.  And, continuing the annual tradition, Pope Pius XII's 1948 Christmas Broadcast brings another fine Cuneo Christmas book to an end.

Spine:

Title Page:

Table of Contents:

Illustration:

Pope Pius XII Christmas Broadcast (first page):



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: