Jingle Bells Rocks and Rocks it does!

Friday night, I sat in the theater chair wondering as I looked around at the 20 or more people in the theater, what will these people think about a film centered around people like me who enthusiastically love and collect Christmas music? Will they think we are nuts or just like anyone who collects baseball cards, coins or cars someone who has a passion for what they love?

I attended the Kansas Film Festival with my good friend Der Bingle who collects Christmas music like me and has a great blog devoted to Christmas music Merry and Bright ! We were there to meet Mitchell Kezin a very talented filmmaker from Canada.

Mitchell Kezin loves Christmas music and the more obscure the better. Mitchell scours every vintage vinyl store he can for the rarest of rare, a one of a kind 45rpm or album of the most unusual Christmas music ever recorded. For the past 25 years he would organize and make a mix tape of these songs to give to friends and family. I have been doing the same since 2005. In an article by Jon Niccum , Mitchell was quoted, “I knew the impact that this mix has had on people’s holiday celebrations, but I wanted to reach beyond the small circle of my mailing list,” Kezin says. “And I was frankly tired of having people look strangely at me when I would express an affinity for the music or the eye rolls that inevitably came when I’d say, ‘Wait a second, you don’t understand …’”

Thus Mitchell started what would become the documentary film "Jingle Bell Rocks


Jingle Bell Rocks Trailer HD from EyeSteelFilm on Vimeo.

Mitchell Kezin weaves a perfect film of his own story with interviews and stories of artists who made musical masterpieces for Christmas. "Blue Christmas" by bebopper Bob Dorough for jazz great Miles Davis and Hip Hop legend Joseph "Rev Run" Simmons of RUN DMC who wrote "Christmas in Hollis" provide wonderful stories of how the songs were created. Other notable artists include The Flaming Lips, The Free Design, Low, Clarence Carter, Film maker great John Waters and many more. We follow Mitchell and his quest to find out more about a song that shaped his youth and fascination with Christmas music. One song an obscure Nat King Cole song "The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot" is one that touched Mitchell's soul. The song tells of a young boy, fatherless and alone at Christmas time and yes Santa does forget to stop at his house. Bummer I know but this was all of our's worst nightmare at Christmas. I can relate. In the end Mitchell ends up meeting legendary calypso king "Mighty Sparrow who actually records a version of "The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot" bringing tears to eyes of Mitchell and mine.

What I love about this film is it's story of one man's human story along with an fascinating look at the world of Christmas music, it's making, popularity and place in musical history. Anyone who loves Christmas will get something out of this film. It reminds me of everything that's great about Christmas. It's all the things that make us smile, make us love, make us relive our youth. My Christmas music reminds me of years gone by. Most very happy but some with some sadness too. It's not about dwelling on the past but understanding how the past makes us who we are today. Mitchell Kezin understands it and embraces it. He's was not afraid to put his life on display and say "This is who I am." I think a lot of you will see a little of Mitchell in yourselves.

At the end of the film, I was pleasantly surprised as many of the audience applauded loudly and even stayed longer to meet the filmmaker and ask questions. I thought to myself, maybe these people don't think a person like me who collects Christmas music is nuts. Maybe we are just like everyone else who has a passion in life and wants to preserve it.

Jingle Bell Rocks has been picked up by film distributor Oscilloscope Laboratories and will be available via Amazon and iTunes.

Get it Here!

Get this film and get to know the people in this film, you might like em!

The Ten Albums That Changed My Life

Well that may be an overstatement, but when I look back at my love of music since I was very young, I can point to Ten albums that were my "Oh my God" I love this. These ten albums were ones that I could never get tired of listening to. Albums that I loved every track. The artists were ones that eventually I bought all their releases. These ten albums also represent my ever changing music taste in stages. I will start with my early youth and go to where I am at now. Now, my ten albums that changed my life.

Number 1

Paul Revere and the Raiders " Greatest Hits" 1967

I first saw Paul Revere and the Raiders on the TV show "Where The Action Is." I was memorized by not only their music, but their appearance. For some reason I thought these revolutionary uniforms were cool with their boots. I immediately wanted to be Mark Lindsay with his signature pony tail.

After my mom and dad got me a record player and this album, I played it so much I wore out the grooves. But what made this album were the songs. They were really great pop songs. I also was fascinated at the time at the cool shuffle dance moves that bassist Phil "Fang" Volk and guitarist Drake "Kid" Levin did. Here is a clip from the Smother's Brother's Show

Here is another one of my favorites "Just Like Me."

Unfortunately this group will never get the respect it deserves. At the time they had they had more hits than anybody. Their hits from the mid-60s included "Kicks" (Billboard Pop Chart No. 4), "Hungry" (No. 6), "The Great Airplane Strike" (No. 20), "Good Thing" (No. 4), and "Him or Me - What's It Gonna Be?" (No. 5).Of these, "Kicks" became their best-known song, 

Paul Revere and the Raiders were the first group that made me want to become a musician. I played there songs over and over dreaming that I was their drummer. I was lucky enough to see them twice play in Kansas city in the late sixties early seventies. 


Number 2

Deep Purple "In Rock" 1970

My best friend for life, David Kemmerly who I went to high school with and was an incredible musician himself playing guitar, keyboards and drums turned me onto "Deep Purple." It was my first experience into "Hard Rock." These guys were really the forefathers of metal. Dave told me to really listen to Richie Blackmore on guitar. I was blown away. Yeah I know there was another great band playing at the same time called Led Zeppelin, but for some reason I was drawn to this band more. Here is one of the great song's on this album "Speed King"

Deep Purple helped give me a harder edge of music than my pop beginnings. I would grow to love Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Mountain, Uriah Heap and many more. After all it was the seventies which in my opinion produced some of the best most advanced music ever!



Number 3

YES "Fragile" 1971

I had no idea what I was getting into when I went into a record store and saw this cover by artist Roger Dean and thought "Wow this is cool. I'm gonna buy that album just for the artwork." I soon realized that I had heard the future of rock music and where I wanted to see it headed as a musician. Since I started playing drums I was captivated by Bill Bruford's drumming on this album. He represented to me what skill with technique could do in a band. The album's most loved track was "Roundabout." The keyboard riff alone by Rick Wakeman was enough to get me interested in playing the piano.

They are a group that got me into progressive rock and groups like, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Gentle Giant, King Crimson, Genesis and Brand X. Unlike Paul Revere and Raiders where simple pop songs moved me, I started liking more intricate, complex songs with different time signatures. I guess I was starting to mature as a musician.


Number 4


Gino Vannelli "Powerful People" 1974

In my freshman year at the Conservatory of Music at UMKC, I attended a student picnic on the grounds of Grant Hall. A DJ was playing music and I wasn't paying attention until I heard the song "People Gotta Move" with this incredible synth bass line with a heavy effect on a Fender Rhodes. The drum and percussion groove was intoxicating. More over the recording and production on this album was some of the best I'd ever heard, It sounded loud and full. I then heard the voice of Gino Vannelli, WOW!

Gino had it all, great voice, great looks ( I thought he was ultra cool) and a killer band with his brother Joe on keyboards and on all his later albums some of the best drummers ever. His songs had a mixture of Rock, Jazz, Funk and Classical. I must say his albums such as "Storm at Sunup" and "Brother to Brother" were more of my favorites, but "Powerful People" got it started. I have all of Gino's albums and there isn't a bad one in the bunch. I had the opportunity to see him live in at the Uptown theater in the late 70's and remarked that it was the first time where I had heard an artist in concert that sounded as good as his albums.



Number 5

Tower of Power  "Tower of Power" 1973

Even though it was released in 1973, I don't think I got turned on to "Tower of Power" until 1977 when a fellow drummer friend of mine Gary Bierschwal at the conservatory turned me on to the song "What Is Hip" and drummer David Garibaldi.

Now of course their horn section was the best I'd ever heard. But once I heard David, I knew his style was for me. I had heard he was into non-linear sticking patterns. I spent along time listening and dissecting his drumming. Here is a page of my transcriptions of Garibaldi's drumming.

         

David Garibaldi's drumming style was largely responsible for me applying and being accepted into the prestigious Berklee College of Music and studying privately with master teacher Gary Chaffee who was one of the brightest and advanced teachers of non-linear playing and poly-rhythms.


                   Here is a video of my great teacher Gary Chaffee and his non-linear patterns.

TOP inspired me as a musician and a drummer. There was no other band that could play that tight.
I can't tell you how many times I've seen them in concert and still have all their albums and cd's and convert dvd's. They are still making incredible music after 45 years and still play as funky as anyone.




Number 6

Seawind "Seawind" 1976

I actually posted about this album a few years ago.

"One of the bands that I feel in love with was a band called Seawind. It's another one of those bands I heard in the record shop and loved the album cover. The band was on the CTI label which I knew was a prominant jazz label known for high quality recordings.
Seawind is a jazz fusion group from Hawaii, fronted by the vocals of Grammy-winning singer Pauline Wilson. The band rose to prominence in the mid-1970s; although not primarily marketed as a Christian band, many of their songs' lyrics do have a religious and/or positive theme. They recorded two albums for CTI Records, one for A&M Records and one for A&M subsidiary Horizon Records. In 1995, a Seawind compilation CD "Remember" was released on Noteworthy Records. Seawind's 2009 CD Reunion was released on the Village Music label, a subsidiary of Sony Music Japan.
A notable part of the band's sound was the "Seawind Horns" (trumpeter Jerry Hey, sax and flute player Kim Hutchcroft, and sax, flute and keyboard player Larry Williams WHO WAS A KANSAS CITY NATIVE), who went on to provide backing instrumentals and arrangements for performers such as Earth, Wind & Fire, George Benson, Michael Jackson (Thriller, Off the Wall and Bad), Quincy Jones and Mika. Hey left Seawind as a touring member in 1979 but continued as a recording member of the band through 1980. Trumpeter Larry Hall, an original member of the band when they were called "OX", rejoined the group in 2005. Hey and Hall are longtime friends and both are top-call recording session musicians.
Seawind broke up in 1982, but reunited in 2005 for a Los Angeles concert performance and then began work on a new CD, which took them over three years to complete. Seawind is known for their extraordinary musicianship, brilliant songwriting and creative arranging. The group pioneered many of the musical elements that, years later, ultimately became the beginnings of "smooth jazz".

Here is a video from this album. "The Devil Is A Liar"

See Their Website HERE

Number 7

Enigma  "MCMXC a.D" 1990

I don't remember exactly when and where and what club I was in when I first heard Enigma (Michael Cretu) and his song Sadness Part 1.

As soon as I heard that signature drum beat and Gregorian chant vocal, I thought I would like to produce that same sound. Enigma was the start of my "Electronica" days. I loved dance music and loved dancing in the clubs. I started with the whole disco thing but this sound was so much better.

I started producing this kind of music by purchasing my first sampler, an Ensoniq ASR-10 and Mac Classic with 16mb of ram running Mark of the Unicorn's "Performer" software to make my own enigma music. I loved the lush pad of Enigma's synth's combined with grooving drum beats and samples. When I heard "Return to Innocence" I was immediately blown away with the using of a John Bonham ( Led Zeppelin) drum sample of "When The Levee Breaks." I thought how genius!

I loved how Michael Cretu married contemporary sounds with the old. The use of Gregorian chants and even Orchestral samples made an impression on me. One of my favorites was the use of Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana O Fortuna" on "Gravity of Love" on the "Screen Behind The Mirror" album.

My electronica period is still enjoyed today.


Number 8

Andy Williams "The Andy WIlliams Christmas Album"  1963

I have always loved Christmas as you know. That's one of the reasons I started this blog. When I first heard Mannheim Steamrollers Christmas Album I started to remember how much I loved Christmas music and this album will always be the most important to me.
Why? because it was my mom and dad's favorite album to play at christmas time. I can't tell you how many times as a young boy I fell asleep listening to that album played downstairs on our parents Hi-Fi. I loved Andy's voice. It was smooth and pleasant and a range that was incredible. The arrangements were incredible. Columbia always had a knack for putting out fine recordings. This one still stands the test of time.

"It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year" was my favorite. Billboard magazine ranked it as one of the top 10 Christmas songs of all time.


Number 9

Steven Wilson and "Porcupine Tree" 2002

I had just built my new home theater in my basement with Paradigm's Studio Reference series speakers and wanted to get some great music to listen to. I had received a DVD-A demo music disc from the
B & W speaker company (wish I had the money to afford those babies) and one of the tracks was from Porcupine Tree's "In Absentia" album titled "Blackest Eyes." The music was so incredible. It reminded me of Pink Floyd. This was prog rock at it's finest.

Later drummer Gavin Harrison would join the band and become my favorite drummer to listen to since David Garibaldi. Gavin's approach to poly rhythmic playing and his ultra tight finesse fills made him one of the most popular and respected drummers today. Here is a video of some of his playing at a recent clinic.

Gavin aside, Steven Wilson is the true genius in this band. His song writing skills and ability to come up with new sounds while respecting his past influences set him apart. He writes for himself and what pleases him. Porcupine Tree has increasingly grown followers and fans. This is the most impressive prog rock band I've ever heard and I pick them over Dream Theater which I also love and respect. There is something about the songs Steven writes that relates to me. Check them out at http://porcupinetree.com


Number 10

Frank Sinatra  "Classic Sinatra" 2000

It seems I've come full circle back to my childhood. I was at my neighbors house over 10 years ago in his "man-cave" playing poker with the guys, having a cocktail and Frank Sinatra was playing on the stereo. It reminded me of my parents having friends over and playing jazz albums. I remember hearing Frank Sinatra back then and thinking, "wow he's got a real smooth voice." From time to time growing up I would see him singing on a television variety show or in the movies. I loved the "Rat Pack." The original "Oceans 11" is still one of my favorites. My parents had his Christmas album and it too was a favorite along side Andy Williams.  I was blessed to grow up in the space age with singers like Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. Steve Lawrence, Bobby Darin, Jack Jones. My love for jazz came from these people. In my lifetime there was no other singer that was as dominate as Frank Sinatra. That's why everyone calls him "The Chairman of the Board."

His voice was not only smooth but what I notice more than anything was his intonation and phrasing. He was always on key and his ability to swing the words to music is unmatched by anyone. He in my opinion was the greatest male singer of the 20th century.

There it is, my ten. Of course there are many other albums and artists that left impressions on me, Frank Zappa being one of them alongside Buddy Rich. But these ten albums were responsible for shaping my love for music and my music career. I still listen to these albums and enjoy every second. I  still listen to new artists constantly searching for new inspiration. Who will be the next person to leave a footprint on my life?

Christmas is Coming!

I know I haven't posted as much as I like, but life always gets in the way. I do want to as the holiday
season nears, start profiling artists who are putting out great Christmas songs and holiday albums. First on the list is a great artist that my friend Der Bingle turned me on Elizabeth Chan.

I first got her EP "Naughty and Nice" last year which featured a great single "Christmas Song," The EP debuted at number 4 on the iTunes Holiday Charts. It was nominated for "Best Original Song" at the 3rd Annual Streamy Awards (Dick Clark Productions).

Ever since Elizabeth was a child she dreamed of writing the perfect Christmas song. One that would become a classic like Mel Torme's "The Christmas Song." Judging by her offerings I think she might just get there. Unfortunately many artists tend to want to do arrangements of the classics. I applaud Liz for trying to be different and write truly original Christmas songs.. A lot of artists wouldn't take the risk. Her pop sensibilities have done her well. She knows how to write a hook.

Elizabeths new offering is  "Everyday Holidays" available on her Website and  iTunes.

I'm particularly fond of Fa La La. A great pop song with a catchy chorus and great sax work by Andy Snitzer, but every song on this album is great. "Tis the Season" is a great power song. "Try to have a Merry Christmas." speaks to anyone who has struggled with the holidays with loss or heartache and reaffirms HOPE. "Hey Santa" is just plain fun with a little Don Ho influence.

So Christmas is coming! I plan on hopefully turning you on to some great artists and great songs that will help you get into the holiday spirit.

ENJOY!!

The Jetson's Revisited

Last year I had a blog post about my favorite cartoon growing up "The Jetson's" A couple of weekends ago I was watching CBS Sunday Morning and enjoyed a story about "The Jetson's" and their influence on us. I thought I would repost this video for you to see. Gosh how I wish that flying car was around today!

Part 2: The Modern Hi-Fi Listening Room

My Hi-Fi listening room also serves as my home theater. I'm using Paradigm Studio Reference 100's, with a 7.1 system powered by Anthem and Yamaha. The lighting is all remote controlled scene setting dimmers by Lightolier Compose. The key for every swank pad listening room is great stereo equipment, comfortable seating, good acoustics (treatments installed if necessary ) proper mood lighting and of course your favorite music.

Here are some pics of some cool Hi-Fi listening rooms I found on the internet.

The Modern Hi-Fi Listening Room

Ever since I was a kid growing up in the sixties, I loved music. I remember going over to my cousins house and seeing his father's listening area in his basement. He loved opera and had a real nice stereo system. I remember thinking I would like to have a room where I could listen to my records. There is something about listening to vinyl that is intoxicating. I loved the sound of the needle on the record.

Essential to any swank pad is the Hi-Fi listening room.

Early on the Hi-Fi was a main staple to the living room

Some background on Hi-Fi from Wikipedia:

Beginning in 1948, several innovations created the conditions for a major improvement of home-audio quality:

• Reel-to-reel audio tape recording, based on technology found in Germany after the war, helped musical artists such as Bing Crosby make and distribute recordings with better fidelity.
• The advent of the 33⅓ rpm Long Play (LP) microgroove vinyl record, with lower surface noise and quantitatively specified equalization curves as well as noise-reduction and dynamic range systems. Classical music fans, who were opinion leaders in the audio market, quickly adopted LPs because, unlike with older records, most classical works would fit on a single LP.
• FM radio, with wider audio bandwidth and less susceptibility to signal interference and fading than AM radio, though AM could be heard at longer distances at night.
• Better amplifier designs, with more attention to frequency response and much higher power output capability, reproducing audio without perceptible distortion.^[2]

In the 1950s, audio manufacturers the term the phrase high fidelityas a marketing term to describe records and equipment intended to provide faithful sound reproduction. While some consumers simply interpreted high fidelityas fancy and expensive equipment, many found the difference in quality between "hi-fi" and the then standard AM radios and 78 rpm records readily apparent and bought 33⅓ LPs, such as RCA's New Orthophonics and London's ffrrs, and high-fidelity phonographs. Audiophiles paid attention to technical characteristics and bought individual components, such as separate turntables, radio tuners, preamplifiers, power amplifiers and loudspeakers. Some enthusiasts assembled their own loudspeaker systems. In the 1950s, hi-fi became a generic term, to some extent displacing phonograph and record player.

Here is some of the labels on stereo produced records.

Since Stereo was fairly new, many record companies would put out Stereo Test records out so one could listen to the benefits of stereo. The records consisted of sound effects or classical music. The record would use stereo imaging and panning of sound from left to right to give the listening a spacial experience of the music. You might say stereo was the first surround sound that we have today.

As people became more interested in stereo equipment and audiophile high end equipment, the separate listening room became popular as a place to get away and immerse one's self in the music listening experience.

To be continued..........

Modern Hi-Fi

My pride and joy as a kid growing up was the Sony reel to reel tape recorder I got for christmas. Boy my mom and dad were cool. This model was the Sony 630D. It had detachable speakers and had noise reduction. I used to pretend to be a recording engineer by recording a lot of my vinyl LP's. The quality of reel to reels is great. I still wish I had it today. I made a lot of great recordings with this machine. Oh how I miss vintage hi-fi.

Here is a photo of mine, taken in the 1970's.  Note the pioneer EQ.




I found this video on the web of the Sony 630D in action:



Sony Reel to Reel TC 630 by RODALCO2012