Christmas Cheer - Part 7

Three weeks to go until the Big Day, and I'm back with a little information about the next three tracks from my latest holiday mix, Christmas Cheer:

Track 20
Hanukkah Mambo, The Yule Logs (2012)

This is the fourth song I’ve included in my annual mixes from The Yule Logs, a band based in Chico, California. Known as the “hardest working band in snow business” and the “greatest Christmas band of all time,” The Yule Logs have made spirits bright each holiday season for close to 20 years with their festive brand of original holiday songs and storied live performances.

Based in Chico, California, the band consists of Kirt Lind, Marty Parker, Jake Sprecher, and Maurice Spencer. In addition to their traditional string of live shows during the holiday season, The Yule Logs have released six albums of mostly original material, all of which is top-quality and lots of fun to boot. 

Unfortunately, late last year the band announced in a social media post that they were calling it quits:

Hey friends. As you may have heard, we’ve decided to call it a day as a band. Time marches on, ya know? Thank you so much for 17 amazing seasons. Take care, and see you around town.

I’m disappointed because I never did get to see them perform live, and because I was looking forward to another album or two. But they leave a rich legacy and they did provide lots of folks with a great deal of fun and merriment.

I’ve included songs by The Yule Logs on three of my previous mixes. This one’s the fourth, and it’s also the second Hanukkah tune. I try to include Hanukkah and Kwanzaa songs in my compilations when I can, although it isn’t always easy to find strong entries. Fortunately, The Yule Logs have released a number of great Hanukkah tunes over the years.

I’m posting two mini players, below, featuring two of The Yule Logs albums — The Yule Logs (2009), which includes “Hanukkah Mambo,” and their most recent release, Fezziwig (2021). There’s also a link to their Bandcamp site, where, for a limited time, you can purchase all six of their albums for just $22.50. That would be a deal at twice the price! 

Buy All Six of The Yule Logs' Holiday Albums from Bandcamp for Only $22.50 (for a limited time)

Track 21
The Red Skidoo, Lee Scott (c. 1976)

Track 21 is another song-poem (surprise!), produced by the Columbine publishing mill and credited to Ms. Lee Scott. This tune was featured on Columbine’s compilation “The Now Sounds of Today,” which was released sometime around 1976. The lyrics were penned by Myrtle Moorhouse, who seems to have been smitten by a handsome man she saw riding a red skidoo. It’s not a Christmas song per se, but it’s got a skidoo in it and those require snow and winter weather — so what the heck! Truth be told, I’d say that Ms. Moorhouse wasn’t thinking so much about Christmas when she scrawled out these lyrics. We all know what good ol’ Myrtle had on her mind.

I don’t have much more to offer in the way of background on this track; about all I can do is point you toward some additional tunes Lee Scott performed. (WARNING:  Most of Ms. Scott’s other performances fall short of the standard she set with “The Red Skidoo.” If that doesn’t frighten you, well, you’re made of strong stuff, indeed.) Some of her material is available through the links listed below. Additional titles appear HERE.

Columbine apparently offered its customers a little more than just a 45 RPM pressing of their joint efforts. They also produced hundreds of compilation albums like “The Now Sounds of Today,” most with equally exciting titles. This was no doubt intended to suggest they were committed to promoting and not merely creating the various tunes they produced. God knows what they did with these compilation albums once they rolled off the presses. I can’t believe many of them were sold or that anyone actually paid much attention to them, but you can usually find lots of them on sale via eBay “for a song.”

Listen to “The Red Skidoo,” by Lee Scott

Listen to “Strange, Cold Feeling,” by Lee Scott

Listen to “Generation Gap,” by Lee Scott

Listen to “Blue Jean, String Bean, by Lee Scott

Track 22
Holiday Greetings from Rosie Perez

Rosie Perez

Rosie Perez is a singer, dancer, choreographer and activist who’s appeared in more than 40 feature films and 70 television shows. A Brooklyn native of Puerto Rican ancestry, Perez first captured the public’s attention playing Tina in Spike Lee’s 1989 film “Do the Right Thing.” The following year, she started a four-year run as a dancer and choreographer on the Fox sketch comedy show “In Living Color.” She handled the choreography for a number of popular music videos by artists including Janet Jackson, Diana Ross, LL Cool J and Bobby Brown.

Perez was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress for her work in the 1993 film Fearless, and also starred in “White Men Can’t Jump,” starring Wesley Snipes. She made her Broadway debut in 2002 in Terrence McNally’s “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.” In 2014-15 Perez served as panelist and co-host on The View.

Perez is also known for her activism and charitable work, particularly around Puerto Rican rights, HIV/AIDS prevention and support for the arts. She’s been a busy and productive woman over the past 30+ years, and yet she still had the time to pass along her holiday greetings.

That’s all for today. I’ll be back soon with more.