My grandmother and godmother ran a very successful New Hampshire summer camp for girls when I was growing up, and a number of minor celebrities either sent their children there or attended the camp themselves as children. One such former camper was Cindy Bullens, a singer-songwriter who subsequently came out as transgenderand now goes by the name of "Cidny." Bullens became known in the late 1970s as a backup singer for Elton John. She also contributed three tracks to the soundtrack album for the hit movie Grease. Bullens ultimately got a record deal of her own, and her debut album Desire Wire was released in 1978. The album got good reviews but sold relatively poorly. Her second album met a similar fate. Yet Bullens has kept plugging along these past 35 years, producing consistently strong records and playing clubs and other small venues in front of modest-sized groups of loyal fans. The last time I heard her play was during the summer of 2007, when she played before a few dozen people on the small island where my family's had a summer home going back five generations. Bullens sang after an island-wide community supper on the second floor of the island's common "casino." She started sometime around 8 pm and the sunset was breathtaking through the uneven panes of the century-old glass windows. It was the last night my Dad and I were on the island together, and while he was in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease at the time, he boldly approached Bullens after the show and told her I'd been a fan since high school not only because of the camp connection but because I genuinely liked her music. "I do, too," he added. It was the first time I'd known him to willingly listen to rock and roll. I was thrilled that he stayed for the whole show, and thrilled, too, that she closed with a tune by Bruce Springsteen. It was a wonderful, sublime evening.
The Refugees (l to r): Deborah Holland, Wendy Waldman and Cidny Bullens
Several years ago, Bullens teamed up with singer-songwriters Wendy Waldman and Deborah Holland to form a band called The Refugees, and the three women record and tour together pretty regularly between their projects as solo artists. I don't know much about Holland, but I've liked Waldman's work since her 1976 single "Living Is Good," which, I'm fortunate to say, is the strongest and most effective antidepressant I've ever needed. Last Fall, The Refugees recorded an original tune called "This Christmas," which they made available as a free holiday gift for their fans. This year, they've posted a new version, which you can hear and/or download from HERE at no cost. According to Bullens, "This is a joyous,
rockin' new re-mix that is bound to make you smile -- whatever your bent!
(Think "Jingle Bell Rock" or "Rockin' Around The Christmas
Tree"). Just plain rockabilly fun! As my two Jewish co-horts in The
Refugees would say--ENJOY!"
I had a call from my brother one Friday evening this past May. It was around 7 p.m. in Los Angeles, which made it 10:00 back in North Yarmouth, Maine, where he lives with his wonderful wife and their beautiful daughter, who'd just turned 13. "You'll never guess what I'm doing," he said. There was music in the background -- slightly distorted, somewhat muffled, and loud -- like the sound of a rock show from outside the arena. "Wait," he said. "Let me get closer." The song sounded vaguely familiar until, in an instant, it all became clear: " . . . to be a rock and not to roll . . . ." He was waiting for his daughter and her friends so he could take them home after their first school dance, which ended with Led Zeppelin's classic "Stairway to Heaven." I thought for a moment about the long, twisted road I've been on for the last 35 years, and the unbelievable changes the world's been through since my first dance. Yet now, as then, a group of awkward young teenagers were nervously getting together in a school gymnasium to the sounds of "Stairway to Heaven."
What's this got to do with holiday music? Not too much, I guess, except to underscore that few things can evoke powerful memories so effectively as music, which is probably why holiday songs have the power they do. For example, what led me to start thinking about school dances was a quick reference to Led Zeppelin in one of my very favorite holiday music blogs, Stubby's House of Christmas. I can't say I know a whole lot about Stubby, other than what I've read in the blog. He reportedly lives in Greenville, NC and loves cats. He also does an incredible job each year of discovering and writing about an impressive array of newly released holiday music of nearly every type and style. Stubby's introduced me to a number of my very favorite seasonal releases recently, including "Sha La Da La La (Christmas Time)," by the Sha La Das, and the wonderful holiday album released in 2013 by The Bowmans, titled Make Sure the Snow Falls.
Well, it's not even Thanksgiving yet and Stubby's already outdone himself this year with a bevy of great recommendations, including a great new holiday single called "Mystic Snowman," which is
a mash-up of "Stairway To Heaven," "Greensleeves," "Carol of the Bells" and "Frosty The Snow Man" — if you can believe that. Looking quickly at the cover, I was surprised to see it was from Led Zeppelin . . . and then I looked at the name more closely. Yup, it's Lez Zeppelin, an all-female Led Zeppelin tribute band, based in New York City. The band is currently wrapping up a Fall tour, and you can find information about that and all kinds of other things at their website. And you can download their beautiful holiday tune for only 99 cents on amazon.com HERE. And while it isn't strictly speaking a holiday song as such, the preceding narrative gives me a good excuse to close today's post with one of the most amazing cover performances I've ever seen/heard — Heart's version of Led Zeppelin's iconic "Stairway to Heaven." This is from the 2012 Kennedy Center Honors program, which aired on CBS two days after Christmas that year. The remaining members of Led Zeppelin are in the hall with President and Mrs. Obama and the other 2012 honorees, and the resulting performance is too magical to describe. Watch it, please!
While the entire performance is breathtaking, my very favorite moments include watching the Obamas really getting into it at 2:02; famed classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma rocking out at 5:24 and what happens at 5:42, which you simply have to see for yourself. (It helps to know that Led Zeppelin's original drummer, John Bonham, often wore a black bowler hat. Bonham's death in 1980 effectively ended Led Zeppelin as a going concern. His son, Jason, plays drums in the Kennedy Center performance. The electric guitar solo is by Shayne Fontaine, whom I've been lucky enough to see perform live a handful of times with two of my all-time favorite performers, David Crosby and Bruce Springsteen.)
Season's Greetings, friends! It hardly seems possible, but another holiday season is nearly upon us. That means it's time to slowly shake off the cobwebs and prepare for another round of fun and frivolity.
I started this blog four years ago as a means of sharing additional information about the contents of my annual holiday mix CDs. I've been putting these things together for over a dozen years now to share with family and friends each Christmas in celebration of the season. You can access and read more about my various CDs on my Holiday Music Website. This year's CD is pretty much completed, and while I'll probably tinker around with it a little more over the next week or so, I'm planning to post it on the website sometime around 12 noon on Thanksgiving Day. That will give you something to listen to as you return from the mall.
I hope your year has been a pleasant one and that you're looking forward to an especially memorable holiday season. With the unspeakable horror of last week's terrorist attacks still echoing in and around Paris and the numerous other atrocities taking place throughout our weary world, we could all use a little Christmas cheer right about now. Welcome to our fifth holiday season at the Bells Will Be Ringing holiday music blog!
Well, another holiday season has now come and gone, and I hope it was a jolly and memorable one for you. Today, we begin our annual post-holiday hiatus, which I expect to last until sometime in November. I hope we'll be able to meet here again then to share more holiday cheer. In the meantime, I'd like to say "so long for now" with an awesome video from djBC that seems to really capture the fun and joy of Christmas.* Until next time, keep a smile on your face, good tunes in your head and plenty of holiday spirit in your heart.
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*Can anyone recognize the classic film in which many of the non-animated shots from this video first appeared? You might check out our first Boxing Day Holiday Horror Show (if you dare).
I was very sorry to learn that former New York Governor Mario Cuomo died yesterday. I remember watching his inspiring keynote address at the 1984 Democratic National Convention, and, like many others, had high hopes that he'd run for president in each of the next several election cycles. He was an inspiring orator and a good man.
Actress Donna Douglas, who played young Ellie May Clampett on the The Beverly HillbilliesTV series, also passed away on New Year's Day. For you younger folk, The Beverly Hillbillies was about an Appalachian family named the Clampetts, who were trying to adjust to life in swanky Beverly Hills, where they moved after discovering oil under their hardscrabble mountain property. Here's one of the show's five holiday episodes, called "Christmas at the Clampetts" (1963):
