Let’s Rock Christmas, Shall We?

Screw the office Christmas party … pour some rum into the egg nog, rip off your clothes and rock out!  Shall we?

MP3: “Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town” by Bruce Springsteen and Friends

MP3: “Rockin’ Winter Wonderland” by the Fabulous Thunderbirds

MP3: “The Christmas Boogie” by Toni Price

MP3: “She’ll Be My Everything For Christmas” by Los Lonely Boys

MP3: “Call Me For Christmas” by Gary U.S. Bonds

MP3: “I Want A Rock and Roll Guitar” by Johnny Preston

MP3: “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” by Lou Ann Barton

MP3: “(I) Deck the Halls” by Los Straitjackets

MP3: “Frosty’s Beach Party” by the Barbary Coasters

MP3: “Please Come Home For Christmas” by the Uniques

MP3: “Hang Your Balls On The Christmas Tree” by Kay Martin & Her Body Guards

MP3: “Santa’s Sack” by the Diaboliks

MP3: “(Baby I Want To) Trim Your Tree” by Jimmy Butler

MP3: “Winter Wonderland” by Steve Goodman

MP3: “Christmas Rappin’ ” by Kurtis Blow

MP3: “Xmas Eve (She Got Up and Left Me)” by Rancid

MP3: “Dragnet” radio episode: “The Big .22 Rifle For Christmas” (1952)

MP3: “Silent Night” by Robin Gibb

MP3: “Ding Dong, Ding Dong” by George Harrison

MP3: “Sleigh Ride” by the Ventures

And check this out: the Chrisfits, turning songs by the Misfits into Christmas songs!

Listen up, Hippies! Joe Friday’s Talking!

The greatest TV show of all time was “Dragnet.”  Especially in its later incarnation, in the late 1960s, when straight-laced cops Joe Friday and Bill Gannon encountered all sorts of hippies and freaks on the mean streets of L.A.  Jack Webb, the star, producer and head writer, was a pretty good actor and his Sgt. Friday character was great – there has never been anyone else like him on TV.  Everybody’s favorite episode is “The LSD Story,” from 1967, which features a character called the “Blue Boy.”

When I was a reporter at the Port Arthur News in the late 1970s-early 1980s this guy used to call up and claim he was former child actor Roger Mobley.  He was some kind of policeman in Beaumont, a Vietnam veteran and a born-again Christian.  I knew he was in some “Dragnet” episodes but all he wanted to talk about was Jesus so I never could really be sure it was really the actor (it probably was).  Anyway, you’d think maybe this kid found Jesus after having a bad trip or something – or maybe he was on the set when Jack Webb delivered this stern lecture:

Man, I still love “Dragnet.”

Badge 714 – The “Dragnet” Webb-site

30 Days Out (From Christmas): Holiday Clearance!

Day 25 – Only four shopping days left till Christmas, and we’re huffing into the homestretch of our holiday music marathon.  Today we’ll pick up some of the leftovers that have been left on the cutting room floor.  You got a little of everything: some WTF? (Tiny Tim), something new (Hives, Sheryl Crow) some rock and roll (Gary Glitter), Zappa, Belafonte and a full Christmas episode of Jack Webb’s “Dragnet” radio show from the 1950s.  My advice to you is to make like the couple in the photo above – pop a few bottlecaps (of Schlitz? … That woman looks a little drunk) and cue up the tunes.   Thanks and a big “Merry Xmas” to L.A. correspondent and radio personality Randy Fuller, who shared some of his library for this ill-advised project.

MP3: “Peace” by Norah Jones

MP3: “Another Rock and Roll Christmas” by Gary Glitter

Captain Kangaroo

MP3: “Merry Christmas Baby” by Sheryl Crow

MP3: “The Littlest Snowman” by Captain Kangaroo

MP3: “Santa Claus Has Got The AIDS” by Tiny Tim

MP3: “Sleigh Ride” from A Star Wars Christmas

MP3: “A Christmas Duel” by the Hives with Cyndi Lauper

MP3: Gene Simmons Holiday Message   

MP3: “Trim Your Tree” by Jimmy Butler 

MP3: “Santa Claus Is Freaking Me Out” by Lord Weatherby

MP3: “Feliz Navidad” by the Zydeco Playboys

MP3: “Poor Mr. Santa” by Andre Williams

MP3: “Jingle Polka” by Thurl Ravenscroft with Marie Vernon & the Mellomen

MP3: “Overture To A Holiday” by Frank Zappa

MP3: “The Christmas Story”  radio episode of “Dragnet” Part 1

MP3: “The Christmas Story” radio episode of “Dragnet” Part 2

MP3: “Mary’s Boy Child” by Harry Belafonte

MP3: Brian Wilson Holiday Announcement

MP3: “Silent Night” by Brian Wilson