My Wall of Christmas Music

Here's an old chestnut from 2010...

Regular visitors to the humble home of Dougsploitation know that the "LP wall" is a revolving gallery of the finest long playing record art imaginable. The holiday season is always the hardest time of the year to decide what records to frame because I own so many great ones - and I acquire new ones each year. This year's six:

Not to be confused with the STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL, Christmas in the Stars is the STAR WARS Christmas Album. I found this recently at Amoeba Records, and didn't have time to listen to it before it made it to the wall. It features the original voices of R2D2 and C3PO!

As a companion I have the soundtrack to the 1977 Nelvana animated holiday special, A COSMIC CHRISTMAS featuring songs and music by Canadian Crystal Gayle lookalike Sylvia Tyson.

Christmas: A Gift of Music Vol 3 featuring a creepy collection of Christmas dolls and a selection of songs from a variety of artists from Dinah Shore to The Korean Orphan Choir. Those orphans can really sing!

Next up is last year's favorite Sing with Marcy. I won't go on about her again. I swear.

Santa and the 3 Bears is another animated soundtrack. This one is from a 1970 low-budget theatrical release which turned up on local stations in the late 70s as an hour-long special. The album came with a dimensional Santa decoration (still intact) !

Last, but certainly not least is Elvin The Little Black Elf from 1982, described as "A Musical Christmas Special About Our Newest Christmas Hero." I don't think the special was ever made, but it's nice to know the soundtrack was released. I love Elvin. Here's a few of my other favorites that didn't make this year's wall.

Four exciting Christmas adventures of THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN. Bionics and Christmas go together like Superheroes and Christmas...

Exciting Christmas Stories starring Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman. I miss Peter Pan Records.

Christmas at Home starring a big, scary baby.

Christmas with the King Family...one of my childhood obsessions.

Christmas with Colonel Sanders - he brought the world greasy, artery-clogging fried chicken so therefore he must know a lot about Christmas.

So much so that he even had another Christmas album - though it looks like the old guy may not make it through the evening.

Speaking of not making it through the night, I always read this album's title as "Merry Christmas from the Hillside Stranglers."

And finally, one of my all-time favorites, Imagine the Joys of Christmas presented by Sylvania light bulbs and featuring a family that clearly forgot to pay their electric bill. Sad.

More Random TV Guide Ads: The Halloween Treat?

When I first came across this vintage TV GUIDE ad, I thought "Bing Crosby and his Family in GOLDILOCKS...The Halloween Treat?" How weird, I never thought of the story of Goldilocks to be a seasonal story...and though it does have some minor elements of fright, it would take some stretch of the imagination to consider it horror. Only after I scanned the ad did I actually realize that it's Sun-Maid® Raisins that are actually "The Halloween Treat." Not the Crosby family, not the Three Bears and not our young fair yellow-haired maiden...but some saggy old, wrinkly ass grapes. Well, either way cannot deny the grooviness of the GOLDILOCKS logo. It's actually so cool, I'm thinking of making myself a GOLDILOCKS tee-shirt! Hey come to think of it that one Little Bear's face peeping between the "G" and the "L" - just above the "O" is pretty freakin' scary.

Who Killed Teddy Bear? Trailer

Full article coming soon to this very blog!