So, over a dozen years ago, a tech savvy friend of mine, Rick Taylor, was doing things I wanted to do.  He had his own Internet radio station and was even broadcasting it in his neighborhood on a low-wattage system.  Not sure if it was completely legal and I’ll never testify against you, Rick, but I was jealous of his accomplishment.  An automated system that churned out music, that even went all-Christmas around this time of year.  I’ve put up a modest effort here, but I’m still no Rick Taylor.

But the lasting inspiration Rick gave me for which I’ll forever be grateful is the Christmas CD.

It took a couple of years of getting wonderfully blended collections of Christmas songs from him for me to say, “Now, I could do that!”  So, in 2000, I put together my first CD titled “Ho Ho Brother”–some old, some new, some of my comedy bits, great holiday radio moments from years past, etc.  This year, I’m proudly passing out Volume 12, which, I’ll say it, is the best one yet.   There are a couple of contributions worth noting.  One is a song sung by the very talented Alana Baxter, who sang a Katy Perry song parody for me last year, “It’s Silent Night.” (done to the tune of “It’s Friday Night”)  This year, we’re doing Katy Perry again, but taking her song “Wide Awake” (in which the refrain is “I’m wide awake”) and making it, “He Rides a Sleigh.”  We’ve shot most of the video and with any luck, we’ll film the rest this week and I’ll have it out by early next week.

But, as mentioned, the CD’s always include some comedy.  I view these CD’s more as a show than just a collection.  You could put on any of them, sit back in the couch and enjoy a Christmas experience that takes you along for 69 minutes.   I never know what I’m going to include, whether its one of my holiday radio bits from the past, or a new inspiration from this year.

The 2012 edition includes “Christmastia”, a pharmaceutical-style commercial that offers up something to take for the holiday blues, but with the complete list of warnings that seem to make up the majority of every drug commercial these days.  I found some appropriate music, incorporated the talents of Mr. Scott Burns and wove him into a script I that had me cracking me as I read it.  Seriously, while editing this together once I had all the pieces, I found myself laughing out loud, which means this is really funny, or three of my four doctors were right after all.

For your listening pleasure, here’s Christmastia.  Use only as directed

With any luck, I’ll walk up and hand you one of the CD’s this Christmas.  Thanks again for the inspiration, Rick!

Have a merry one!

Tim Hunter