My Own Musical Christmas Miracle

I’m a busy guy. I like it that way. I like to constantly be doing, creating, experiencing. It’s in my DNA.

The results–I get to do an incredible variety of fun things. For over a year now, I’ve been working the way I thought might be possible, but things are actually going better than I could have ever dreamed.

There’s my own deal, Tim Hunter Creative Services, where I get to connect with friends & business associates I’ve known for years and actually help them with their marketing. I’ve had a blast working with Opus 111 Group, Pacific Fishermen, Mountain Pacific Bank, Scandinavian Specialties, AAA Fire, the city of Bothell, even the iDrink Phone flask and so many others this year.

Now, add to that, being the Chief Creative Officer for Create Impulse and working with clients like Jack Carroll’s Skagit Hyundai, Sole Perfection Shoes, Bellevue Christian School, Enginuity Jobs and more, and that’s a full plate.

Toss in being an auctioneer, emcee, podcaster, comedy writer and Radio-Online show prep writer, and life is just wonderfully busy.

But when the holiday season rolls around, there are more things I’d like to wedge in. One of them, self-imposed, is creating a Christmas-themed music video.

Several years ago, I met a singer named Alana Baxter. I heard her sing and thought, “Hmmm…I wonder if we could….?” and the next thing you know, we did our first video project together, “It’s Silent Night.” I took a Katy Perry song, rewrote the words, had her record it and then, we went out and shot video on my little Flip video camera. It was so much fun, it launched a new tradition.

The following year, we let Katy Perry warm up the crowd for us again and did “He rides a sleigh.” Then, in 2013, I decided to go for an original tune, found a music bed I could write words to and the result was the fairly sarcastic, “I won’t hate you very much tonight (it’s Christmas)”.

Then, last year, the stars just wouldn’t align. I was in the early stages of my career transition and Alana had headed off to the Arizona desert to go back to school. She wouldn’t return until just before Christmas and I didn’t want to spend Christmas Eve madly editing a video. That kind of defeats the purpose.

So, here comes Christmas 2015. In late November, I went down a couple of different paths and tried writing some lyrics, but nothing really click-click-clicked. Then, while working on my annual Christmas CD and reviewing songs, I came across Faith Hill’s “Where are you Christmas?”, a song I had used on a previous Ho Ho Brother CD. That was at the same time the whole Starbucks debacle began, where they went to a plain red cup and people were upset that the Christmas touches had been removed. The two seemed to go together, so I began writing and the lyrics just flowed.

Now, I have a song, but also a singer in Arizona that won’t be home until right before Christmas again. Hmmm…what if I could get her to record it down there? It was time to call in favors, work out schedules and see if we could pull this off.

I reached out to Tucson morning guy, Bobby Rich. Bobby’s a Facebook connection, but we’ve never even met in person before. Back in the 1990s, we were competitors for a while, when he was part of the Rich Brothers over at Magic 108 or I-107, or whatever it was at the time. We knew of each other, being brothers in radio, but that was about it.

I sent him a message and he said he would love to help. Now, to figure out when to get Alana in to the studio. The radio guys were on the air until 9, and out of the building by noon, so Alana would have to come in the morning. Drat. She had classes every morning of the week. It didn’t look good.

Then Alana found out about a Tuesday where she wouldn’t have class. One day, one chance. I checked with Bobby and they made it happen. Alana went into the studio and in two takes, nailed it. Thanks, Greg, who manned the production room and was so kind to Alana.

Now I’ve got a song–but what about the video part? Alana was not scheduled to come back until the week before Christmas. That would be tight. Then, her mother’s medical procedure had to be moved up. Alana got special permission to be gone finals week, came home two days before the procedure and in two hours after a Seahawks game, we shot all of our scenes. I supplemented it with other video I shot around town and a week before Christmas, the video was done.

I hope you enjoy “Where are you Christmas?” featuring Alana Baxter and a host of miracle-workers behind the scene.