Julien J Dumont Jr: Christmas CDs

CD INFORMATION

TITLE:
Christmas 2007

ALIAS:
Mellow Christmas

CREATED:
12/15/2007

TRACKS:
23

LENGTH:
72:09

CD COMMENT:
Every year it's becoming harder and harder to find new material for CDs. I think part of it is the fact that we haven't been buying anything new because we generally only listen to the Christmas CDs that we make. I really don't find this CD to be very exciting, but then again, it's not supposed to be. It's a good mix of piano and acoustic tracks that help set a very mellow mood.

ART WORK COMMENT:
This year I was torn between two images for the back cover. The first image was of a cardboard Santa that had a good look for the back cover, but we really wanted to try to make the bird feeder image work. We felt that the bird feeder is more along the lines of what the music is about. I really had to play with colors, font and layout until I found a combination that looked good. I must have bounced at least 10 different 'looks' off of Angie before we finally had one that worked best. The CD Image artwork printed a little darker than expected, but it actually looks better that way.

After I finished printing 24 copies of this, I noticed that 'Vince Guaraldi Trio' was spelled 'Vice Guaraldi Trio'. So, there ended up being a typo on the 2007 artwork. I did make the fix and printed 2 copies with the corrected text.

I also printed labels that refer to the web site. I didn't finish the site until 12/23, so the labels were not in the CDs that were sent to school with Drake last week. Out of the 26 copies made, only 9 of them didn't have the label on the inside cover.

Sometime in February 2008 I noticed that 'Lorie Line' was credited as 'Lori Line'.

SONG COMMENT:
The concept for this CD actually started last year when we were gathering songs to make an acoustic & piano CD. But, once when we tried to arrange the songs, we were not all that happy with the overall content. Now, one year later, we found enough new artists and different tracks to make a CD that we are happy with.

The song 'Christmas Comes To Tudor Towne' is part of the soundtrack that is heard in the Tudor Towne exhibit at the National Christmas Center. Some years ago I had asked Santa Jr. for a copy of the music. At that time he gave me a CD that had the vocal and instrumental versions of the song. The version of the song used in the exhibit has a vocal track that sings about Tudor Towne. For years we have been looking for the opportunity to put this song on one of our Annual CDs. This song will not be known to any of you, but it is an important part of our Christmas season and our memory of Pennsylvania. This year we finally found a place for it. This CD also marks the first time that I blended songs together. The Tudor Towne song blends with the songs before and after it.

MATLERIALS COMMENT:
Everything went smooth this year. We used Memorex & Epsom photo paper, TDK CDs and the black tray liners. We also printed on Memorex CD labels and Avery address labels.

DRAKE INTRO:
Drake says, 'The best way to spread Christmas cheer, is by singing loud for all to hear.'. Then he Sings 'Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer' while Angie does the 'call backs' to his singing. The call backs sound far away because she was taking a bath (10 feet away) and was screaming those parts while Drake sang the song. The call backs are, 'Reindeer', 'Like a light bulb', 'Saw it', 'Like a light bulb', 'Reindeer', 'Like Pinocchio', 'Rudolph', 'Like Monopoly','Loved him', 'Yipee!', 'Reindeer', 'Like the story of Abraham Lincoln'.

DRAKE OUTRO:
Drake says, 'Merry Christmas to one and all and have a very very Happy New Year.'. Then he says, 'Now instead of watching TV, go outside build a snow man.'. later in the track he says, 'Woo!' and I put it on a repeat and fade out. At the tail end of the track, Drake says, 'Yes!'.

CD MP3's:
Christmas 2007 (CD-zip)

Christmas 2007: Mellow Christmas
FRONT	BACK	CD

SUBJECT: Drake & Santa Jr. LOCATION: National Christmas Center (Paradise, PA) DESCRIPTION: Drake & Santa Jr. sitting on Santa's Chair in the Santa room.	SUBJECT: Bird House / Feeder LOCATION: Longwood Gardens (Kennett Square, PA) DESCRIPTION: There is a tree at Longwood Gardens that has all sorts of bird feeders on it. Angie thought it would make a good back cover for the CD.	SUBJECT: Buddy The Elf & Papa LOCATION: East Harrisburg Mall (East Harrisburg, PA) DESCRIPTION: There is a giant sand sculpture at this mall with a whole variety of images carved into it. This picture is of Buddy The Elf and Papa Elf from the movie 'Elf'.
Click for larger Front Image.	Click for larger Back Image.	Click for larger CD Image.

TRACK #	ARTIST NAME	TRACK TITLE	LENGTH
1	Drake Dumont	Christmas Cheer / Rudolph	1:27
2	The Stephen Kummer Trio	It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year	3:37
3	Lorie Line	I Saw Three Ships	2:15
4	Lorie Line	Oh Come Little Children	2:08
5	Ed Gerhard	Joy To The World	2:02
6	National Christmas Center	Christmas Comes To Tudor Towne	3:28
7	Billy McLaughlin	What Child Is This?	4:48
8	The Stephen Kummer Trio	Baby It's Cold Outside	3:53
9	Vince Guaraldi Trio	Christmas Time Is Here	2:54
10	Lorie Line	The Friendly Beasts	2:36
11	David Lanz	O Come All Ye Faithful	4:40
12	Jim Brickman	Bethlehem	2:19
13	Steve Hall	He Is Born (Il Est Ne)	2:40
14	Ed Gerhard	White Christmas	4:31
15	Peter Kater	Carol Of The Drum (Little Drummer Boy)	2:51
16	Lorie Line	Ding Dong Merrily On High	4:17
17	Ed Gerhard	Away In A Manger	3:44
18	Steve Hall	Do You Hear What I Hear?	3:06
19	Jim Brickman	The First Noel	3:03
20	Vince Guaraldi Trio	The Christmas Song	3:13
21	Ed Gerhard	The Holly And The Ivy	2:58
22	Alex De Grassi	Angels We Have Heard On High	4:18
23	Drake Dumont	Merry Christmas To One And All	1:11