Sundazed is reissuing the classic The Ventures’ Christmas Album on 180 gram vinyl. Regarded as one of the classic surf/instrumental rock n’ roll holiday albums, I’m sure most of you already have the songs in your collection. You may even have the original LP. I only have it on CD, so I’ll be scooping this up – it’ll be perfect going between this album and the Phil Spector Christmas album I picked up from Sundazed last year.

I’ve posted the lists of a couple surf musicians, but thought I’d contribute my own. This list is a mix of everything that I’ve been diggin’ this holiday season. There’s a little bit of everything, but my main criteria is simply listing the songs that have buzzed around my head the most. The song here include some surf, some classic and some that are just downright cheesy. In no particular order, here goes:
1. Frank Sinatra & Family – I Wouldn’t Trade Christmas
2. The Spotnicks – Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers
3. …

I’ve been sucked into this great blog, Classic Television Showbiz, that collects lots of great videos from YouTube and other streaming video sites. If you grew up in the 50′s – 80′s, this site is packed with all the shows you remember from your childhood. This month they’ve been featuring tons of holiday specials, Christmas episodes of various TV shows, and musical performances. Faves so far include the Thunderbirds Christmas episode, Judy Garland’s trippy appearance on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, the Christmas episode from C.H.i.P.s, and the Garry Moore show …

Over the next two weeks I’ll be asking a few of our favorite surf musicians what their favorite holiday songs are – first up is Micke from the Barbwires:
Non-Surf
5 – Chet Atkins – White Christmas
4 – The Hives and Cyndi Lauper – A Christmas Duel
3 – James Brown – Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto
2 – Chuck Berry – Run, Rudolph Run
1 – The Sonics – Don´t Believe In Christmas

Surf
5 – The Surfaris – A Surfers Christmas List (vocal)
4 - Beach Boys – Santa’s Beard (vocal)
3 – Los Straitjackets – …