Here is where I’m announcing what this year’s Christmas CD will be.

But first, some background. Lots of folks send Christmas cards every year. Nothing really wrong with that, but not really exciting about it either.

I sort of like the idea of sending Christmas cards. It’s a good way to tell people you don’t otherwise talk to that you still exist and that you’re pretty sure they exist too.

Still, Christmas cards aren’t my style. Mix CDs, however, are.

For the past two years, I’ve done mix CDs as my Christmas card. In 2006, it was The Cure for the Winter Blues. In order to stave off the ill effects of what was surely to be a very crappy winter, I delivered 18 fairly happy Cure songs. There were live cuts, B-sides, remixes and rarities. Generally, it was well-liked.

So well liked, that I did it again in 2007 with Bruce Springsteen – Mary Christmas; 17 Songs about Mary. Bruce used the name Mary in a ton of songs. Here are 17 of them. Some are album cuts, but many are live or demo tracks. And as a special bonus, I included the entire 15 track Nebraska Demo (with four bonus tracks recorded the year before). It was a Springsteen extravaganza!

The CDs aren’t just stuffed in a paper envelope with the song titles scribbled onto it. Oh no. I design the covers, the layout, everything. It’s a real labor of love. And I really love doing it.

But this year I wanted to do something a bit different. In the first two years, each CD featured one artist. The design of the Springsteen cover was very similar to the Cure cover (though both were based on actual album covers by their respective artists). This year, I wanted to try something different. And this year’s CD will be called…

Yep, a Mix CD full of covers. And to richen the pot, it’s a double CD! TWO CDs of cover songs! I wanted to share a bit of my music collection, so I plundered and here are nearly 50 cover songs for you!

The first disc is mostly softer songs to appeal to your mellow side. The second disc cranks it up to 11 and may not be for the faint of heart.

It will include covers by: Scott Walker, Simon & Garfunkel, Anthrax, 108, Pet Shop Boys, Devo, Camper Van Beethoven, Less Than Jake, Clem Snide, Handsome Family, B-52s, David Bowie, Henry Rollins, Miracle Legion, REM and many, many more!

And here’s how you can help…
While I have most of the CDs filled, I need one song for each to round it out. That means that I need a mellowish song and a harder song. Two songs.

I would like ideas. Help?

For each of the past years, I’ve done a print run of 50 copies, having a few left over (if anyone wants one, let me know). I’ll probably do a run of 60 – I know a few more people now. Like I said, these will basically be Christmas cards.

However, for the other folks, I’ll make the mix available as a digital download sometime after Thanksgiving (after the Christmas cards are sent out).

In the next couple of days, I’ll make the 2006 and 2007 mixes available for download as high bitrate MP3s with art an liner notes. Sure, it won’t be as cool as having the CD, but it’ll still be fun. I promise!

More on all this shortly.