I love Christmas, so every week I'll be adding a new blog post about how I celebrate the season.

I'll admit, I usually bust the Christmas music before December 1. I try hard to keep away, I really do, but sometimes I can't help it. Now that it's December, the Christmas Lounge channel from SomaFM is on most of the time in my house or office (If you aren't listening to Soma, you should rectify that ASAP).

So here are some of my favourite Christmas Carols, in no particular order:

Sleigh Ride / Santa Claus' Party - Ferrante & Teicher & Les Baxter



OK, this one was in particular order. I LOVE SLEIGH RIDE. It is by far my favourite Christmas song. I bounce up and down like a three year old when ever I hear it playing (I never said I didn't have problems).
If I only had one Christmas song to listen to, it would be this one. This version is my favourite, hands down, but nearly any rendition (Big Crosby, Andrews Sisters, The Ronnettes, Squirrell Nut Zippers) will do.

Baby It's Cold Outside - Leon Redbone and Zooey Deschanel



Buddy the Elf, what's your favourite colour?
Elf is also one of my favourite Christmas movies (it stems from my sisters and I being Will Ferrell fans and watching this movie after getting sugar highs from icing cookies) and I think the entire soundtrack is ah-maaaaazing (in fact, the version of Sleigh Ride above is from Elf too). If you haven't seen the movie or listened to the soundtrack, please do. There's lots of great Christmas jazz standards on there (and Louis Prima's Pennies From Heaven, even though it's not a Christmas song).

Sleigh Bells and Wine - Jason Gleason



Even though this song is a little sad, I love it. It's so smooth and relaxing. I listened to the Santa Cause albums in college, but I usually skipped over this one because I wasn't into jazz two years ago (look at what you've done to me, G!) but it's probably one of my favorutie songs on the albums now. Except for.....

All I Want For Christmas is You - Dave Miello 



You know, I tried to listen to the Mariah Carey version. I really did. But then I threw up in my mouth, and that's not healthy.

Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - Darlene Love



Another Christmas album that I love is A Christmas Gift For You from Phil Spector and I could pick out a few more songs from there, but this list is starting to get pretty long. I just love Love's emotion in this song (also, it makes me giggle because I think about the SNL digital short she was in, but that's for another day. In fact, SNL Christmas could be its own blog post, I think).

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So that's my list! I wanted to keep it fairly concise, but it could have been about 10 times as long. I have some great Christmas music (or so I think) so if anyone wants to raid my collection, give me a shout!

xo LC

Miss Bee!


Congrats B! I've already sent you an email, so please give me a shout and I can send you the CD.
You may notice that I did the draw out of 3 instead of 5, but that was because I only had three valid comments (they other two did not leave contact info). I was really hoping for more entries, but c'est la vie!

I have a few blog posts coming up once it's December all revolving around Christmas, which is my FAVOURITE time of year. They'll only be once a week so as not to totally make you sick of the season.
I've already started listening to Christmas music (I tried to hold out, I swear) but G and I won't decorate the house until Dec. 1.

I hope you are all keeping warm out there as it starts to get colder. We had a big snow dump here but then it warmed up - meaning that the streets the city didn't plow (basically every residential street) is now mush. Good thing I got my snow tires on when I did!

xo Laurie

Last night I went to the Sugar Swing Remembrance Day dance, featuring the lovely Alex Pangman!
I actually got an email last week from the artiste herself inviting me out, so I couldn't not go. G had to work, so I recruited my friend Nicole as my date as we got all dolled up 40s style.

This is what I wore to work, but changed after I got to Nicole's - there was a small rip in the underarm seaming and I didn't want to make matters worse by dancing in it, but it was so cute and really comfy! I wish I could have worn it *sigh*


Nicole bought the Beverly dress from Heartbreaker - I love love love this dress. I am so jealous. It looks amazing on her, no?



So we went to Sugar Swing. They hold dances every Saturday where you can pay $2 extra and get an hour long lesson. G and I went on my birthday and they taught the Lindy Hop, which I could not get for the life of me. This time they taught the Charleston, which I caught on to a little quicker. I didn't really dance the rest of the nice (no one asked me, sadface) but I did mull around and take photos (can't take the girl out of the newspaper biz).





And I met another local (well, Edmonton-local) vintage blogger! I spotted Miss Bailey in her snood (from Arthelia's Attic) and couldn't help but chat with her and snap a photo of her for my blog. It's always really nice to talk with someone who wears vintage/vintage inspired on a more regular basis than just events.

And when the band went on break I went over and introduced myself to Alex to thank her for inviting me. We ended up chatting back stage about hair woes and dresses for a few minutes - she was so sweet!

I loooooooove her dress.

Alex was so sweet in fact that she signed a copy of her newest album to give away on the blog!






Alex Pangman '33' giveaway, open to readers world-wide!
To enter:
1. Comment on this blog post, simple as that.
2. Mention this blog post on Facebook, tell me in a comment and link to the post/screenshot.
3. Mention this blog post (and me @laurie_callsen) on Twitter, tell me in a comment and link to the post/screenshot.

You can enter once, twice or thrice! Just make sure if you do more than one you comment for each entry so I can count you. Please include some way to get a hold of you quickly.

This contest is open to anyone, family and G excluded because I just don't think that would be fair.

Contest will close Monday, November 21 at 11:59 pm, and I will make the draw and announce the winner the next day. Good luck to all!

Welcome to another Edition of Mad Melodies. This round features all Canadian artists with amazing cover songs that I just had to share. First up:

Credit: GoodLovelies.com

I'm falling in love with the Good Lovelies, who I found because they are coming to Camrose Nov 11. An all-girl group that sings close-harmony swing style coming on Remembrance Day? How perfect is that? (if anyone in Camrose/Edmonton is interested in going, let me know!)
I found their cover of K'os Crabbuckit on Youtube and fell hard.

Credit: Google Images

 Jaymz Bee is another cover artist I adore. A little bit like Richard Cheese, Jaymz Bee and his Royal Jelly Orchestra (also Canadian) covers modern tunes in a swinging 60's style. He's hard to track down online, but I have one album (Cocktail: Shakin' and Stirred, 1997) thanks to a former prof and one off iTunes (Seriously Happy, 2004), which has lots of swing standards like Sing, Sing, Sing and Got The World On A String. I am hunting high and low for the Christmas album, so if anyone has any leads on it, let me know! Their cover of Alanis Morrisette's You Oughta Know is the only video on Youtube (below) and it's not great quality, but the audio of their cover of Safety Dance (one of my personal favourites) is here.

Credit: AlexPangman.com

 Alex Pangman is another fabulous Canadian Jazz artist. She's had a lung transplant due to cystic fibrosis and is back on her feet belting out 1930s jazz standards. I heard about her on CKUA's Facebook page and had to buy her album  ASAP. Her latest album is 33 to celebrate turning 33 and it's all songs from 1933. How awesome is that?  Here's a video of a few of her songs from the album launch (LOVE the dress.)



What are your favourite cover songs or artists? I have a whole lot more that I will share soon (perhaps an entire post on Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, hmm?)

Today, it was knitting:

(I was in the zone, no time for smiling).

I'm much farther along now

Thanks to Camrose twitter and knitter friend Tanya, I have finally joined the ranks of girls who have some sort of hand-made talent, although I am VERY far behind. So far I have about 1/36 of a scarf done with vintage yarn from Eatons, no less! But my hands got tired so I thought I would work on that ole carpal tunnel for a little bit and share what else I've been up to.

Last weekend I went home to the farm in ole Saskatchewan for my Grandma and Grandpa Callsen's 60th wedding anniversary. They were wed Sept. 4, 1951 and are still together today!




It was a blast, not only because I got to see some immediate family I hadn't visited with since July, but also because I got to see my "BC cousins" that I hadn't seen in a few years.

Cousin Ryan, me, my brother Greg, sister Maryanne, cousin Darci and sister Deanna

I also got to try on my Grandma's wedding dress but sadly, we were not a match (my boobs prevented all the little buttons in the back from doing up, waah). But from the front it seems all right!

Doing up alllllll those buttons after.

I also got to visit with my other set of grandparents and get some family stories down on tape. Grandma told me about her family's dairy - The Huff's Maple Leaf Dairy, which was located at 144 ave and 97 st in Edmonton and was the first dairy in the city. She and Gpa Marchant met at an army dance in Edmonton while Grandpa was in the air force (he said she was a fifth wheel, and she was under the impression it was a blind date) and the rest is history. Grandma and I also bonded over my vintage hairstyling book, which is a memory I'll cherish forever.

In other news - how did I JUST discover the magic that is Mary Ford and Les Paul? I'm mad at all of you from keeping this from me. (G wants me to point out that he found it. 3 gold stars for him).


Imelda May and Jeff Beck do a top notch cover in a tribute to Les Paul & Mary Ford too:

Hope all my Canadian readers have a wonderful Thanksgiving (I'm not sure what we'll be doing yet) and that you all have a wonderful weekend.
xo Laurie

Addendum: I also learned today that not only was Cary Grant really into LSD, he forced his wife Dyan to take it even though she didn't want to (which probably accounts for all her bad trips).

As a kid growing up in rural Saskatchewan on a grain farm, we were taught to never curse the rain - because we never got any and so any drop was a good drop. But here in Camrose we've been pelted with rain, both this summer and last summer, and it sucks. It's too much for farmers now and harvest will likely be a few weeks late, which is just great for our economy, especially after the recession. So I guess that means I can complain now.

Anyway, here's what I wore today, which was yet another rainy day.

I'm clearly thrilled about the weather. Knit top and skirt, Imagine Vintage (sponsor)

I bought new earrings - in pink and in teal. The problem is, I wear teal so much that I have to really coordinate these earrings with the rest of my outfit so they aren't too matchy-matchy.


I also bought new shoes from Payless. They are so comfy, even without insoles (which I will be getting) and the heel is the perfect height. The lining inside the shoes is cute too!


The rest of the week is supposed to be sunny, which will be great because I'll be spending at lot of time at the Big Valley Jamboree. This will be my second year covering BVJ, and I wrote a few posts ( here and here) on my other blog as a summary, if you're interested. I'm already thinking about what I should wear. Normally I wouldn't think this far in advance, but I also don't want to be annoyed by drunkies about what I'm wearing or treated inferior (like last year) because of my wardrobe. Any suggestions? You've practically have seen m entire wardrobe.

Sorry I haven't posted for the last two days. I worked a late night on Tuesday and then yesterday I was working on my other blog, so I didn't have time to post! I'm afraid that this post will also be a little lame if you're looking for something more structured, since this is just going to be my favourite music at the moment.



This song has one of the most beautiful steel guitars I've ever heard, so I'm not sure if that's more attractive to some or more off putting! This is a wonderful love song and whenever I hear it I get all warm and fuzzy inside. May has a fantastic voice and can easily transition from harder rockabilly (like her track Johnny Got A Boom Boom) to softer love ballads like this. She also did a fantastic cover of Tainted Love as well.



I found out about USWM from Jerry Iwanus after I asked for some new music reccomendations on Twitter. I'm not sure how to classify USWM, but I was pretty stoked to see a stand-up bass and a mandolin in their lineup - that's always a good sign. I really love the energy of this song, especially the whole storytelling aspect of it. Another one of my favourites is Ask Me To Stay, even though it just about makes me cry every time I hear it.

Until next time,

xo L