Subject Biographies (confirmed to date)
BOOTIE (San Francisco) Launched in 2003 in San Francisco by DJs Adrian & the Mysterious D, Bootie was the first club night in the United States dedicated solely to the burgeoning artform of the bootleg mashup -- and is now the biggest mashup event in the world, with monthly parties in eight cities on three continents. Mixing and matching every conceivable musical genre, era, and style into one big dance party where everyone feels welcome, Bootie provides the soundtrack for the A.D.D. generation -- with free mashup CDs given away like candy!
Bootie has released two Christmas mashup albums, "A Very Bootie Christmas" 1 and 2, featuring the best holiday mashups from producers around the globe, hand-picked by Adrian & the Mysterious D. These CDs are not only given out by the hundreds at the parties, but also available as free downloads, becoming internet sensations. Bootie is also known for throwing epic holiday parties each year, with live mashup rock band Smash-Up Derby performing Christmas songs mashed-up with popular rock and pop songs, DJs spinning holiday mashups for the dance floor, and Christmas-themed performances ranging from drag to burlesque.
http://www.BootieUSA.com/
BOB DOROUGH Pianist, singer and composer Bob Dorough knows no generation gap. At 84 years old he’s still touring and packing houses all over the world. Dorough embodies the voice of the modern hipster, with his distinctive reed-like tone, bebop inspired melodies and clever, off-beat lyrics. Dorough holds the distinction of being the ONLY vocalist ever to appear on a Miles Davis record. And that song, “Blue Xmas (To Whom It May Concern)” also written by Dorough, is one of the hippest, and most scathing, Christmas tunes ever recorded.
http://www.bobdorough.com/
DR. DEMENTO (aka Barry Hansen) is a legendary L.A. disc jockey and musicologist. He is one of the key figures in the development of the Christmas novelty song and was the first American DJ to champion the work of musical legends Spike Jones, Tiny Tim, Weird Al Yankovich, Tom Lehrer, Stan Freberg, Frank Zappa as well as SCTV alumni Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis, whose McKenzie Bros. hoser ode to “The Twelve Days of Christmas” became a huge North American hit in 1981. (Photo by Jeff Morris)
http://www.drdemento.com/dr-bio.html
JAMES AUSTIN is VP of A&R at Rhino Records, universally regarded as the coolest record label around, this L.A. based company supports the most interesting, eclectic and electrifying music across many genres. A self-confessed Christmas music nut, James has not only produced all of Rhino’s holiday releases Hillbilly Holiday, Bummed Out Christmas, Mambo Santa Mambo, Hipsters’ Holiday: Vocal Jazz and R&B Classics, The Best of Cool Yule and dozens more, but he painted the funky artwork for them as well.
http://www.rhino.com
ANDY CIRZAN is VP of Jam Productions Ltd, one of the largest independent concert promoters in North America. Andy is also the godfather of Christmas music collectors and possesses several thousand of the strangest, weirdest, most obscure Christmas singles around. Andy’s odd and amazing collection includes everything from the strange, surreal world of Christmas Song Poems to the holy grail of Xmas singles The Free Design’s impossible to find anti-war single, “Shepherds & Wisemen” from an obscure U.S. Navy recruitment LP. Andy’s annual handcrafted Xmas CD compilation Further Adventures in Holiday Obscura featuring titles like “Santa Claus Soundscapes” “Off in the Christmas Cosmos” & “Séance with Santa”, is a much sought after industry item.
http://www.soundopinions.org/podcast.html
(scroll to Andy’s Christmas show 12.16.06)
EL VEZ Dubbed the “thinking man’s Elvis” El Vez is a post-modern punk rock king with a Latin twist, the Chicano experience filtered through the soul of Elvis Presley. As a singer & songwriter, El Vez is a true original, having created LIVE music mashups long before DJs adopted the form. His lyrics are political and
pro-Latino. Mixing word play with clever social satire he takes on the classic chestnuts and turns then on their ear. Backed by the kick ass guitars of the Spiders of Mars, and his lovely El Vettes, his Merry Mex-mass show is not to be missed.
“El Vez is far from an Elvis Impersonator...he is an Elvis translator, a goodwill ambassador for Latin culture.”
~ Rolling Stone
TIM SEWELL is an obsessive Christmas music connoisseur. His collection of festive 45s alone comprises an astonishing 5,100+ (each meticulously catalogued and preserved). Tim’s passion for the music was born of a childhood trauma: Asked to prepare a Christmas music mix on the family’s reel-to-reel machine, Tim surreptitiously included Jethro Tull’s “Christmas Song”. “I got the shit beaten out of me by my father because I had the audacity to put sitar music on a Christmas tape. My father didn’t realize they were actually playing the mandolin. So that was kind of the spark that made me decide that from then on I was going to do Christmas my way.”
DAVID WISDOM is a Canadian radio icon who hosted a slew of amazing late-night radio programs over the past 30 years. David's annual Christmas specials were filled with some of the strangest holiday music ever performed or heard. Songs that were unsentimental, satirical, and sometimes even sincere, but that collectively told a far funnier, darker and more honest Christmas story.
JON SOLOMON is a DJ at WPRB in Princeton, New Jersey. He has been on the air since 1988 and is perhaps best known for his annual 24-hour Christmas Music Marathon radio show, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.
Philebrity.com called Solomon "the closest thing the Philly indie rock scene has to a John Peel."
Solomon's record label, My Pal God Records, has put out recordings by Silkworm, The Embarrassment, The French Kicks, Ex Models, Del Rey, Paul Newman, and TW Walsh. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)
http://www.keepingscoreathome.com/
