Welcome to the Year End Holiday Jubilee edition of BLUES JUNCTION. In the spirit of the season we offer up several holiday features. These include my interview with Santa Claus.

Also, I have some thoughts on a new holiday that is observed here at BLUES JUNCTION called Funkmas. I hope you enjoy reading about this beautiful tradition that generally eschews tradition.

Nothing puts people in mind of the holidays like Christmas music. Enjoy selections from our holiday music library in a feature called, The Twelve Songs of Christmas: A Jukebox of Joy.

There is a marvelous new Christmas album that was just released on Document Records. Read my review of this incredible blues compilation. 

We also have two other stocking stuffer suggestions. One of these is a CD that our guest writer Leslie Hagins refers to as a perfect recording. I know Leslie well enough to know she is not the type to engage in hyperbole. She has tremendous taste and has high standards when it comes to her listening choices. Her thoughts on this brand new recording by pianist Ari Borger and guitarist Igor Prado were something I very much wanted to share with our readers. This CD will be available through Bluebeat Music on Tuesday, December 17^th.

The Igor Prado Band from Brazil will be on a California tour this month. One stop of that tour will include a show presented by World Class Blues in the O.C. at the Tiki Bar in Costa Mesa. This show will include some special guests and, like previous shows presented at this venue, you can check the details under the tab that reads, World Class Blues in the O.C. - Coming Attractions.

Another holiday stocking stuffer idea is a DVD. Read what I have to say regarding a performance film by The Elgins and Silver Kings that features very special guest Al Blake.

As always our Jukebox is full of new songs from brand new releases. Check out the Jukebox at the JUNCTION for more holiday gift ideas.

The official kick off to the holiday season here in Southern California has been for many years the Wednesday before Thanksgiving show in Long Beach called The Battle of the Blues Harps. Enjoy a photo essay from this show by Alex Gardner.

By now our readers have become used to seeing the fine photography of Alex. He is a true professional and we our honored to have a collection of his favorite images of 2013.

On November 16^th, Art Martel’s Straight up Blues Productions put on a very special show in San Dimas, California. I have some thoughts on this fine evening of music that accompany another great photo essay by the one and only Alex Gardner.

Art Martel also is presenting another evening of music in Sunset Beach, California, on December 7^th starring Laura Rain and The Caesars. Find out the details of this show on the tab that reads, Art Martel Presents: Coming Attractions. Also you can read the interview I conducted last week with Laura Rain and her musical collaborator, guitarist George Friend.

Blues fans are people first. We have tried very hard to remember that. It is why we air out the tent every so often and address subjects that may have little to do with blues music. I feel confident that we don’t have to use the word blues in every single sentence to let the world know how much we love this music. That should be self evident.

With this in mind, last November 22^nd on the National Day of Observance that took place on the 50^th anniversary of the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, I shared some of my thoughts as it relates to this seminal event in U.S. history. I thought it would be appropriate to leave that missive up on the top shelf for the remainder of the year.

The real world is never too far away from our little oasis of soul here at BLUES JUNCTION and it is in this spirit we urge our readers to give a helping hand to our friend and blues guitar giant, te:during his time of need.

This past November there was a tremendous amount of great live blues music being made in the clubs and restaurants out here in Southern California. It was great to get out and hear so much of it. It is also nice to meet so many of our readers face to face during these events. Thanks always for the kind words of support and encouragement. Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Merry Christmas, and Merry Funkmas...Be well and be in touch.

- David Mac 

Editor's Note: As many of you know the spirit of BLUES JUNCTION runs directly through my family who has music cursing through their veins. They remain an inspiration to me. I try not to indulge our readers in the personal minutia of my life but there was one topic I couldn’t keep out of the “pages” of this ezine.  

A couple of years ago, I used this platform for personal reasons in searching for “The Red Bass.” In the archive section of our site you can read two articles which should help to explain this saga. One of these missives is entitled, “The Red Bass’ and the very unlikely companion piece entitled, “That Place Where Things Mean Nothing.”

Many folks have asked me about this instrument through the years and were shocked that I have never even seen this “thing”. Last month I came in contact with the red bass for the very first time in my life. I am of, course, glad I was with family. It was an early Christmas present and one I will always treasure. As you read this, it may very well be in the hands of my brother who is taking this “thing” and using it to make some asses shake. This is all I ever wanted. It is after all, a groove machine that in the right hands, can make magic happen. That groove is what fuels my fire and makes life worth living, as far as I am concerned.