Order your copy here!

The long awaited time has come! Place your order for the Wayside Waifs Charity CD TODAY!

This is a LIMITED EDITION CD OF 500 COPIES. When they are gone, they are gone. So those of you waiting to order your copy, please keep that in mind!

This edition is an actual CD, NOT CDR, complete with silkscreen printing.


FOR A PHYSICAL COPY



Shopping cart by E-Junkie

suggested donation: $10.00


Also, if you donate $15.00 or more, I will also throw in a "bonus disc" of outtakes of songs submitted that didn't make the final cut. Scroll down for more details!

I have set it up where you can put in your own donation amount. As stated, the suggested donation is $10.00 for the CD, but extra donations would be GREAT, either to donate to Wayside Waifs or to order more than one copy! I promise you any extra money made will not go into my pocket...all the money made on this CD will go to benefit Wayside Waifs.

If you are ordering overseas I just request you add whatever you feel is appropriate to cover the extra cost of shipping and handling as the cart only calculates for domestic shipping.

Pay Pal is the only option available for the online store, which accepts all major credit cards and bank debit cards sponsored by a credit card. However, if you MUST pay with a check, contact me and we will work something out.


There, I feel I did my "PBS/Public Radio" part to drum up extra donations. Sorry, no tote bags or membership cards to offer you for higher donations to the cause.

And, to add in my "PBS/Public Radio" fund raising mode, I just wanted to say that I understand the economy is in horrible shape right now. Charitable donations are down this year, people are cutting back on buying things all across the board, and I naturally feared that might hurt the sales of my CD. So I just want to say if you found out about this CD because you read my blog at The Twelve Months of Christmas, then you know I do this for free. I am not making a thin dime off my Twelve Months blog or from this CD. Not even a ha'penny, so God bless you! (Sorry, I couldn't resist the obscure Christmas music reference!) And if you are web savvy at all, you know The Box site I use to host my files isn't free. I am not asking for donations to cover my costs of running the blog, but I point it out to say that if you have enjoyed that site, then have received far more music and entertainment than ten dollars could possibly buy you elsewhere. And if the economy is tight so you don't know about giving to a charity, how many charities are giving you something in return for your donation? Some do, but not a lot do. And here you can donate to the Wayside Waifs and get a full CD in return, full of original songs for the holiday. Songs I guarantee you that you won't hear on the radio. So give to a puppy or a kitty and get your you feet moving to the music. It sounds like a win/win situation to me. I know I am ALL OVER the Internet looking for fund raisers like this because I enjoy the idea of getting cool new Christmas music and helping out a cause along with it too. I hope you do the same.

OK, end of PBS/Public Radio mode.

And the final track listing....one minute samples are included.

1) ShiSho-Christmas Bells
2) Zen Doggies-Oh Santa
3) Don Campau-It's That Time of Year Again
4) Ray Carmen-Jingle Bell Rock
5) Lord of the Yum Yum-Ukrainian Bell Choir
6) What About Frogs-The Cat Who Controls Christmas
7) The Harvey Girls-Christmas Time Is Here
8) Thee Majesty-I Like the Holidays
9) Fireflies-Xmas Song (new version recorded for this compilation!)
10) Matthias Rowe-A Different Scarf
11) Ken Clinger-I'm Coming Home For Christmas This Year
12) Rick Malsick-Joseph's Song
13) Euchrid Eucrow-A Horse Is Not Just for Christmas
14) John Mitchell-The Reason for the Season
15) R. Stevie Moore-Joy to the World
16) Zen Doggies-Goodbye Christmas
17) Mercurial Rage-It's Christmas
18) Ethan Waters-5AM Christmas Pawn Groove
19) Worm is Green-Jólaljósin
20) Matthias Rowe-Northern Lights
21) Ken Clinger-I Will Hold You Until You Sleep
22) Larry Garrett-Old Dogs

LINER NOTES:

One thing I would have liked to include in the CD are liner notes, but the cost of a full CD booklet would have added needlessly to the final costs and cut into the donation money going to Wayside Waifs. But the CD cover has my blog address on it, so hopefully somebody is finding this blog for the first time by buying the CD. And if that's the case, that is WONDERFUL and I am delighted to have you reading!

A bit of back story:

Everybody wants to know why I chose to do this. The answer is two fold: nobody else done this before, at least not as far as I can see, and because of the economy.

Sure, people raise money for animal shelters all year long, and they have their Christmas drives as well. But in all my searching for Christmas music as I've collected it over the years, I never saw anybody do a charity CD for an animal shelter. For children, yes. And Christmas is for the children, I get it. But you know, children and pets often go hand in hand for a lot of folks, so I was wondering when somebody would get around to doing a CD for an animal shelter.

Then I remembered, I got a dog from an animal shelter, and I run a Christmas music blog, and instead of whining and wondering when somebody would do something, I could do something myself. Why the heck not?

That's pretty much it in a nutshell. The reason doesn't get much deeper than that.

I mentioned at some point in the past that I approached the Humane Society of Kansas City to do the CD. I offered to do ALL the work, all I was asking from them was to be able to sell the CD online through their online store. What I didn't mention before is that they were my SECOND choice. So when they declined my offer for whatever reason, I went with not my third choice, but my first choice: Wayside Waifs. The only reason I waivered from that first choice was because of the online store the Humane Society had, I will freely admit. But for a charity to actually TURN DOWN an opportunity to get some donations? I don't know...it makes me wonder if I wasn't meant to do this for Wayside Waifs all along.

And Wayside Waifs has been wonderful in working with me on getting this CD out into the hands of people who will support it. It's been a really positive experience.

The Process

Once I made the decision to go forward on this project, I sought out help, but help was hard to find online, and not too many "dummies" books are out there on how to do a charity CD. I posted a few posts here and there asking for advice on how to go about this, and no replies came. Not a single one. Not even from people who I knew who did something like this in the past. So I did what anybody with no idea on how to get people interested in a project like this would do: I decided to contact artists one by one.

My goal at first was to make this exclusively and 100% a compilation featuring music from artists in the Kansas/Missouri/Kansas City area. That idea soon was proven to be not very likely when the majority of the area artists/bands I contacted never replied. Which, I have to say, is frustrating. There were some who said yes who I never heard from again, some who said yes who later backed out, but over all not enough to fill up one CD.

So I started to look further. Which is a wonderful thing about MySpace...you click on friends of certain artists and follow friends of friends of friends and you can find an amazing variety of music out there.

Overall, I contacted 235 artists/bands. Most never replied. A few who did reply said they thought the message I sent them might have been spam, so that might have been one reason why I didn't get many responses.

I even took a chance to contact a few better known name acts than others. There were a few well known artists that I REALLY wanted to contribute, but nobody replied. One of them was the Eels... I really hoped I could get an alternate version of "Christmas is Going to the Dogs" for the compilation, but it just wasn't to be.

Early on it did not look like this project was going to happen, that I would not have enough music. But I extended the deadline from Sept 31st for submissions to Oct 31st and that really made all the difference. I actually wound up with too much music, so preference for the final tracks was given to people who recorded something for the project and to people who provided original material instead of covering a familiar standard. Some had to be left off the final compilation, but it was by no means anything against the music they submitted, but I just could not leave off a track somebody recorded for the compilation in favor of a previously released track a band pulled off a CD they already put out when there were space limitations and cuts had to be made.

The Bands and songs

1) ShiSho-Christmas Bells
From Kent, Ohio. ShiSho created some of my most favorite Christmas songs in the past, and anybody who has perused my Christmas music blog or are fans of Christmas music to the extent they seek out compilations online probably already know of their work. So it was with great excitement that I received the news that ShiSho would not only do a song, but would do one of MY songs I gave them! Suddenly, the project came together for me, and it became something I HAD to see through. I am delighted for each and every track on this compilation, but ShiSho were one of the first bands to agree to contribute, so much appreciation goes to them for their work here.

2) Zen Doggies-Oh Santa
Some may question why I wrote a handful of the tracks on this disc. The simple answer is because I needed songs to fill the CD and while I would have LOVED to include other great original songs by artists, some artists did not have a new song to contribute and were willing to help me out with recording material I provided.

Zen Doggies is the name I gave to the collaborations I did with Ken Clinger. The name actually is in honor of my dog, who seems to always be in his center of zen. This song is a light, fun tune, and I thought decent to follow up the fun of "Christmas Bells."

3) Don Campau-It's That Time of Year Again
Don hosts a radio show on KKUP called No Pigeonholes and is one of the main names known in home recording. His recordings span back into the early 70s, so it is with considerable honor that I am glad to receive and use his contribution for this compilation. He is out of Santa Rosa, CA.

4) Ray Carmen-Jingle Bell Rock
Ray is yet another name long associated with the home recording scene, and goes back at least a quarter century or more in solo recordings and with collaborations with other artists. He recorded this track for the compilation. He is from Green, Ohio.

5) Lord of the Yum Yum-Ukrainian Bell Carol
Lord of the Yum Yum is one of my MySpace contacts and I quickly contacted him asking him if he would contribute this song. It's previously released, but it's an outstanding track in it's unique approach to the all familiar music. An inspiration. His general music out put is also very interesting...I look forward to hearing more from him. From Chicago, IL.

6) What About Frogs-The Cat Who Controls Christmas
What About Frogs is actually Dave Cusick, host of That Sound on KPSU in Portland, OR. He recorded this song for his Christmas episode last year and was very willing to contribute his song to this compilation. It's not only great to have this wonderful song on the compilation, but it's great to have a cat Christmas song as well!

7) The Harvey Girls-Christmas Time Is Here
Also from Portland, OR. They recorded this version for this compilation. They were also kicking around an idea for an original tune, so hopefully one day they get that original song done as well. And I am not saying this just because they recorded this song for this CD, but this is perhaps my personal favorite version of this song. I think they did a fabulous job.

8) Thee Majesty-I Like Thee Holidays
Another MySpace contact with a previously released tune, but I asked them to contribute the track. Just familiar enough to fit in, just off beat enough to REALLY fit right in. From New York City.

9) Fireflies-Xmas Song (Piano Version)
Lisle Mitnik recorded this version for the CD. I would have been DELIGHTED to have them submit a new track, but I am glad to have this. I contacted them fairly late...they were one of the last artists I contacted...but Lisle really came through on making this new version for us. From Chicago, IL.

10) Matthias Rowe-A Different Scarf
I discovered Matthias last year on MySpace and while his songs are not your standard Christmas songs, I felt they were very fitting for this compilation and he was happy to contribute them. And this song seems to be a great follow up to the Fireflies track, seeing that it's more about a relationship at Christmas time than it is a straight forward Christmas song. Matthias is from Sweden.

11) Ken Clinger-I'm Coming Home For Christmas This Year
Ken is from Pittsburg, PA. When I first contacted him to contribute, he submitted three previously recorded songs. I had written the lyrics for this song back in April of 2008 and had been trying to find somebody to record it for quite some time. When I heard his work, something about it told me he would be the ideal artist to record my song. So I submitted my lyrics to him, and this is the result. It was this song that provoked me to continue to collaborate with him.

It is a song about the violence we see at Christmas time. I realize most Christmas music is escapist and this is the exact opposite of that, taking the topics in the verses straight from the headlines in the evening news. Not exactly as fun and cheery as some of the songs that came before, but I thought it was a song that needed to be written. The lyrics came to me in a dream.

12) Rick Malsick-Joseph's Song
From Independence, MO. If you are a reader of my Twelve Months of Christmas music blog, then you may recognize this name...he gave us Christmas Tumbleweeds last year. He recorded this song new this year and I was very happy to receive it. And following the previous tune it is just a sober reminder that perhaps the violence at the holiday times is nothing new at all, and is old as the Christmas story itself. I know, I know...not exactly the brightest of cheer for the holiday season!

13) Euchrid Eucrow-A Horse is Not Just for Christmas
When I found this band on MySpace, I felt this song would be a good selection for the CD. Not a merry tune, but a good message over all, and a message that could be extended to just about any animal. A lot of dogs and cats are given as Christmas presents only to be given up and turned loose or surrendered to shelters later on, and for those animals I say the same: a dog and cat are not just for Christmas either. I thought this song had a positive message for animals and caring for them, and I am glad the band let me use it. They are from Brighton, UK.

14) John Mitchell-The Reason for the Season
From Kansas City, MO. I could not have released this track without including this song. If I had, it would have felt lacking some how. Who better to remind us what the real reason is for the season than John Mitchell...and he does it with a great sense of humor.

15) R. Stevie Moore-Joy to the World
R. Stevie Moore may be a new name to some of you and if it is, I suggest you look up his music on MySpace and elsewhere as soon as possible and marvel at what you were missing. I really wish Mr. Moore had been able to provide an original track, but he was swamped with work already when I contacted him, but when he submitted this track to me, I instantly loved the sound. It's an honor to include him on this compilation.

16) Zen Doggies-Goodbye Christmas
This song went through many stages before we got to this version here. Ken Clinger turned in an EXCELLENT version that was hard for me to decide not to use but we seemed to record our own versions of the song at the same time, so he went ahead and added his music to the mix on this. I ultimately decided to use it not because I am particularly fond of the vocals (I did the vocals on this, and I realize I am not much of a singer at all, and I don't claim to be a singer at all...I just try to provide vocal tracks that work with the material the best I can) but I decided to use this version because, stylistically, it was a break from the rest of the songs Ken contributed or contributed to, and I thought the low-fi sound on this track would compliment Mr. Moore's track well.

If you buy the CD through this site and donate $15.00 or more, you will get to hear Ken's versions...this song went through many different stages to get to this final take.

17) Mercurial Rage-It's Christmas
Another band that was early to sign on to this project, they did not disappoint. While this song was on their MySpace page in 2007 they remastered it and submitted it for this compilation. It's previously unreleased on CD. They are from Minneapolis, MN.

18) Ethan Waters-5AM Christmas Pawn Groove
Also previously released, but I thought many of the listeners in America haven't heard this track since it was released as a single in New Zealand. And it's easy to see why this was chosen as a single, as it's a very enjoyable Christmas tune.

19) Worm Is Green-Jólaljósin
Another band that supported the project early on, I was very glad to have them contribute. However, I was a little uneasy when they told me the song they chose would not be in English, but all fears subsided when I heard the song, as in any language this is a beautiful Christmas song, and it is with great honor that I include it. They are from Akranes, Iceland.

20) Matthias Rowe-Northern Lights
Not so much of a Christmas song as it is a winter song, but considering songs like "Baby, It's Cold Outside" and "Snow" get attention at the Holiday times as Christmas songs, I felt that this song was a very good Holiday related song to include here. Just a beautiful song with startling imagery of taking a holiday to go north to see the Northern Lights.

21) Ken Clinger-I Will Hold You Until You Sleep
22) Larry Garrett-Old Dogs
Both of these songs are about the same topic: losing beloved pets that seem to live such short lives, certainly too short of a life. I wrote I Will Hold You... before Larry gave me his track, and it seemed fitting to pair the two tracks together on the disc. The track I did in collaboration with Ken Clinger is autobiographical, and is about a dog my family had that fell ill one Christmas day and died a week later. She is still missed dearly to this day. The chorus was actually written for my current dog, Fletcher my golden retriever, and I wrote the verses about Ebony, who was a golden/black lab mix.

Larry's song is not so much of a Christmas song but I thought it was a fitting song to conclude the CD with. I apologize for ending the CD on such a down note, but nothing else submitted seem to be appropriate to follow this up with.

Larry is from Independence, MO as well.

News update!

I am sure many of you have been wondering: when is the CD going to be available? Well, the story from conception of the idea to fruition has been a long and winding road, with many set backs and disappointments along the way. And getting the final track list together wasn't the end of the disappointments.

The place I was counting on to donate money to see to it that the CD could get made decided against donating to benefit Wayside Waifs because, as the company president wrote in his reply, "Unfortunately, it doesn't fit in with my charitable giving philosophy." I will decline to make the name of the company known, but it was a major disappointment nonetheless.

Not unforeseen, however. I mentioned earlier that if I could not get the donation, I would go into shoestring budget mode and that's what I had to do. It took me some time to find the right company to go with to get the CD made, and I finally settled on Mixonic. I am going with a low print run at first then will just go from there!

But in the disappointment, there has been good things to report:

Gary Lezak, of KSHB fame, has let me know there is a good chance he can plug the CD on the air, or at least promote it through his weather blog. Gary is well known around these parts for his work with animal charities, and I HIGHLY recommend you all read the article written about him in Paw Prints Magazine, so I believe he could really help get the word out pretty far about the project.

Wayside Waifs is 100% behind this (and for those of you who think that should just be a given, you'd be surprised! I originally tried to do this for the Humane Society of Kansas City and they opted out of me doing a CD for their benefit because they didn't want to be "distracted." Or some asinine reason like that. I originally wanted to do the project for them because they have an online store and I thought that would be an awesome place to sell the CD. But they thought it would be a distraction! Good to see they have enough donation money that they can just turn away some more!) and they are having a Holiday Open House on Dec. 6th and I will be there noon-3pm to sell the CD! They will have it for sale otherwise, but I will be there with my dog (he can sell more copies I can!) so if any of you are from the Kansas City area, stop by and meet us! It would be GREAT to see you and to give you a copy of the CD personally! Click on the link for Wayside to find out where they are if you are able to come!

Additionally, Wayside Waifs has a media manager, so they will be able to help me get the CD promoted on the air on their local news spots so if Gary Lezak is unable to help due to station policy or whatever, then no big deal, I have a back up plan!

Now, the question you are all asking, WHEN CAN I BUY THE CD???? Well, I just placed the order with Mixonic today (I know, I wanted to do this earlier, but I was waiting on other people to help out, as I detailed above, and those people just did not come through for me) and they notified me the order will ship on the 21st, and it's coming by UPS 3-7 day shipping. Once I get it, I have everything set up on Pay Pal to start taking orders RIGHT AWAY once I get the CDs! So once the box comes, I will be on the ground running! But the CD won't be available until shortly after the 21st. I wish I had a hard date for you all...it depends on UPS getting the package to me at this point.

In the mean time of waiting, of trying to find the right company to make the CD, and all the other mundane details, I decided to change the track order and Rick Malsick (who gave us Christmas Tumbleweeds last year!) made a VERY late submission for the CD, but it was a new original track, and I was in the process of making the CD graphics when he sent it, so I took one song off (sorry to Happy Death Society...NOTHING personal! But their track wasn't new and recorded for this project, and it wasn't really a Christmas song!) and put Rick's new song in it's place. And I think that the track it follows makes for two great songs together (and I am NOT saying that just because I wrote the song that comes before Rick's!) So you will see that I updated the track listing...I rearranged some of the tracks for various reasons (one reason is because Worm Is Green's track is so professionally and beautifully recorded that it made my track "Oh Santa" sound pretty poor as a follow up!) but the track listing you see now is indeed FINAL.

Last, but not least, I have a track to share with you. Ethan Waters was gracious to submit a track, but it wasn't newly recorded for this compilation. I believe this was a single in his homeland of New Zealand, but I am glad to have it on the compilation nonetheless. But I saw on his My Space page the other day he has a different Christmas track up! I wanted to contact him to see if he would let me use this on the compilation instead, but I really didn't have the time, and I am quite happy to have his Christmas single to offer on the comp. However, that doesn't stop me from sharing his other Christmas song here! I am liking the work I hear from this guy...here is to hoping he's a long time friend of this blog! (You can also view the music video for his Christmas single on his My Space page!)

Ethan Waters-Winter Smile

The Official Announcement!

The tracks are in, the final selections have been made. Here is the official track list:

EDIT: TRACK LISTING UPDATED 11/14/08!

1) ShiSho-Christmas Bells
2) Zen Doggies-Oh Santa
3) Don Campau-It's That Time of Year Again
4) Ray Carmen-Jingle Bell Rock
5) Lord of the Yum Yum-Ukrainian Bell Choir
6) What About Frogs-The Cat Who Controls Christmas
7) The Harvey Girls-Christmas Time Is Here
8) Thee Majesty-I Like the Holidays
9) Fireflies-Xmas Song (new version recorded for this compilation!)
10) Matthias Rowe-A Different Scarf
11) Ken Clinger-I'm Coming Home For Christmas This Year
12) Rick Malsick-Joseph's Song
13) Euchrid Eucrow-A Horse Is Not Just for Christmas
14) John Mitchell-The Reason for the Season
15) R. Stevie Moore-The Reason for the Season
16) Zen Doggies-Goodbye Christmas
17) Mercurial Rage-It's Christmas
18) Ethan Waters-5AM Christmas Pawn Groove
19) Worm is Green-Jólaljósin
20) Matthias Rowe-Northern Lights
21) Ken Clinger-I Will Hold You Until You Sleep
22) Larry Garrett-Old Dogs

This is out of 235 artists I personally contacted. A few backed out after saying yes (either due to a line up change of the band, or due to other circumstances out of their control), and some I never heard back from again even though they said yes to contributing. But I am very grateful to each artist who contributed. I am reluctant to single anybody out, but to those were were able to provide new material I am most grateful to you. I am extremely grateful for all of the material, but seeing that some of the new material was written by yours truly, I am most grateful to those artists who were able to record my own visions of Christmas music. It made the project all worthwhile.

Alas, nobody offered up a cover version of "A Lonely Pup in a Christmas Shop." I am a bit disappointed by that, but in light of what I have, I think this is a very strong compilation without it.

I will keep you updated on when the CD is ready for sale, and when it is available to purchase for download. It should be soon.

Update

So far I have 20 artists who have agreed to contribute to the project! I am not sure if all will be able to participate...but I have been informed by a few that extending the deadline another month sure helped out! Hey, whatever I can do...this is an important project and I want to make it work!

And so far I have 10 songs by six of the contributing artists! Thanks to those of you who have showed your support to the extent to offer more than ONE track! So as of now I have a fairly full CD. There is plenty of room on the disc available, however...I want this to be a full length CD with many and varied tracks.

I am EXCITED about the prospects of this coming out. It's been great to see the support of this project coming together. Thanks to all the contributing artists who have helped make it come together.

And another thing that is exciting to me is the number of artists outside of the Kansas City area committed to contributing! I am SO grateful! I have to say I haven't had much luck with Kansas City area bands, which I totally understand if they don't have the studio time right now to record a new Christmas song, so no hard feelings...but it will be exciting to see this come together! I think it will be a great collection!

Project News

It's been a long, yet short summer! It's truly amazing how time FLIES by. And the time for the end of this project is soon.

So...how has it been going you ask! First, the good news...

• I have 11 artists interested in contributing, who have each told me YES! They support the project! That is EXCITING!
• I found an economical way of getting the CD produced without breaking the budget, and I think I may have somebody who could make a contribution in the name of Wayside Waifs to cover the cost of the CD production, which would mean more MONEY going to the charity! Remember: 100% of the proceeds will go directly to Wayside Waifs! The contribution to cover CD production costs isn't done and final yet, but it's looking good!

And no bad news, just some realistic things I am looking at here:

• Of the 11 artists contributing so far, that's out of 111 artists I've contacted! I knew not everybody I contacted would be jumping over themselves to contribute...for some it just may not be possible to lay down a professionally recorded song, or they don't have an idea, or they don't want to contribute for whatever reason. Cool. But I hoped at least by now I'd have 20% committed to contributing!
  
• Of the 11 artists contributing, I've only had TWO songs turned in so far! Of course, there is PLENTY of time left to get your songs to me. But not that much more time! YIKES! Did I say before time is going FAST?!?

So, that all taken into consideration: I am extending the deadline for the songs to be submitted to me!

All songs are now due OCTOBER 31st.

( If you are mailing your songs via post, I will provide my mailing address via email...feel free to contact me.)


But that doesn't mean take that long and procrastinate if you have a song! Hopefully I get the bulk of the songs before then so I can arrange the tracks, get the ready for CD production, and all that good stuff and have the final product ready for production ASAP after October 31st.

The CD production I am looking at is a 10 day turn around, so I should have the final product by the middle of November with that time line. It's going to be hectic, but it's do able, and I am willing to put my back to the wall on this because I honestly believe in this project with all my heart and I have a passion to see it succeed.

So, please, SPREAD THE WORD on this project! Share information on your blog/Christmas site about it if you have one. Submissions are welcome from anywhere and everywhere. So if you know a band or a musician who would like to contribute a song for this charity project, share this information with them. Believe me, I won't turn away any submissions because I didn't solicit them personally! I HOPE I get unsolicited submissions! It would MAKE MY DAY!

An update of sorts

OK, previously I had a link for a rules and submissions form for artists to sign. After long and serious consideration and consultation, it has been decided that this is not necessary for this project. The link has been removed. If you previously downloaded it, you don't have to fill it out or submit it.

So, if you are submitting a song, hopefully this makes the process MUCH easier for you.

By submitting the song, you agree to allow me to use the track on the CD and for the purposes of which benefit the Wayside Waifs animal shelter. Your song will only be used by me for this purpose, whether it be through the sale of physical CDs or by making the album available for download.

All artists retain FULL RIGHTS to their song.

Please see the post below for more details.

And thank you SO MUCH for your interest and contributions. Keep the word going around about this and let's get more people involved!

General rules and other hoo-hah you should read before submitting your song.

For those interested in contributing, here are a few simple guidelines for the submissions...

CD entries are encouraged for optimal sound quality. No DAT or Mini Disc, please. Audio files are welcome, and can be emailed to TheToneKing@comcast.net Supported files include mp3, wma, or wav. For optimal audio quality, please submit WAV files or MP3 files encoded with 320 kBit 44100 Hz stereo are encouraged. MP3 formats will be accepted with at least 192 kBit, 44100 Hz stereo. Please do not sacrifice sound quality to email your songs, and send the highest possible file you can.

Songs should be five minutes or less in length. This is to give a chance for greater exposure and contribution of the individual artists interested in participating.

All entries must be postmarked or received via email by September 30^th, 2008.


1. If you are mailing your songs via post, I will provide my mailing address via email...feel free to contact me.

2. Original compositions are encouraged. All submissions should contain subject matter pertinent to Christmas and/or the holiday/winter season. ALL songs pertaining to the Christmas/Holiday season are welcome. Please be encouraged to think outside of the box. Use your imaginations and have fun! Creativity is a must!

3. Novelty songs will be considered not necessarily encouraged. Most novelty songs are only good for a few listens. If you feel your track is way above and beyond the normal novelty songs heard during the Holiday season, I am more than happy to consider them. Parody songs are strictly not welcome, mainly due to legal reasons, unless the original music is public domain.

4. Cover versions are welcome as well. But, please, before you record your version of the familiar holiday standard, please consider looking for a more obscure song to cover that you don’t normally hear on a compilation this time of year. “White Christmas” and “Silent Night” and others are wonderful songs…but as I said with rule number 2: think outside the box; creativity is a must! Cover versions of traditional standards are welcome if your version offers something completely new and refreshing previous versions have not offered.

NOTE: If you would like me to recommend something off the beaten path to cover, I will be happy to peruse my personal collection and try my best to suggest something that fits your style! Just let me know!

5. Please consider the submission being intended for a family audience. It doesn’t have to be children’s music, but submit something that could get airplay on the radio. The purpose of this contest is to have FUN and to keep it CLEAN. Songs that use profane language will be rejected from consideration.

6. Contestants may enter as many songs as desired.

7. Submissions by anybody interested and willing to support Wayside Waifs of Kansas City is welcome. Local artists are encouraged to participate, but this is open to all interested contributors.

8. Eligible songs for the final CD will determined by me, as will final track selection and track order. Songs are selected equally on originality, lyrics, melody and composition. Each chosen submission for the CD will receive a track on the Wayside Waifs 2008 Holiday Charity CD (name of the compilation will be chosen at a later date and more than likely based on the title of one of the songs.) Entrants and their collaborators will retain full rights to all work submitted for the compilation.

9. Final track selection will be determined by October 31^st, 2008. The final track selection will be posted at this blog after that date but before the CD release.

10. No entrants or any participants in this project or friends or family members, or anybody involved will receive free copies of the CD. The holiday CD is for charitable purposes only, not for the profit of any party involved. All profits will go directly Wayside Waifs of Kansas City.

11. Submissions will not be returned to entrant. If you require your submission to be returned, a fully paid SASE must be included with entry.


12. The contributing artist/musician will not be receiving compensation for the song and that by submitting they are consenting to distribution of said song for charitable purposes that benefit the Wayside Waifs. By submitting the song to this project, you have agreed to these terms.

I hope this answers any questions you have. If you have any questions, please sound off in the comments section or email me.

I also wanted to add that ANY type of music is welcome. If it's good, I want to consider it for inclusion on the CD. And just because this is a CD fund raiser for an animal shelter, the songs don't all have to be about animals. The topic of the songs can be anything Holiday related...again, this is about being creative, thinking outside of the box. The purpose is to have fun and to raise money for a good cause.

Though I hope somebody does a cover version of this song....

Adam Faith-Lonely Pup in a Christmas Shop

(If you do choose to do a cover version of this song, please let us know in the comments section so I am not swamped with multiple versions of the same song!)

I also want to say if you are interested in contributing but you do not have an original composition to share, and would like a suggestion on a song to cover, please contact me. I may have some suggestions of some pretty obscure songs that might fit your style.

Wayside Waifs Charity CD

I am announcing that I am going to produce, assemble, oversee the production of, and sell/distribute a means to raise money for Wayside Waifs.

Ok, you ask, "Why Wayside Waifs?"

1) Wayside Waifs is an animal shelter; I love animals

2) Wayside Waifs allowed me to adopt a wonderful animal from them in December 2005 that has touched my life in so many ways.

3) Animals are among those who cannot help themselves, and are in need just as much at the holiday times as children or families in need, and the charities that raise money for children and families are very fine, and I applaud them, but I wanted to do something for our furry friends who cannot help themselves at all.

What I intend to do is:

1) Contact independent/unsigned musicians/bands to see if they would be interested in contributing a song to the compilation. It can be a newly recorded track or a track they previously shared online or on a CD they released. Original songs by local musicians is a plus, but I am welcoming as many contributors as may be interested in helping this charity.

2) Produce the final CD through Disc Masters. My goal is to produce an actual pressed CD, not a CD-R, 1000 copies. Copies will be sold online, in local stores, and I also hope that area veterinarians and pet food stores will also help me sell the CD.

There are details to work out, however. Please keep watch on this blog for more details on how to submit your music.