View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jon Solomon (@jonsolomon)

Just two weeks until this year’s Xmas marathon?! What? How is that even possible?

Here are the first half of the Christmas Stories recorded exclusively for the 2022 edition of my 25-Hour Holiday Radio Show on 103.3 fm WPRB.

Part two will appear here on December 17th!

Please follow the links provided to support these musicians, artists and incredible individuals who were kind to create original pieces for the show.

Follow them! Like them! Buy their stuff! 

May these works encourage you to record something for this year.

The submission deadline is December 19th.

You can explore the complete archive of stories recorded from 2011-2022 here. 

The Brixton Riot – “Christmas Bells”

Kicking us off is the ninth contribution to the marathon by The Brixton Riot, a rock band from New Jersey. Remember those?

Maria T. – “Most Perfect Thing”

Returning for the 2022 marathon, Philadelphia’s Maria T. wanted to see if she could make a song version of a Hallmark Christmas Movie.

Mesmer – “Next Christmas”

Also hailing from Philadelphia, Mesmer were first active in the mid-90s to early aughts. They took a 20-something-year break to play in other bands like Lefty’s Deceiver, Audible, The Bigger Lovers, Rhode Island, The Swivel Chairs, Static Shapes and more.

Deth Elf – “Merry Christmas Anyway”

Another Philadelphia-area outfit? Most certainly when it comes to the dynamic duo Deth Elf, who are making their much-welcomed seventh appearance on the marathon.

Mac McCaughan – “Dragging A Tree”

Superchunk? Portastatic? Bricks? Wwax? Slushpuppies? Mac McCaughan‘s been in ’em all. What a wonderful surprise this submission was.

Hattie – “The True Story of the Town that Kills Xmas Decorations”

George Korein – “Merry Xmas (Burn The Goat)”

Two separate pieces by Hattie and George Korein, both about the Gävle goat, a remarkable Swedish holiday tradition I was unfamiliar with before last December. Sadly, the goat did not burn in 2022.

Jason Sims – “Cracker Barrel”

Jason Sims is not secretly 1,000 years old. He wants you to laugh.

DJ Tenderloin – “Mongoose King Go Straight To The Ghetto”

Mash-up master DJ Tenderloin contributed a few incredible pieces to last year’s marathon. If you missed his melodious Ramones-o-Clock jam, hear it here.

Ho Means Ho – “Santa”

Members of Das Kaltes Eis re-work a No Means No favorite to great delight. All proceeds benefit the Abortion Liberation Fund of PA.

B. Musikoff – “There’s Gelt in the Christmas Stocking”

He’s a bassist, cartoonist, friendist and tinnitust. He’s Seattle’s B. Musikoff, host of MusicOn with Musikoff!

Sebastian Petsu – “The 25th Kick Down”

Back with a fifth submission, Sebstian Petu‘s latest was inspired by WPRB’s Commie Francis playing the Stooges’ “I Wanna Be Your Dog” right after the 2021 WPRB Xmas marathon, as part of a program based around non-Christmas songs that feature bells.

Santy Newman – “Remember (Christmas)”

I’m sure Santy Newman would love it if you listened to the podcast Wheel of Randy.

Polarekältebären – “Weihnachten (Es ist eine Jahreszeit)”

Synthesizer duo Polarekältebären (pronounsed po-LA-ruh-KELL-tuh-BAY-run) is Rentao Umali of Monona and Blaise Moritz of Toronto. “Weihnachten (Es ist eine Jahreszeit)” translates as “Christmas, it’s a time of year”. The only lyrics are those, plus later “Es ist keine Zeit der Tränen,” which translates as “It’s not a time of tears”. So the lyrics rhyme in a language other than the one in which they’re sung. There may be a technical term for that.

Bret Saunders – “Some Of Those Other Bells”

Bret Saunders is a friend to music. He once ate an entire bag of Twizzlers in a single afternoon.

Neal Markowski – “Zero Tolerance for Silent Night”

MVP Neal Markowski is a composer/musician in Chicago. He writes: In 1994, Pat Metheny released “Zero Tolerance for Silence”, a 40-minute compact disc made up of 5 tracks of improvised guitar. The jazzbo’s “Metal Machine Music” came complete with a pull-quote from Thurston Moore, stating the record was “…THE most radical recording of this decade…” Pretty sure he was wrong about that…Here’s my take on it, “Zero Tolerance for Silent Night.” This is a pay-what-you-want download, with all proceeds being sent to Chicago Abortion Fund.