onomatowhata?

each of the past six years, i've made a christmas mix as a gift to all my friends. growing up, and to this day, my dad is in love with christmas music. and i mean bad christmas music. the worst. it would begin right after thanksgiving, and probably would have started earlier if my mom would let it happen.

as a point of revolt against that, and in hopes of maybe imposing some halfway decent christmas music on him (which failed miserably; he's sticking to the classics), i started putting together the first Tim McMahon's Rockin' Christmas Eve. the main criteria for the songs is that they must be decent songs in their own right, the type you might listen too if they had nothing to do with christmas.

so another christmas is upon us, and with it another Tim McMahon's Rockin' Christmas Eve. We're up to volume 7. since the fourth year, a supplemental mix has been included. that tradition continues this year with a 50s/60s themed mix.

i've also finally got my act together to get almost all the former mixes up. so if you've lost your original, or never got it in the first place, you can also get the older mixes. they've come a long way.

download instructions for those friends and family not familiar with megaupload are included at the bottom of the post.


and with that:


TMRCE vol. VII - this year's mix, the seventh. it ended up as quite a winter-y mix. i'm fine with that.

TMRCE presents Fab La La La La - 2010 supplement. the title refers not to fabulous interior design, but rather the idea of a fab christmas party in the middle of the american century. i don't know if that makes sense, but just listen. the last song, for the end of the party, gets me every time.


the archives:

TMRCE vol. VI - a bit slapdash, but it did the job. actually, on further reflection, I think it came out really well.

TMRCE presents Have a Blue Christmas - the 2009 supplement. i must confess that several of the songs on this mix came from another, pre-existing mix called Blues, Blues Christmas. full disclosure.


TMRCE vol. V - possibly my favorite to date, if a little eclectic.

TMRCE presents That Olde Tyme Christmas Cheer - 2008 supplement. a bit more traditional. songs from the dustbin of history best enjoyed on a dark and silent night. i'm partial to my original description, which described them as the kind of songs you catch on an odd am station late at night on a lonely road, that makes you wonder if it's a relic radio wave from the past.

TMRCE presents TMRCE vol. IV - a pretty solid showing, i think. a bit of a new leaf.

TMRCE presents Kelly's Kountry Kristmas - the first supplement.

TMRCE vol. III - although there's some gems on the first two TMRCE's, I think this is where it really starts to get interesting.

TMRCE vol. II - the second go round. the start of a tradition.

TMRCE vol. I - the start of it all. a solid mix, although many of the songs will actually be quite familiar to the casual listener.


so with this, i wish good tidings to you all and happy holidays and so forth. i encourage you all to spread this joy around as you see fit. until next year...


Download Instructions:

1. Click the link for the mix you want. This will take you to the appropriate Megaupload download page.
2. Ignore any and all ads that tell you to click here, and instead look at the top right for a place to enter the given alpha-numeric code into the box. Enter the code and click the orange "download file" button directly below it.
3. Wait. A timer will show that needs to run for about 30 seconds before the black "Regular Download" button appears. Once it appears, click it.
4. Choose to save the ZIP file, and choose the save location.
5. Unzip the file.
6. Add the mp3 files to your music player of choice. If your software permits, you might want to just add the whole folder.
7. You should now be good to go.