Archive for December, 2008

By Joe Klein

As mentioned in the previous post, KARMA AUGER, who is the lead singer on Christmas In Malibu, was tracked down by former MTV veejay MARTHA QUINN to be a featured  guest on her “LIKE, TOTALLY AWESOME RAD HOLIDAY SPECIAL” which aired on the XM/Sirius satellite radio this weekend. Karma even opened the show, easily sliding right back into his past role as the definitive 80’s surfer who is “the most rad dude of them all.”

What followed was a short but sweet interview, in which the former RAD DUDE recalled the wild days of the late eighties when the song was first recorded. Mentioning that he was a little embarrassed at first about being on the “corny” record, Karma said that the more he heard the song and saw the video, the more it grew on him over the years. Karma said he now totally digs the song  and its “comedic genius.” The original Rad Dude also joined the growing ranks of those who consider Christmas In Malibu a holiday CLASSIC! At the interview’s end, Martha introduced the first song on the special, one that has become the “theme song every year she’s done her holiday show.”

I do believe that this is the first time Karma has done a media interview about the song since the flurry of media appearances made by The Rad Dudes when the song was first released two decades ago. So big kudos to Martha for a pretty cool music business “scoop” on the song’s twentieth anniversary.

Check out the segment of the show with Martha and Karma on the audio player below!

CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON BELOW TO LISTEN NOW!

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***NEWS FLASH!***

Like Martha, I was also successful in locating Rad Dude Karma Auger! We emailed back and forth and, shortly after Martha’s special aired on XM, I called Karma’s cell. He answered and we spoke for about half an hour……the first time we talked in over nineteen years!

After a bit of OMG’s and nostalgic reminiscing, we decided it would be a cool idea to do an interview. Now, who will interview who is up for grabs at this point, but we’ll connect on SKYPE over the next day or two and just record some great musings and memories about the making of the……dare I say it……holiday classic!

Big shoutout to Martha Quinn for being the catalyst that got me and Karma back in touch after way too many years! Stand by for what just could be the coolest unexpected Christmas interview of the year……when Karma and I recall those crazy, hazy days back in 1988 that culminated with Christmas In Malibu! Coming soon to a browser near you, right here on the New Media Creative blog!

***UPDATE 12/22!***

I am happy to report that Karma and I had a great hour long chat last night. Not only did talk about our recollections of all the madness surrounding the making and promoting of Christmas In Malibu, but covered much more ground in what was really a heartfelt and in-depth talk between a coach and his lead player so many years after the big game! The conversation was really much more about Karma than me, and the vibrant musician, artist, husband and father of two was not in any way at a loss for words no matter what it is we spoke about.

Karma, now 38 years old, has been through a lot and I was left with the impression that he has very much enjoyed all he’s done and experienced in all the years since we worked together. It’s also clear that he’s grown and matured as both an artist and person and, through it all, maintained a very close, positive and production relationship with his father, renowned rock, blues and jazz keyboardist, Brian Auger. Listening to Karma, you really do get the feeling that he is living life to the fullest, and his stories, reflections and insights about the last twenty years are about as interesting as it gets. It’s pretty uplifting and inspirational stuff, and I am sure you will enjoy the musings of this experienced and righteous “old dude.”

Currently, there’s a whole lotta’ editing going on and it’s looking like the talk will probably be cooler to put out there in two, or perhaps three, parts. I hope to release the first installment before Christmas, with the remainder shortly therafter. So, as I have so often said, “Stay tuned……and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

By Joe Klein

It’s beginning to look a lot like…..ruthless self-promotion. Not my intent here, I promise! I’m just reporting the news as it breaks……So here’s more late-breaking news about Christmas in Malibu.

Former MTV veejay MARTHA QUINN, who worked at the music channel with ADAM CURRY in the eighties and early nineties, is featuring the holiday track on a special holiday edition of her XM/Sirius Satellite Radio show MARTHA QUINN PRESENTS GODS OF THE BIG EIGHTIES.

The special is called “MARTHA QUINN’S LIKE, TOTALLY AWESOME RAD HOLIDAY SPECIAL.” According to a post on HER BLOG, Martha tracked down RAD DUDES lead singer KARMA AUGER by contacting his dad, English keyboard player BRIAN AUGER (who achieved legendary status in the sixties and seventies playing with practically every figure in English pop and rock royalty). Brian, in turn, put Martha in touch with Karma, and she goes on to say in her blog that Karma was heading out to Malibu to record an interview about the song. This was news to me, which I only found out about after receiving a Google email alert about the song a couple of days ago that included a link to MARTHA’S WEBSITE.

Martha (in the lower right of the photo) was one of the original crew of five MTV veejays (that also included J.J. Jackson, Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman and Alan Hunter) that were on the music channel for the first several years following it’s launch in July of 1981. Martha remained at the music channel for ten years, departing in 1991 to work on commercial endorsements and other television projects. Eventually she relocated from New York to L.A. and, with guitarist Jordan Tarlowe, had two sons. In 2004, Martha and her family settled down on the shores of Malibu and started her satellite radio show on Sirius in 2005. When she was putting her first Christmas show together that year, she came across Christmas In Malibu online and, remembering the video from her days at MTV, played the song on her show.

Martha did contact me that year and we traded a few old stories from the MTV days and talked about getting together on one of my frequent visits to Malibu, but it never happened. Frankly, I’m ashamed to admit I forgot all about her show for the last couple of years and it was a pleasant surprise to learn that she featured the song on her Christmas shows in 2006 and 2007 and had decided to track down Karma for this year’s Christmas show, which just so happens to coincide with the song’s twentieth anniversary! Now, how cool is that?

Martha’s satellite radio shows had been airing on Sirius Satellite Radio. But recently Sirius merged with XM Satellite Radio and her shows now air on the combined network. The holiday special airs on Saturday, December 20 at 9:00 PM EST (6:00 PM PST) and repeats on Sunday, December 21 at 11:00 AM ET (8:00 AM PST) on XM’s “80’s On 8” channel, which is on channel 8 on XM Radio. The music channel can also be heard by DirecTV subscribers on DirecTV channel 805. (Check the program schedules on XM or SIRIUS websites for air times of Martha’s regularly scheduled 80’s show.)

I really don’t know why, but, for whatever reason, I haven’t spoken to Karma Auger (or the other Rad Dude, “The Wolf”) since The Rad Dudes disbanded in 1989. I’ve emailed Karma and hope to hear back from him and reconnect before Christmas (in Malibu). In any event, I hope you’ll check out Martha’s show this weekend. It should be cool to hear Karma’s recollection of  all the madness that surrounded the song twenty years ago!

Check back for updates. Rest assured that any further posts about Christmas In Malibu will be limited to a report on contact with Karma or an audio excerpt from Martha’s show with the song and her Karma Auger interview. Unless, of course, something else happens that may be newsworthy!

By Joe Klein

I always knew that Christmas In Malibu was not your average holiday toonage and did feel that the song could become some sort of cult favorite one day, once it got out there. Well, as fate would have it, the song did get out there twenty years ago. But, at that time, Christmas In Malibu seemed to be embraced by the masses as a mainstream kind of holiday hit on radio and the major video channels that existed back then. I remember it almost always brought a smile to the face of whoever was listening to the song or watching the video.

When the song faded from view back in the mid-nineties, I didn’t have any expectations one way or another about it’s future. I was just happy that the first song I ever wrote got made into a pretty cool record which got played on the radio and MTV.

After all, isn’t that the dream of most songwriters, artists and record producers? It was a sweet “dream come true” for me, because I had never been lucky enough to have recorded a “hit” record before.

When I got back into media back in 2005 with the launch of The Podcast Voice Guys, I just thought it would be cool to post Christmas In Malibu on the new PODSAFE MUSIC NETWORK launched by Adam Curry’s Podshow Network and then see what, if anything happened. This was just before YouTube hit the scene. Much to my surprise the song got played on a whole bunch of podcasts that year, including Curry’s own very popular show, THE DAILY SOURCE CODE. Maybe it wasn’t back on the radio, but Christmas In Malibu was back, just the same.

The following year, 2006, is when I made the deal with IODA to distribute the song commercially online and then posted it on YouTube and a few other new viral video sites. The song, and now the video, got a whole lot more play in that year than in 2005, thanks in a big part to the viral video revolution. Last year saw even more of the same, and the video started showing up in all sorts of bizarre places. Embedding videos into blogs became all the rage in 2007, and Christmas In Malibu started popping up on all sorts of surfing, snowboarding and other action sports blogs in addition to music and holiday oriented sites.

This year, the fascination with the little offbeat holiday trinket continues and the song has been appearing in all sorts of crazy places. Recently the very popular skate and surf blog BOARDISTAN featured the music video. Then a blog called ACTION SPORTS BLIPS picked up the post from Boardistan, and late last week the FUEL TV EDITOR’S BLOG embedded the video as well.

So I guess it comes as no surprise that my friend and former agent, ARTIE WAYNE, who recently added the video to his widely-circulated 99 CHRISTMAS MUSIC VIDEOS list, labeled Christmas In Malibu a “Certified Cult Classic” in an ARTICLE POSTED ON HIS BLOG earlier this week.

Okay it may be a bit of a stretch, and Artie admittedly has been known to get a bit over-zealous about projects he supports, but, hey, when a music video like this gets featured on extreme sports sites alongside head-banging heavy-metal skate videos, cult status seems to be appropriate, or, at the least, worth considering.

Like I said, I always thought that Christmas In Malibu could be a cult favorite, so getting anointed as a cult classic by a long time colleague and supporter is something I can live with. Besides, it’s all in the spirit of the season and good fun that has surrounded the project for the last two decades.

Surf’s up, dudes! HO! HO! HO!

 

The music video of JOE KLEIN’S holiday classic CHRISTMAS IN MALIBU made it to the front page of MEVIO.COM last week and, this week, the video appeared on the network’s front page promo video, hosted by network co-founder and former MTV veejay ADAM CURRY. In his introduction, Adam remarks how he remembers the video as being a “huge holiday hit on MTV” twenty years ago……

Following its front page feature on the network, CHRISTMAS IN MALIBU continues to occupy the front page of the HOLIDAY MUSIC CHANNEL of MEVIO MUSIC. MEVIO is the online media network launched back in 2005 by Curry and his long-time partner Ron Bloom. Formerly named PODSHOW and one of the most visible and venerable players in the new media space, the network changed its name to Mevio last spring to give it a more contemporary moniker and wider appeal to its target demographic.

Thanks to our long-time good friend, MICHAEL BUTLER, lead host of the MEVIO MUSIC CHANNEL, for his part in getting this great feature for the music video.

Here’s Butler’s memorable intro to the CHRISTMAS IN MALIBU video on the Mevio network……

 

                  

 

One of the true “pioneers” of podcasting, Michael is the creator, producer and host of the long running ROCK AND ROLL GEEK SHOW podcast. Joe’s voice has been featured on the opening of the hugely popular online show for the last three years. Check out one of the podcast’s intros in the player below.

 

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Michael has become a shining new media star in his own right over the last couple of years. In addition to the Geek Show and his hosting duties on the music channel at Mevio, Michael hosts two other audio podcasts, the ROCK AND ROLL GEEK INDIECAST and GOOD CLEAN FUN. But wait……there’s more! Michael also hosts the new HAIRBANGERS BALL channel on Mevio and no less than three other video series on the Mevio network–a VIDEO COMPANION OF THE ROCK AND ROLL GEEK SHOW, a rock video show called BANGIN’ WITH BUTLER, and a very cool cooking show titled COOKIN’ WITH BUTLER, where the charming rock and roll chef replaces his rock tee shirt with a clean white chef’s uniform, ties his hair back and creates culinary masterpieces to delight the palate in each episode. Who knew this rocker could cook (food, that is)?

The Butler’s online presence stretches beyond just Michael, as his beautiful teenage daughter MARTINA BUTLER is similarly enjoying great success with her own weekly audio podcast EMO GIRL TALK, which also features COMPANION VIDEO SHOWS. The podcast is now in its fourth year and has amassed its own huge and growing audience of fervent young fans.

So it’s not in any way a stretch to say that this one-man-media-machine has become a venerable force in new media, having brought all his properties together under his own new media umbrella THE ROCK AND ROLL GEEK NETWORK.

 

 

If all of the above isn’t enough to digest, consider that Michael also gigs regularly with his two separate touring rock bands, THE BUTLERS, a great rock cover band and JETBOY, a great rock band that has endured several personnel changes since its formation in the eighties but still rocks on with three of its original members. Michael plays bass and provides vocals in both groups. This guy is our hands down pick for “The Hardest Working Man In New Media,” a title he rightfully deserves!

We’re gratified that Michael Butler has been a fan of CHRISTMAS IN MALIBU for the last three years and an early supporter of THE PODCAST VOICE GUYS. We really appreciate his continued support of NEW MEDIA CREATIVE since the company’s recent rebranding. Similarly we’re proud to be long time supporters and genuine fans of all his endeavors and wish MB continued success, Happy Holey Daze and all the best in the New Year to come! Rock on, dude! HO! HO! HO!