An instant Christmas Classic in Great American Songbook style sung by Catherine Smitko. All proceeds from sales to benefit The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund.

1 MP3 Songs
JAZZ: Traditional Jazz Combo, POP: Pop

Show all album songs: There Just Won't Be A Christmas This Year Songs


Details:
What began as a series of simple Google searches for news images from 2007 quickly manifested in a number of disturbing images from the War in Iraq. A few points and clicks later and the equally disturbing statistics from the war began to present themselves. And then I discovered a news release from the Department of Defense. It read:

"The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Staff Sgt. Jonathon L. Martin, 33, of Bellevue, Ohio, died Nov. 22 in Regensburg, Germany, of wounds suffered on Nov. 9 in Jisr Naft, Iraq, when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device."


A few more pushes and taps on the mouse brought me to a November 15th article on CentralOhio.com. There was a lunch planned to benefit the then-wounded Jonathon Martin and his family. It would be Sunday November 25th, at 11 a.m. at The Sports Hut in Bellvue. And suddenly Johnathon Martin became real, a man, with a wife, and three children, and a community who loved him and was reaching out. Johnathon Martin was no longer a statistic.


More pointing, more clicking, and as the many stories of the wounded and dead unfolded so did the lives of the individuals in those stories. Somehow I clicked my way to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund and with that came the very simple, though sometimes forgotten or overlooked realization that we really are all in this together. And to that, regardless of where one stands politically, families are being torn apart and left in great need.


ChristmasTribute.org and Independent Nonprofit was created in the spirit of, "What can I do?" It is my hope that individuals will not only download the original song "There Just Won't Be A Christmas This Year," to benefit the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, but will also find the inspiration to create their own YouTube or MySpaceTV, or musical tributes. Stories need to be shared. After all, we are all in this together.

ChristmasTribute.org and Independent Nonprofit

There Just Won't Be A Christmas This Year

Catherine Smitko: Vocals
Walter Henderson: Flugelhorn
Jeff Kust: Guitar
Rob Kassinger: Bass
Andy Jones: Drums
Written and Produced by John Kamys (ASCAP)
Recorded at CRC Chicago
L. Scott Ramsayer: Recording Enginer

Tags: pop