‘Santa Stole My Jeep’ recorded for charity

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Being in for the long haul is something Jeff Mueller of Caribou knows all about, being a long-distance truck driver.

But now he finds himself in for the long haul in a completely different environment: The recording industry.

Mueller is one half of Jeff and Jeff, the other being Jeff Landroche, a Brewer recording-studio owner known professionally as Jeff Landrock.

The duo has just released the “Jeff and Jeff Christmas Collection,” a new Landrock Music holiday compact disc available in a few selected Eastern Maine stores and through door-to-door sales.

Many of you, like me, might be familiar with one of the songs on the CD: “Santa Stole My Jeep.”

I told Mueller I had heard it last year, and it really tickled my funny bone! Another I’ve heard is “Christmas is Going to be Late This Year: Santa is in the Bahamas.”

“Christmas Dream” is one of Mueller’s first works, and “Only Child,” “Christmas is Calling,” Christmastime,” and “Take this Love” are included along with the instrumental “No Words for Christmas.”

After deducting the costs from each CD, which sells for $8, Mueller said $3.60 will go to charity.

For example, the CDs being sold at the customer service desk at the Aroostook Centre Mall will benefit Make-A-Wish Foundation of Maine.

The CD is also available at Shop ‘n Save in Caribou, which is selling it to raise money for The Salvation Army, and Graves Shop ‘n Save in Presque Isle, Smythe’s IGA in Presque Isle, and Graves Supermarket in Hampden, for charities of their choosing.

Mueller and Landroche decided to invest their own money and record the CD after Mueller discovered “Santa Stole my Jeep,” which was first aired on a local radio station, Hot Country 97.1, and then hit the national airwaves, making quite a splash.

“It’s a small radio station,” Mueller said.

“One day, I just pulled over and walked into the station with the CD and gave it to the DJ, Dick Palm, who played the title track,” Mueller said.

Mueller later learned that when Palm is not on the air the station goes to satellite, where “Santa Stole My Jeep” received national airplay and became an instant favorite.

The two Jeffs are hoping, sometime, to land a major recording contract to continue this venture but, in the meantime, are happily distributing their holiday CD for charity.

If you want more information about this CD that helps others, email Jeff@landrock.com.

Through a 21st Century grant, the Stewart Free Library in Corinna is able to host Castlebay in concert, beginning at 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 21, at the Corinna Elementary School on Stetson Road.

Librarian June Jaworski said, “we are suggesting a donation of food items, or a small cash donation, for the Corinna Food Bank,” from those who attend. Julia Lane, who Jaworski described as a “master at the Celtic harp,” and instrumentalist, singer and storyteller Fred Gosbee will offer an evening of “seasonal music with a Celtic tone.”

The event is open to the public, and everyone is welcome.

Perhaps it’s because I know a family who lost a child through an accidental window-blind-cord strangulation that I am more sensitive to announcements such as this that cross my desk from time to time.

The Window Covering Safety Council suggests parents “Give the Gift of Safety This Holiday Season” by reminding families to “help keep children safe by eliminating, or severely reducing, a child’s access to windows and cords.”

The WCSC suggests you follow these safety rules:

. Move all cribs and furniture as far away from windows as possible, preferably against another wall.

. Install cord stops on horizontal blinds and mini-blinds to prevent inner-cord access.

. Secure all pull cords out of reach by using a cleat or permanent tie-down device.

. Eliminate looped pull cords on older (pre-1995) mini-blinds and shades by cutting the loop and attaching safety tassels to the pull-cord ends.

The WCSC reminds you that, since 1991, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has received reports of 130 strangulation cases involving window-blind cords.

To help eliminate the possibility of such an accident, the WCSC distributes repair devices for older blinds that do not meet current CPSC guidelines.

Readers can call the WCSC toll-free at (800) 506-4636 to receive a free repair kit for each set of blinds in your home.

The WCSC is a coalition of major U.S. firms manufacturing, importing or selling window coverings. For more information, visit its Web site at www.windowcoverings.org.

A reader who wants to help others this holiday season needed a bit more information, and so do you!

In my Monday column relating information about some items on the United Way of Eastern Maine agency holiday wish list, I neglected to include the telephone number for executive director Dennis Marble of the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter.

Anyone wishing more information about needs for that agency can call Marble at 947-0045.

Joni Averill, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; 990-8288.