Well, we have finally added the new Christmas Special section to our on-line store. We have all kinds of great specials for you.

First of all, a plethora of plastic pleasure, the pick-lover’s paradise for the Christmas stocking, or just to add to your collection. We are including one of each of all 3 Pikcards, and a swag-bag of 25 different picks: some with the ‘Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’ logo, some with the ’50 Years of Rock & Roll’ logo and a whole bunch of different ‘signature’ picks with The Ventures’ logo on the front, and Ventures’ members signatures on the back – Don, Bob Bogle, Nokie, Gerry and Bob Spalding. All of these for a total of $30 – a regular $40 value – and (don’t tell anyone) actually there are 32 different picks!

Next, we have two different T-shirt specials. The first is a White ‘Surfin’ to Baja’ shirt, with a ‘Surfin’ to Baja’ CD and a sticker, for $25 instead of $40. Yes, the Surfin’ to Baja cruise was in 2003 and maybe you bought a shirt back then – I’d bet it’s probably faded by now, so take this opportunity to replace it on the cheap, and relive the fun you had on the cruise. What? You weren’t able to go on the cruise, but wish you had? No problem – take advantage of this offer, and fake out your friends – pretend you did go!

The second T-shirt offer is for a Black ‘Hall of Fame’ guitar/flame logo shirt, bundled with a ‘Christmas Joy’ CD, for $25, instead of $37. Also a good deal.

If you go to the regular ‘Clothing’ section of the on-line store, you will find that, just for the month of December (well, actually until January 6 at the end of the Christmas season), all T-shirts are discounted.

Next we have deals on our songbooks. If you purchase either the ‘Pipeline’ songbook or the ‘Best of The Ventures’ songbook at the regular price of $19.95, you will get a signed photo for only $5 instead of $10. If you purchase both songbooks at regular price, you will receive 2 different signed photos and a sticker for an extra $10 – a $15 discount.

For aspiring guitar players, or for your friends or children, we have the ‘Play Along’ songbook, together with a guitar strap, a 5-pack of picks, and 2 CDs of ‘Play Guitar With The Ventures Volume 1 and 2’ and ‘Play Guitar With The Ventures Volume 3 and Play Electric Bass’. The regular price for the bundle is $69.99, but we are offeriing it at $50 – a great savings.

We also have the Album Cover poster, autographed, at the regular price of $20, but we will include 2 album cover ‘slicks’. One of this is the iconic ‘Greatest Hits’ LP, with all those great guitars: this was photographed at Norm’s Rare Guitars in LA, and the design concept was by Mel Taylor. The other is the 45 RPM ‘Stars of Guitars’ cover: this 12-inch 45 featured the first recording of Bob Spalding’s ‘Blue Dawn’, and the cover artwork was by Bob’s wife, Artie Spalding. Just some trivia for you all!

We have two 4-packs of CDs: regular price would be $60, for $48 for each group of 4. Check these out: if you want to mix-and-match CDs, put your preference in the comment section of your order form, and I’ll take care of it for you.

Lastly, we have one very special offer that is not up yet, but will be shortly. We have located some posters from the Japan Tour 2000, signed by Don Wilson, Bob Bogle, Gerry McGee and Leon Taylor. Obviously, quantities are limited, and we don’t have much left with Bob Bogle’s autograph. The price is $45. We are including an unsigned Album Cover Poster, and the two ‘slicks’ mentioned above, at no extra charge. In order to give back, we will be donating $20 from each purchase to the Lymphoma Research Foundation. There will be a link added here too, in case anyone would just like to donate in memory of Bob – Yumi Bogle set up a ‘team’ with the goal of raising $5000, and we are hoping to add to this from sales of these posters. The link is: http://www.standup2cancer.org/custom/?c=team&a=index&id=4585

Orders received this week (through Friday, December 10) will be shipped by that date. All orders received between December 11 and December 20 will be shipped on December 21, as I will be on vacation and the office will be closed. I will still be able to process orders, but obviously won’t be able to ship anything during that time. We will make every effort to get orders to you by December 25, although of course, we definitely can’t promise that for international shipments.

We wish all of you a great holiday season – somewhat belated Chanukah wishes, A very Merry Christmas, and A Happy New Year! May we all enjoy a healthy and happy year in 2011.