By Don McCulloch
The holiday season is a time of gift-giving. And Seal Beach local Barry Kunz is in the Christmas spirit, giving away some of his favorite music on a compact disc. Not a homemade CD, but a commercial recording that he produced and released on his own label, First Cabin Records.
“This Is the Life: The Bed and Breakfast Music Blend,” is a beautifully-packaged compilation for travelers who like to stay at B&Bs and boutique hotels. Various artists perform songs that highlight the most appealing aspects of getaway trips with songs like “A Room with a View,” “Cooking Breakfast for the One I Love,” and “You’re the Cream in My Coffee.”
Barry even recruited an Academy Award-winning songwriter to contribute to the project. Ray Evans who, with songwriting partner Jay Livingston, won Oscars for “Mona Lisa,” “Buttons and Bows,” and “Que Sera, Sera,” collaborated with First Cabin Records to create the song “A Cozy Bread and Breakfast.” Barry has sold a great many copies of the album over a dozen years, but not all of them. So in the Christmas spirit, he decided to give away many of them as gifts, which is especially appealing to people who want to avoid the crowds this season.
You may have passed him on Main Street, dressed in mask and gloves and carrying a sack of music CDs. He left stacks of them with retailers, to share with their customers, and even dropped off a box of CDs at the Sun newspaper offices in Seal Beach, where he also contributes articles as a free-lance writer. Even in his own neighborhood, Barry gave CDs to anyone who walked past his open garage door.
Barry’s association with the record industry began when he worked in radio, playing records on Southern California stations, and while in the Army, on Armed Forces Radio in Germany, France, and Korea. He is also the author of the juvenile novel Those Gypsies on Rio Hondo Parkway, a story based on a time in his childhood during the 1950s when he and his family lived in a tent on a vacant lot in El Monte while his dad worked on building their dream home.
Compact disc sales have waned in recent years, due to digital downloads. But some recordings, like Barry’s, are still only available on CD, which people can then upload to their computer or the cloud. You can listen to the songs at firstcabinrecords.com. Or if you’re lucky, get a hard copy from Barry. Otherwise, it’s also available from Amazon.
