Santa Claus: Ho, ho, ho! Thank you for taking the time to meet with me, Diane, Misha and Peter!  I'm so happy you came together to do a series of Christmas albums.  Who may I thank for coming up with the idea?

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Misha Segal: That'd be me.  But if Diane were not around, maybe I'd not have thought of it!  And Diane came up with the great name.

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Diane Arkenstone: Thanks, Misha.  It's true, I came up with the name, "Christmas Healing".  The holiday season can be so harried and tense; at the end of the day all I want to do is just curl up in a corner somewhere, unwind, de-stress and bask in some beautiful childhood memories, and I believe the music we created is the perfect soundtrack for such a respite, so what better name than "Christmas Healing".

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Misha Segal: Absolutely.

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Peter Hume: I agree!

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Santa Claus: Speaking of memories, would you share some of your favorite holiday memories?

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Diane Arkenstone: Sure, I have a couple of stories that are pretty funny.... Every year on Christmas Eve, right when all of us kids were in our pajamas and ready for bed, Dad would bring us to the window and with his eyes wide open, turn to us and say in a hushed tone, "Shhh, I think I heard a reindeer sneeze. Did you hear that?"  We were all quite sure we heard the reindeer sneeze and quietly but excitedly let Dad know it. This of course made it near impossible to get to sleep at all. Oh! And another time, Mom came downstairs very, very early Christmas morning, to put the turkey in the oven. She left it on the kitchen counter overnight to thaw but when she looked for it the next morning, it was gone! She looked everywhere for it, then went outside looking for any clues and found our big German Shepherd dog Blitz, chewing on the hard, frozen turkey on the front lawn! She quickly grabbed the turkey, washed it off and put in the oven. It came out beautifully, albeit for a small piece missing. Only many years later did she fess up to the fact that the dog had previously dined on our Christmas turkey, a la cart, on the front lawn.

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Santa Claus: Ho, ho, ho! I remember that!

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Diane Arkenstone: >gasp< You do?

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Santa Claus: Of course I do!  Your dog's name was Blitz.  That's short for Blitzen, you know.... And who do you think talked your mother into keeping it a little secret all those years?

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Diane Arkenstone:

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Misha Segal: Well, I can see Diane is utterly speechless, so I'll share one of mine: I was visiting my mother in New York in December some years ago.  We both loved the cold weather and the nippiness of the air; she, because she was from Vienna and me, because with a Russian father and a Viennese mother, what other kind of weather should I be liking?  It had just snowed the night before and the streets of Manhattan were covered with a fresh, thick layer of white. We went for a walk on 57th street and suddenly the smell of roasting chestnuts hit our nostrils through the frozen breeze. “Is there any smell that’s greater than this?” my mother smiled as we approached the corner of 57th and 8th Avenue to buy ourselves a bag. There's nothing like that in the whole world.

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Santa Claus: Ahhhh, New York City sure does the season right, doesn't it..... Peter, what about you?

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Peter Hume: Well, all I can say is that celebrating Christmas was such a big part of my childhood that the songs on Christmas Healing are almost part of my DNA.

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Misha Segal: Yeah, he ain't lyin', either!  I've relied on Peter for many projects over the years; it's always such a joy.  This time, though, he really came through with flying colors as we had to deliver the Christmas project on a very tight deadline.  I called Peter and alerted him that time is very short and that I would work day and night on writing the arrangements to make it happen in time.  Peter, in his very low key fashion, said "Don't worry, you do your thing; Diane will do hers, I'll show up and we'll get it done."  And we did!  Somehow things always work out.  What helped so much and what I didn't know, is that other than being a phenomenal musician and guitar player, Peter knows every Christmas song that was ever written, by heart, in any key!  He walked in, Diane and I started shooting titles at him, and how can I say it, well, he sledded right into each of them without a flinch or hesitation.  We're all so happy with how it turned out and so glad to be able to share it with you, Santa, your elves, and all our new and long time fans; this is our holiday gift to you.

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Santa Claus: Thank you, thank you.  We really are enjoying all three of the Christmas Healing CDs up at Santa's workshop. Say, Misha, this was your first project with Diane.  Tell me a little bit about what it was like working with her.

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Misha Segal: Well, I've worked with some great singers in my life—Luther Vandross, Smokey Robinson, Randy Crawford, Syreeta, Phyllis Hyman, Carl Anderson.  Honestly, Diane is right up there with them; she's one of those rare singers who can express and communicate so much with such a gentle voice and subtle vibe.

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Diane Arkenstone: Wow, thank you Misha.  You know, Misha, Peter and I all got along so beautifully in the studio, which easily created such a warm and wonderful Christmas music project.

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Peter Hume: I agree.  Misha and I go back a long way and it's always a pleasure.  I hadn't worked with Diane before, and it was amazing how quickly she and Misha and I found our chemistry.  We would bat ideas back and forth about arrangements for each song, and not only were we all tracking with each other so well, but we were thus able to lay down the tracks very quickly. 

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Santa Claus: Now tell me a little about the choice of instruments in Christmas Healing.

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Misha Segal: Well, I compose for orchestra but I'd have to say the instrument I feel the most affinity for is the piano, so you'll hear a lot of piano in the Christmas Healing arrangements.  It's an interesting instrument, the piano: can be very gentle, but you know, it's actually a percussive instrument so it's got that strength, too.  I also did the arrangements, that is, I wrote the parts for the other instruments as well, and Diane and Peter being the incredible artists that they are, made them their own.

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Diane Arkenstone: Of course I sang all the vocal parts except for the duet Peter and I sang together on "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." And let's see, I played a Native American wood flute on "O Come, O Come Emmanuel", on Christmas Healing Volume 1.  By the way, I love the Native American flute so much that I'm often asked if I have any Native American blood in me, and I do indeed have Cherokee blood in me. 

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Peter Hume: And the steel string acoustic parts were all done with my Martin D-28.  I bought it new in 1973.  It is a beautiful sounding guitar; I've used it on hundreds of recordings.  The nylon string parts were played on a Hernandis classical guitar that I've had since 1982.  As always, I'd like to thank D’Addario for their excellent acoustic and electric guitar strings.

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Santa Claus: And I'd like to thank you, Diane, Misha and Peter, for sitting down with me over milk, cookies and the beautiful sounds of Christmas Healing.  If any of you, our online visitors, would like to "hear what we hear" (ho, ho, couldn't help myself there...) listen to samples right here and scroll down to buy the Christmas Healing CDs.

Full track list and
audio samples of

Christmas Healing

Volume I

Full track list and

audio samples of

Christmas Healing

Volume II

Full track list and

audio samples of

Christmas Healing

Volume III

Free Shipping means your total price is just $12.98 per CD*

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We have a limited number of promotional copies of Misha's solo piano CD, Female, made famous by his nationwide "Beauty Found in Unlikely Places" concert series.   Female normally sells for $15.98, but you'll get a free copy—our gfit—when you purchase the entire Christmas Healing CD collection. (This offer does not apply to downloads.)  Your bonus Female CD is brand new, shrinkwrapped, and makes a wonderful gift; or keep it for yourself to unwind from a long day working or shopping!

Buy the Christmas Healing collection of 3 CDs, get the Free Bonus Female CD;

get a package that would otherwise cost you over $50.00...for only $21.95!

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