The song refers to my many memories of December....my Mom, who's birthday was in December ("I see your crooked smile"), the Christmas season ("the Savior is a child"), the stunning month that John Lennon was shot ("The headlights burning bright"), and on and on...The headlights burning bright line refers to a couple of days after JL was murdered and Yoko asked that we all drive during the day with our headlights on as a rememberance.  There was little more we could do.  It was an unbelievable time in our lives.  We were not so young and innocent after that.  But, besides all that heaviness, I also was remembering happy childhood times; sledding down Whitcomb's Hill with a light snow falling at dusk...my friends all laughing and smiling and in the moment.

Tuning In / Tuning Out

Because It's December

“Tuning In/Tuning Out” explodes with sound at the beginning. Ruby Bird sings in her girlish timbre, sustaining vocal notes sweetly, appealingly, and Billy Carl Mancini’s guitar and harmonica rock right out. There’s a lot of snap, crackle, and pop going on, and the couple load this one up with plenty of sounds and they’re all good. Mancini’s guitar phrases are heavy duty, coming out of nowhere and suddenly building up strong. Each song on the whole Tuning In/Tuning Out CD has its own unique architecture. Bird Mancini create more atmospheres and soundscapes with the use of the instruments they’ve always used. They just stretch those uses here." 
-Bill Copeland Music News

Tuning In/Tuning Out

Ruby Bird composed the album’s opening number “If You Wanna Get to Know Me.” A Brazilian laced accordion melody sweeps through with a charm as Latin as the ever present percussion pieces swishing in the backdrop. Spanish guitar notes waltz around the accordion and percussion with a self-contained machismo. Over all that, Mrs. Bird unfurls her gentle vocal sustains and sweet exhortations.  -Bill Copeland Music News

If You Wanna Get To Know Me-Bird Mancini (from the CD "Bird Mancini Lounge")
©2013 Ruby Bird, Bonk Zone Music ASCAP

Photo by Bobbi Lane

Bird Mancini Lounge

If You Wanna Get To Know Me

BIRD MANCINI, Boston's accordion/guitar rock duo, has released their 5th CD, the Latin flavored “Bird Mancini Lounge” on Second Story Records.  This acclaimed duo features eclectic and at times a bit psychedelic acoustic rock pop style with lush vocal arrangements, blues-tinged guitar, accordion, harmonica, and a variety of percussion, bells and whistles. If the occasion warrants, the duo also performs as a full band, adding Joel White on bass and Joe Jaworski on drums to the mix. In recent years they’ve toured the West Coast and performed for the International Pop Overthrow Festival in Boston, New York City and in Liverpool UK at The Cavern Club.  The band was recently nominated for a 2017 New England Music Award in the "Best in State - Massachusetts" category.

Along with critical acclaim and an ASCAP/Boston Music Award nomination, Bird Mancini were twice named among the Top 10 Year's Best by New England's Metronome Magazine. They've opened for Leon Russell, David Crosby (of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young), Joan Osborne, Gregg Allman, Jonathan Edwards, James Montgomery, The Stompers, The Outlaws, Mighty Sam McClain and the Pousette-Dart Band.

Gospel choirs in country churches and Kansas City blues and swing were Ruby Bird's early upbringing, while Billy Carl Mancini cut his guitar-playing teeth on high school rock and roll bands covering songs by 60's greats like Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles and the Stones. Their recordings have an astonishingly colorful palette--Indie-Music.com says, "It's so refreshing to hear such great variety on every single track and with such consistency and quality."  As AllMusic.com puts it, "Bird Mancini is likely to please a wide array of listeners."

 Virgin airlines featured the Bird Mancini song “Because It’s December” on their in-flight radio station.

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