An Interview With Julia Reed Nichols About The First Ever PIN-UPS ON TOUR Holiday Album!

PIN-UPS ON TOUR is a good time for a great cause! From the moment guests enter the event, they will be treated to something special. The organization’s goal is to recreate the magic of the Hollywood Canteen that operated during the 1940’s as a club offering dancing, drinks and entertainment for servicemen, usually on their way overseas. Tour dates all across the country can be found at www.pinupsontour.com

Since their first event in 2014, Pin-Ups on Tour has been able to bring over 3,000 people together to support our troops, has been able to donate over 800 tickets back to Veterans and has been able to entertain close to 700 Active Duty & Veteran Service Members in our nations VA Hospitals.

In addition to providing quality  entertainment for veterans, these productions have raised almost $15,000 to help support Pin-Ups for Vets Morale Boosting Mission. Their work has been featured on ABC News, Good Day LA, We Are The Mighty, Los Angeles Daily News, NBC News, Fox News and various other media outlets. They also have over a quarter million supporters on our various social media pages who follow our adventures as we travel around the country.

Their recent project is the exclusive Pin-Ups On Tour Holiday Album called “A Very Ukulele” Christmas. It is officially released now and people can find it on iTunes here:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/a-very-ukulele-christmas/id1053348358

The album are Ukulele covers of all the favorite christmas classics with a vintage twist.  The whole album was arranged on the ukulele and performed by Caitlin Comeskey, along with Pin-Ups On Tour founder Julia Reed Nichols and Buddy Watson (Navy Veteran).

These are the three videos from the album that seem to be performing the best, with combined almost 45K views are:

Sexy Santa Baby – https://www.facebook.com/Pinupsontour/videos/901056659949856/?fref=nf

Jingle Bells – https://www.facebook.com/Pinupsontour/videos/901078729947649/?pnref=story

Mele Kalikimaka – https://www.facebook.com/Pinupsontour/videos/901037633285092/?pnref=story

Learn more about Pin-Ups On Tour And Pin-Ups For Vets and the Holiday alum in the following All Access interview:

So, can you talk about where the idea for the came from originally? Is this something that you’ve been wanting to do for a long time?

One of my favorite things about the holidays is that everyone seems to be in the giving mood – as an entertainment organization that focuses on giving back to our veterans it seemed like a good idea to put together an album & video series to celebrate the season with our supporters.

The show as it exists today is still pretty new, we had our first performance in April of 2015 but we started entertaining the troops a year earlier with nonprofit, Pin-Ups for Vets. With that said, there wasn’t a whole lot of time to plan this album. From the time this idea was brought up to me, to the time we released the first video was a little less than two months.

Why did you decide to create ukulele covers of Christmas classics? And how did you decide what songs to cover?

Originally I approached my friend & comedian Caitlin Comeskey to help us because she had done a few acoustic ukulele covers with me in the past that shared really well online. The ukulele is such a fun & kitsch instrument. We don’t take ourselves too seriously, which is what makes the Ukulele the perfect instrument for our first holiday album.

One of the key things we looked at when picking songs was that they were different enough to create a series of dance videos to share on social media. Our group was started by burlesque performers, so we are always focused on the ending visual.

What’s been the reception like so far? Do you plan on making more albums in the future?

I’d love to grow this part of our company & work with more musicians on future records- especially musicians that have served in our armed forces!  Everything is going at hyper speed right now for us – so I don’t know when that will happen.  Hopefully by spring time we can have our show re-vamped with more live music & release a cd to go along with it.

The reception on our videos have been great. Last time I checked we had almost 50,000 views for our holiday videos series.  It is always exciting when people enjoy our work and we are so grateful for the overwhelming support of our mission to make veterans smile.

What are your favorite songs on the album?

My favorite song on the album is “Mele Kalikimaka”, the Hawaiian Christmas Song. We couldn’t do an entire ukulele holiday album without including it! It is such a retro classic & the harmonies Caitlin wrote for that track are hypnotic. It just feels good to perform.

After that I’d say is “Jingle Bells”. It is sung by Navy Veteran Buddy Watson. The great thing about this track is the video features three of our Pin-Ups: Bunny Bijoux, Dixie Mae Rebel, & Siren Noire.  In a dance choreographed by Natalie Rose while, the girls perform a showgirl kick line around Buddy.  It is so adorable.

Can you talk about working with Caitlin Comeskey and Buddy Watson on the collection?

They are troopers. I always joke that our cast can learn through osmosis. We never have a lot of time to put things together and they both (and all the dancers) worked on this album with such positivity & professionalism.

What was it like filming the videos?

Madness! We filmed 7 videos in 9 hours & shot two photo shoots for another event. The details of the day are a huge blur.

In a nutshell, what is Pin-Ups On Tour all about?

Pin-Ups on Tour is meant to bring together the civilian and veteran communities for a fun night out filled with American-style Burlesque & Vaudevillian entertainment.  As a part of our mission, we donate free tickets to current and former serve members as our way of saying “thank you”. Additionally,  20% of all proceeds goes back to award-winning nonprofit Pin-Ups for Vets to support their work with Hospitalized Veterans and Deployed Troops.

How can people learn about future Pin-Ups On Tour events? Where can people donate to this cause and to Pin-Ups For Vets?

For tour dates across the country & more information about our show, people can visit our website at www.pinupsontour.com

Additional information about our nonprofit partner & their work to support our nation’s veterans please visit www.pinupsforvets.com

What do you hope viewers and listeners take away from the Pin-Ups On Tour Holiday Album?

If we make people smile while watching our videos, I am a happy pin-up.