Cubs, Christmas go hand in hand for songwriter
Spring, with the baseball season's opening week, may be a funny time to be thinking Christmas.
But not if you're Kevin Henrickson. The Geneva Middle School teacher (at both North and South) is also a songwriter who's poured his love of the Chicago Cubs into songs about the team, including a plea to Santa Claus for a Cubby victory.
In fall 2005, in the wake of the Chicago White Sox team's World Series victory, Henrickson asked the Big Red Guy for equal time for the North Siders.
"Why was Santa giving the South Side all the love," he wondered. The result: "Santa, I Want A Cubby Pennant."
Two years later, he wrote another Christmas-themed Cubs song, "Another Cubby Christmas."
Henrickson, who lives in Montgomery with wife Robin and children Ki and Korinne (the family also includes son Jeff, who lives in Aurora), developed his love for Wrigley Field and the Cubs when the family moved to Chicago in 2000. He'd been a baseball fan earlier in his life (he grew up in Kentucky, where pretty much everyone rooted for Cincinnati Reds and Johnny Bench's Big Red Machine), but had grown disenchanted with the game in the wake of strikes, poor player attitudes and other issues.
He'd been a baseball fan earlier in his life (he grew up in Kentucky, where pretty much everyone rooted for Cincinnati Reds and Johnny Bench's Big Red Machine), but had grown disenchanted with the game in the wake of labor strikes, poor player attitudes and other issues.
But his mom hails from the Chicago area, so during family visits he attended games at Wrigley Field.
"I was probably already halfway to being a Cubs fan when we moved up here," he said.
The whole Cubs history, that there's always next year, that fans love the team no matter what and the presence of Wrigley Field is a huge draw, he said.
His affinity for the Cubs grew, along with a penchant for listening to WGN Radio 720 AM host John Williams. Several years ago, in the wake of a Cubs-related conversation on the radio show, he decided to write a song about Williams' producer's theory that if the Cubs could consistently win five games out of nine, the logical result would be a berth in the post-season.
It was "a silly little song," Henrickson said. He "wrote it on a Saturday, recorded it that night, made a CD on Sunday, overnighted it on Monday, they got it on Tuesday and played it the next day."
The whole experience was great, so he decided he'd write a more serious Cubs song. "Wrigley Field" was the result, and it, too, got air time. That led to Henrickson penning an entire CD's worth of songs, including those with more universal or historical themes instead of a topic relevant only to a particular year.
He kept writing (a part-time youth minister, he's also produced CDs of Christian music) and last year took the best songs from the original CD, added his newer ones and released a CD of 17 songs, including six written in October 2007.
He believes he's improved with experience, saying, "I think my newer ones are better."
His songs include "100 Years," "I Bleed Cubby Blue," "I'm a Cubs Fan," "Wrigley Field," "Another Cubby Christmas" (versions from 2003 and 2007), "Waveland Avenue," "Tinker to Evers to Chance" and "Eyes of Cubby Blue." His CDs are available on his Web site, www.songsbykevin.com.
He enjoyed great success last Christmas with his CD, which was the result of another conversation with Williams in December. Williams played the 2007 Christmas song and talked with Henrickson about not only that Cubs song, but his others as well.
At the time, Henrickson said, he had only nine copies ready to go out. He told his daughter, Korinne, that if those CDs sold, he'd be happy.
Well, the Chicago area is full of Cubs fans. By the time he got off the phone and checked his Paypal account on his computer, there were already 20 "payments received." Over the course of three days, 700 orders came in. (Getting those CDs to everyone by Christmas was, he said in an understatement, a real challenge.)
And even though the 2008 baseball season has just started, even though April has just begun, Henrickson is definitely thinking Christmas. Every time he's enjoyed great success with his Cubs songs, it's because of a Christmas song, he said. So he issued himself a challenge: write 10 songs with a Christmas/Cubs theme.
He's done that. Recording will be next, followed by producing the CD by this fall. He even played one of the songs at the recent Geneva schools music faculty recital. The response was gratifying, with at least one person asking if he was taking pre-orders.
For virtually all sports fans, hope springs eternal. And maybe this year, the 100th anniversary of the Cubs' last World Series win, IS the year.
After all, Henrickson has already written a song: "It's been a century since Cubby fans ... cheered a champion," he sings, in "100 Years."
He and his family will be watching this year to see if it will be time to write a new verse.