Singing in the Holidays

Many harmonious voices were raised last night at the Acoustic Showcase, and everybody went home happy. Not bad for a holiday get-together! 

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We began the evening inauspiciously, as David Keevil could only sing "I really can't stay, baby I've got a cold inside." Bad puns and song paraphrases aside, David had to scratch, due to having a cold and sounding like a frog (at best).

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So we kicked it off with familiar friends Random Chants, the all-female a cappella group we've often enjoyed at the Showcase. They were in rare form last night, with sparkling renditions of holiday favorites from "Santa Baby" all the way to "Dona Nobis Pacem". Supposedly a few of the Chants were suffering from colds of their own, but you couldn't hear it; quite the contrary: their harmonies were strong and sure, their lyrics were distinct (every word of Silver Bells!), and the holiday mood was cheery and warm. Very nice performance!


Unfortunately, the photographer's automatic focus was turned off for the evening, so we didn't get a clear photo of Random Chants' performance! The management apologizes dejectedly. 

Random Chants, in the holiday fog.

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Random Chants exited the stage (rug), and we welcomed Arl-Lex Five & Dime, who entertained us with their all-holiday set. (By this time the photographer had fixed the focus problem.)

Jack Donahue, Mike Barrett, Peggy Rose, Paul Hatem, Chris and Quinn Eastburn

The two town supergroup did a bang-up job with a range of excellent selections, from the traditional to the somewhat off-beat. We enjoyed "The Dreidle Song" presented as a shuffle, and "Jingle Bell Rock" with Quinn tearing it up on the fiddle. As usual, the vocal harmonies were strong and true, and the instruments meshed and twined appealingly. Multi-instrumentalist Jack Donahue deserves special mention for his stable bass, his expressive harmonica, and his clear, melodic penny whistle on "Caledonia." 

We didn't get a picture of the audience, but there were a lot of 'em! And with lyrics to all songs handed out, we could sing along with abandon. Lots of fun!

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And that's about it for another Acoustic Showcase. This is our third holiday season together (by my count), and it keeps getting better. Some people had colds, some photos were blurry, but everybody got together and sang, and everybody had a good time!

See you in the new year!