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It's an Other Side of the Bear acoustic holiday shindig and Randi's birthday! Very festive indeed. Many acts, short sets, and all very seasonal. Let's see how much of it I can remember in order, shall we?
I show up in time to miss only one set; unfortunately, it's the guys from Fooled By April, and Tom tells me that they played three really great Christmas-themed originals written for the occasion! Damn! I do get to see Brett Rosenberg, who plays a couple of things I don't recognize and a lovely "Jesus Christ Is Born Today." (He had threatened to learn "Away In A Manger" in Yiddish, but it was probably tricky getting the scansion to work or something.) The mic is a little too high, and he can't seem to not contort himself over the guitar, so some of the vocals are lost, but he really rocks the acoustic guitar and sounds very good overall. Next are The Other Girls, with a returning former Other Girl and Rob (from The Street Dogs? I really should retain these things better.) sitting in on guitars. Andrea Gillis, who rocked my ass in Red Chord, sings. They start out with "Winter Wonderland," and it's a little tame for Andrea, who is naturally a howler, but they cut loose a bit more on the subsequent songs. Jake Zavracky is joined by soon-to-be-former bandmate Eric Barlow on guitar and Declan Buckley on sleigh bells. I'm a little disappointed that he only does two songs.
Next is Corin from The Pills. He gives us two songs vaguely associated with Christmas in his mind--one mentions the city that sends Boston its Christmas tree every year, and the other he saw performed on Saturday Night Live on Christmas Eve once! I admire this as conceptual art, and I love Corin. He's another howler, with a pure, true sense of what it is to rock. Next Kevin from The Shods gives us a couple of straight-up old-school Christmas blues numbers, and then Bo Barringer from The Collisions treats us to a snotty, punky (and funny) blast of Christmas anti-cheer. (The chorus of one song goes something like "Let's get drunk and hate Christmas together." I needed that.)
Paula Kelley and Aaron Tap play guitar and sing a couple of songs; I wish I liked Paula's voice, but I just don't, and it's especially jarring when Aaron's singing the melody but her harmony is mixed much higher and drowns him out. But then for her third song, she plays piano (beautifully), and an All-Star Cast recruited from the audience sing "Do They Know It's Christmas," with the whole audience joining in on the final chorus. Then three quarters of The So and So's play, with Romo stepping up to center stage for a funny, loungy version of "Winter Wonderland," followed by Meghan singing and playing lead on an absolutely killer version of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas." This girl is such a star!
I've never heard The Knee-Hi's before. They're the only band to actually bring a drummer; he sets up a snare and a hi-hat in front of the stage. The vocals are mixed way over the guitars, alas; both of the women have really grating little-girl voices, and when we briefly hear the male guitarist sing it's apparent why we don't hear him sing more. Just not for me. Finally, Ad Frank does a couple of vaguely seasonal covers (e.g., Paula and Aaron help out on "Hazy Shade Of Winter") and then, with the audience demanding one more, plays the Ad Frank song that happens to have the word 'Christmas' in it. It's a great song, beautifully done, and a wonderful thing to leave humming as I finally head home.
