Thursday, December 4, 2008

It's That Time of Year Again...


There's no snow on the ground, and the early morning temperatures have barely gotten below 55 degrees, but it's clearly getting close to Christmas time here in San Diego. And while I haven't stepped inside any malls or shopping areas, I'm sure the interiors are filled with lots and lots of Xmas music, which, I must confess, might be my least favorite genre of music. I blame my folks for this, and a Midwestern culture that worships at the seasonal altar, but honestly, I spent so much of my childhood listening to Andy Williams sleepwalk his way through hyper-arranged versions of "It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year," and so many evenings gritting my teeth through endlessly ponderous versions of "O Holy Night," that I can now barely stomach anything passing for background music come December.

However, I'll be attending several holiday-themed choir performances over the next few weeks, which says more about my affection for my wife than any desire to kick the Scrooge habit. Jane recently joined a community choir organization, the Peninsula Singers of Point Loma, and they're getting ready to initiate a series of local concerts. The schedule can be found here.

This weekend, December 6th, the choir will be performing free in Balboa Park as part of the city's annual December Nights festival, an ongoing event that often attracts 300,000 spectators. Between 1.20 and 1.50 PM (odd times, no?), they'll be performing inside the beautiful Spreckles Organ Pavilion, a local cultural treasure that I've wandered around during off hours but have never witnessed in use (I don't believe the massive pipe organ it's named for will be featured, however). On December 12th, the choir will perform at 7 PM at the North Chapel in the newly revitalized Liberty Station in Point Loma. Tickets for this show aren't free ($10), but they'll be performing Vivaldi's Gloria alongside the Southwestern College Choir and an 11-piece orchestra. There will also be a December 14th performance at Southwestern College and a December 15th performance at the Point Loma Library.

Jane worked up the courage to audition for a solo, and is excited to be singing a section in Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, which luckily happens to be one of the few Christmas songs I still have affection for.

Unfortunately, they'll also be spending some time with an old Andy Williams song, or at least a song I associate the dreaded Andy with - Happy Holidays, or It's the Holiday Season. They'll conclude with another perennial favorite, Baby, It's Cold Outside - a song neither Jane and I can stomach. I'd say I'm most fond of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Jordan's version, and wouldn't shut off the Margaret Whiting - Johnny Mercer version. The Jessica Simpson-Nick Lachey rendition, on the other hand, is one for the ages - just what age, I'm not sure.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Jason - don't EVER make me watch Jessica and Nick again.