‘Tis the season for holiday-themed live shows, and Wintersong, Gigs4Good’s final fundraising concert of the season, was a toasty-warm way for the organization to send off 2012. Proceeds for last night’s show benefited Team Up for Non-Profits, the local organization devoted to helping other non-profits put on their own fundraising shows.
A stellar line-up of mostly acoustic artists took to the winter-themed format with the festive warmth of a mug of Christmas cocoa. Covers were sung, sweaters were worn, funds were raised for a good cause, and the proverbial good time was had by all.
Wintersong proved to be a well-stuffed musical stocking, but in keeping with the coming holidays, a Christmas List of the show’s highlights only seemed right.
The Ten Best Things About Gigs4Good’s Wintersong Concert:
10) Kevin Long’s wonderfully forlorn cover of “Blue Christmas.”
9) Hearing folk troubadour Tony Kevin Jr. sing live again after a year-long hiatus.
8) Getting out of an eight-artist live show before midnight on a weeknight.
7) Ivan and Alyosha perfecting their union of Beatles-influenced songcraft, acoustic earthiness, and jumping energy with their set.
6) Tom Eddy and band’s swinging rendition of one of Vince Guaraldi’s Charlie Brown Christmas tracks.
5) Ben Fisher’s and Shelby Earl’s wonderful whiskey-and-honey cover of that Pogues chestnut, “Fairytale of New York.”
4) Naomi Wachira’s plaintive and soulful vocalizing.
3) Shelby Earl using the Christmas/Christmas tree/conifer continuum as an excuse to deliver a goosebump-inducing rendition of her gorgeous Patsy-Cline-gone-Brill-Building original, “Under Evergreen.”
2) Tea Cozies kicking the party into high gear with perfect-fitting covers of Chuck Berry’s “Run Rudolph Run” and the Waitresses’ “Christmas Wrapping“.
1) Ben Fisher’s magnificent Christmas sweater, pilfered from his dad’s collection. Seriously.
