Christmas in September
Dear Seattle: Marian Call is recording a holiday EP (Christmas but also a number of other holidays) and you are invited to come hear it a little bit early! It’s Christmas in September at Empty Sea Studios in Phinney Ridge. Come be part of the studio audience for an intimate listening room performance — and hear a whole lot of songs that have rarely been performed in public.
Marian will be playing through much of Sketchbook live With Seth Boyer on guitar, Paul Pew on keyboard, and special guest appearances. But once that’s done, prepare for a lot of surprises: ancient carols, new originals, Ogden Nash art songs, and surprises.
Sept. 19th, 8pm, $16/20, tickets available now at http://www.emptysea.com/category/events/. Only 40 seats available, so get tickets early! Empty Sea Studios, 6300 Phinney Ave N Seattle, WA 98103.
All ages welcome — note that this performance will be recorded, so we’ll need silence during all songs.
So why Christmas in September? From Marian:
For several years I have performed a winter concert called “Holiday Music for People Who Are Tired of Holiday Music” in Alaska. It’s one of my favorite shows of the year. I get to break out my classical chops, play some very old and very new music, sing in a dozen languages, and laugh harder than ever with my audience. We do songs from Hannukah, Festivus, Christmas, Solstice, the New Year, and some lovely meditations that are just about winter.
I can’t publish a lot of the concert because it’s mostly cover songs. And besides, some things should simply be live shared experiences, and I’m a big believer in doing things offline all together during the holidays. There’s magic in the air when you hear a singer in person, and there’s a bit less magic in your MP3 player.
That said: I’ve had tons and tons of requests for some holiday music, in part I guess because there is so much AWFUL holiday music out there. I don’t mean badly performed, I mean cynical — songs through which you can hear the producer’s greed for easy money and the performer’s total apathy. And that bothers me. So I’ve decided to add a couple of utterly, totally sincere holiday songs to the world, and pray that they don’t get overplayed. Which is unlikely in my case. So here we go.
I hope (if the recording at Empty Sea goes well) to release just a little EP for you, 5-6 songs, before the holidays. They’ll be minimalist and they’ll be simple, some will be original, some will be religious, some will be secular, and because I love every holiday associated with winter — deeply — they will be very very honest. I believe in the Winter Holiday things, in hope, in a faint light in darkness, in celebrating during the hardest times, in the return of the sun. If I have a very faint superpower, it is sincerity.
And funny enough, sincerity feels vulnerable. Hope feels a little vulnerable — a little foolish. So I hope I have something to say that resonates. I’m writing some new stuff, refining some old stuff, and working to deliver what you have been asking for.
So! If you’re in Seattle, join me! Get tickets early, there are only about 40 seats available. And if you’re not in Seattle and you’re excited about a holiday EP of strange-different-utterly-sincere-songs, old and new, then be sure you’re on the email list so you find out when it’s available.
And when the world gets really really dark, light a candle. Or a firework. Or sing or yell. Light something. That’s the message.
Hope to see you in Seattle, or on tour this fall!
Marian Call
