John Lacey
From:
Black Diamond, Alberta, Canada
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Posted 12 Dec 2000 8:01 am |
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What started as 6 hairy-legged guys wanting to play somewhere else and out of the bar has turned into a very nice monster. In '93, a little jam band we had in Turner Valley wanted to play outside of the bar and give something back to the community, so we decided to play at the High School drama theatre, doing Christmas tunes. First year we packed the place and made $800. We weren't planning any profits, so we gave it to the local Interfaith Foodbank. Year after year we kept it up, expanded our numbers, moved into the gym because of size, until now we run it over 2 days, draw about 1600 people (in a community of 3000), and raise about $18,000. Some years, we are treated by special guests and this year for the 3rd. time Ian Tyson came up from his Longview home (not far away) and performed. It is a musical mosaic, mostly country and folk based, with a few gospel tunes thrown in and some comedy. Our bass player jumped into a pair of red long johns, blackened his promenent front teeth and sang a hilarious version of "All I want for Christmas...." you can guess the rest. The other guest and my personal fave is my old buddy, Amos Garrett. I got to play "Merry Christmas Baby" and take a solo with him! Talk about nerves, but old Amos just makes you feel at home. All in all, a very worthwhile effort of bringing our rich Diamond-Valley community together.
PS, oh yea, I got to do Winter Wonderland as an instrumental.
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