I'd love to talk about our Holiday Joy concerts. Boy, those shows were special! We hosted six events from 2009 to 2014 at the Athenaeum Theatre in downtown Indy.
The inspiration to put these shows on came from two various events. First off was the annual misfit party held at my place on Christmas night. I'd throw a party every Christmas for all the musicians home alone and often lonely on that night. We'd eat, drink and be very merry. Most nights ended incredibly late with a holiday singalong around my piano. The second inspiration came from the holiday caroling we did annually as a group at various hospitals, shelters, nursing homes, and schools. The caroling was a grand tradition that started back in my Bob & Tom days.
Holiday Joy came together once we compiled a house band consisting of a fabulous Team of musicians. Once the band was together, we started asking great singers in town to join us. We picked our favorite holiday songs and often put our Spin on Many of them. The rehearsals were intense. First, the band would learn the show, then the harmony singers would work through their parts, and lastly, the Lead singers Would come in to complete the songs. Our emcee from start to finish was the fabulous & funny Leonard Patterson, and our music director was the incomparable Michael Read.
These Shows sold Out every Year after The first one. The word got out, and Holiday Joy concerts became a Not To Miss Event! They felt like an old-school variety Christmas program you'd watch on TV with your family when you were a child. The production, venue, camaraderie we’d experience as a collective team, made us All feel completely whole.
What made these even more fulfilling was that we donated the proceeds to different local charities each year. The singers donated their time and were happy to. We would have gone on forever putting these shows on but sadly, the venue decided to triple the rental price. It was a hard pill to swallow mostly because they knew we were doing these shows for charity and not for profit. Even more upsetting was that we gave a donation back every year to the venue since they were a not For-profit organization. Things really do happen for a reason so after a bit of time, we all came to terms with this . We hope at some point to bring these shows back to Indy and the community we love so much.
We recorded every show and put out CD’s volumes 1-6 for the 6 years the events took Place. We have a few of those available still if anyone is interested. Please email me lisasauce@aol.com
Xoxo
Lisa