elfs | The Seattle Men's Chorus 2008 Christmas Concert

On what had to be the worst driving night of the year, this past Saturday, Omaha and I took Kouryou-chan and Yamaraashi-chan up into Seattle and attend the Seattle Men's Chorus's annual show, this year entitled "Fruitcake." The roads were almost completely deserted, which was good because we were driving with chains on at less than half speed, and were still slipping now and then. The snow was coming down lightly, but still coming down.

When we pulled into Seattle proper, the chains allowed the old Ford Escort to scale the hills easily, but when we got into the covered and elevated carpark they made us slide on the ramps and we had to unchain the car.

The concert itself was lovely, but then it almost always is. They started out with some traditional Christmas carols, as well as some ancient Latin chants.

One of the more serious moments in the show was when they sang "The Promise," a song about a young man assigned to the Philippines during World War II who kept his promise to be home for Christmas. The family later found out that he had died on December 23rd, but they swear he was there for Yule. The song was very obviously a political appeal to end the Iraq war, but the SMC-- which is a foundational institution of the Seattle gay community-- is never shy about its political leanings. During the sing along portion of the show, in the middle of "Winter Wonderland," when the lyrics about the snowman read, "Then pretend that he is Parson Brown, / He'll say: Are you married? / we'll say: No man," the chorus interrupted the sing along to hold up placards that read "Civil Unions Now" and "Marriage Is So Gay" before resuming.

The song "We Three Kings" became a farce with three Elvises on stage-- a young Elvis, the gold lame' rockin' Elvis, and a convincingly fat white-suited Elvis, came out to sing the song, soon to be joined by a Billie Jean King, a Stephen King, a pharoah the King, a King Henry, a King Kong, and finally a Burger King. "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer" was sung by the Seattle Women's Chorus core group, "Sensible Shoes."

The chorus also sang "'Twas the Night Before Christmas", changing musical genres every stanza in a bid, as the introductory speaker put it, "to keep your interest and attention in an era where attention spans are only as long as it takes to flip from one LOLcat to the next." LOLcat mention for the win. One stanza was sung in a creepy, Halloween-like minor key while reindeers with deaths-heads crept about the stage.

After it was over, the girls ran into one of their camp counsellors, who was a member of the chorus.

The drive home was actually uneventful. We didn't have to put the chains on until we reached our own subdivision. Everyone went straight to bed.