My interesting night of music mayhem...

My mother texted me months back asking me if I wanted to see Manheim Steamroller at the Academy in December.  The answer was a resounding "YES" from me, only because my mother bombarded us with their music as children and I just had to get a good look at the monster that was vibraphone-synthesized-newwave-Rennaissance-Christmas music.

I'll give you an image:
A Rennaissance Christmas
(they played this in the background while they were performing the songs.  It was like I was listening to canned music.)

The crowd was no younger than a mean age of 45, and without a doubt it was a group of people that don't get out much.  I overheard people saying things like "My sister came up from Maryland for the show".

In any case it was fine.  I'm not into that type of music at all.  If I hear trumpets I want to see trumpets on the stage, you know?  Actually, I felt bad for the performers because they had to play along so strictly.  It wasn't an audience that would have appreciated a jam, but I would have loved to see them rock out.  They were obviously all talented performers.

It was a weird show.  I can't explain it.  The creator, Chip Davis, whose name is on all of the albums, he popped up on the screen twice to give his thanks and to say "BUY OUR SHIT".  It seemed like "schtick".  It was cheesy.  It was dated.  But then again there were a lot of people there, and there were actually shouts from the audience, like woo! and YEAH!  And my mom had a really good time.

After that at 11pm, my boyfriend and I met up at the Bearded Ladies cabaret, a series that The Wilma Theatre is producing and I absolutely LOVED IT.  We had seen their Edith Piaf cabaret and I was looking forward to this one a lot.  I'm so glad I saw it!  The music was creative and everyone had tight harmonies.  The timing was great, and I absolutely fell in love with Dixie, our drag mother (played by John Jarboe) who took us through the songs of the South and beyond.  It was well put together and I just had a great time.  TOTALLY stark difference from Manheim Steamroller.  This was more my speed.  They have two more cabarets this season, so I would definitely check it out if you haven't already.