Venite adoramus

Eric had his Christmas concert last night. They played in the main post chapel, and unfortunately the lighting wasn't very good (at least for my worn out camera). So no photos from me, but I did find a few online links.

http://www.coastalcourier.com/news/article/10623/ and

http://www.wsav.com/midatlantic/sav/news.apx.-content-articles-SAV-2008-12-18-0039.html

There aren't any close ups of Eric, but you can see him on both sites.

This was my first time to watch this band perform. He didn't play on the first song, which was the Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer. There weren't any programs, so it was kinda hard to tell what the piece was. (It started out as something a/a Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor). But once the tune was recognizable and it started going through all its transformations, the crowd was loving it. His commander was quite a character. Eric had told me that he doesn't conduct beats, but rather cues the percussion. And it was true. Once he gave a downbeat, he spent most of the piece cuing players as they had an important part to play. But as he did, he'd turn around to glance at the audience and make a big deal of pointing out the players or section. It kinda was a cross between a very chipper flight attendant or one of those traffic cops with the over exaggerated hand gestures.

After that piece, most of the band left the stage. A woodwind trio played a tune. Then, the brass quintet came on to play 2 songs. The announcer made a joke that with this small of an ensemble, they could get all their equipment on one Blackhawk... After that the Dixie Land Jazz ensemble played 2 tunes. Now the audience was starting to get into the swing of things (so to speak).

Then, Eric's group came up. Besides Eric on bass, there was a guitar player (who likes to refer to himself as an OIF season ticket holder), a trumpet, a trombone, a trap set, a keyboardist and 2 male vocalists. This group rocked the house! Think of a James Brown tune, complete with the gyrations and drama from the vocalists. They sang "The Christmas Song," "Jingle Bell Rock" and "Ride, Sally, Ride." I know, you're thinking, "Ride, Sally, Ride?" But it worked. They changed some of the words to Ride Santa Ride. The pic from wsav.com has little old while ladies sitting in the audiences waving their hands from side to side, following the singers.

The last song from the rock group was O Holy Night, sung by a pregnant soldier on loan from another unit. Think Whitney Houston without the personality quirks. She could sing! A couple of people in the audience stood up about halfway through and started swaying like they were in church. She got a standing O from the entire audience after that.

The gospel choir from the post sang a couple of tunes. After that the whole group got up to play for the audience sing-along of Christmas carols. Then they played Christmas Eve/Sarajevo, and had a soldier playing the cello part at the beginning.

The final piece was Sleigh Bells. Eric got to play the bells. Nathan sat through the concert without too much whining and no toys for entertainment!