It’s starting to feel a lot like the holidays here at eTown. Another year is coming to a close. Our production schedule is moving right along and the little elves that make things around here (like radio shows, interview content, and videos) have been hard at work to close out the year with a bang. All of that said, we have a great holiday-themed program for all of you eTown-ers out there.
This week, husband-and-wife songwriting duo Linford Detweiler and Karen Berquist (AKA Over The Rhine) park their sleigh at eTown Hall to share a few numbers from their bag of holiday musical explorations. Realizing that the holidays mean a lot of different things to folks, depending on who you may ask, Karen and Linford do an amazing job of exploring and delivering holiday music from all angles – melancholy, sarcasm, humor and love. They are joined by Nick and Helen, and the eTones, on a couple of songs, and also deliver a few more paired down numbers in their set. One song that really gave me chills at the taping was their performance of their song “Drunkard’s Prayer.” Check that one out in the videos below. Beautiful and haunting stuff!
Taos-based singer/songwriter Max Gomez also makes his second visit to eTown in this week’s episode. Oddly enough, I randomly ran into Max on the streets of Taos just about a month ago during a weekend road trip with my dog and girlfriend. We were discussing his first visit to eTown, and how great it would be to have him back. It’s funny how small the world can be sometimes. It’s great to get reminders that we are all connected in mysterious ways. Max was great (as always) and brought an excellent piano player with him this time around to share in the musical joy.
Our eChievement Award winner this week is a young girl from Walnut Creek, California who came up with a way to repurpose lost and discarded clothing found at ski resorts in California for the homeless. Not only does she share her heart-warming story during her interview with Nick, but she also turned out to be an amazing flute player. She joins Nick, Helen, Over The Rhine and Max Gomez on stage for the show finale this week. Very cool stuff!
Be sure to tune in or podcast!
– Zack