A holiday playlist starts here
Starting today, through Christmas, Based in Lafayette will curate three holiday/seasonal songs a day from folks around Greater Lafayette. Along with how you can add your three tracks.
Sponsorship for today’s edition includes the 11th Annual Indiana Makers Market-Holiday Market at Wea Creek Orchard, 5618 S. County Road 200 East, opening Saturday just south of Lafayette. For the curated shopping experience over the next three weekends, Angela Vinson, longtime artist and maker promoter, hunts for the best handmade gifts made from the most kind and creative makers. She transforms the historic barn into a holiday shop filled with handmade gifts picked specially for you and your loved ones from over 50 makers and artists. Opening Weekend will have free gifts to the first 30 shoppers, live music from Annie Hatke and free Kids Activities on Sunday-Family Day. Follow the easy Indiana Makers Market wayfinding signs and GPS to navigate to the Barn. (Construction detour adds four minutes to your trip.) Don't miss the biggest and best Pop-Up yet.
Support for today’s edition comes from Purdue Convocations, offering 25% all shows for Black Friday weekend. Give the gift of live performance this holiday season! Save 25% on tickets to the biggest spring shows at Purdue, including The Mingus Big Band, Hadestown, Pretty Woman: The Musical, Chicago, and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons at 300 by Les Arts Florissants. Valid through Dec. 1, 2024. Limit 6 discounted tickets per show. SHOP NOW
THE START OF A HOLIDAY PLAYLIST
How about we put together a holiday/seasonal playlist this year?
Starting today, through Christmas (and maybe beyond), Based in Lafayette will curate three songs a day from folks around Greater Lafayette. The assignment isn’t necessarily about the best or most iconic songs of the season. Just songs that you’d want in the mix and why they belong. Enjoy.
Today’s holiday playlist: Mark Myers
Myers, a native of Auburn, Indiana, is lead choral director at Jefferson High School, overseeing the entire program and directing A Cappella, First Edition and Varsity Singers. He’s taught students from third grade up through graduate music majors, primarily in Chicagoland and Southern California before coming to Lafayette Jeff.
“For Unto Us a Child is Born,” Sounds of Blackness, from “Handel’s Messiah: A Soulful Celebration” (Various Artists) – I’m not sure how 13-year-old me happened open this amazing album, but it opened up my musical world. A geeky music kid from an early age, I had been obsessed with my mother’s old box set of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus performing Handel’s Messiah under the baton of Georg Solti, and then this reinterpretation of the oratorio in multiple genres of Africana music came along and blew my mind.
“Snowfall,” The Manhattan Transfer, from “The Christmas Album” – Ironically enough, this came out around the same time as “A Soulful Celebration.” Probably not the most well-known track on this iconic album, but I love the lush harmonies and the nostalgic feelings this arrangement evokes.
“I Got My Love To Keep Me Warm,” Idina Menzel & Billy Porter, from “Christmas: A Season of Love” (Idina Menzel) – I just ran across this red-hot version of the Irving Berlin standard in just the last few weeks on someone else’s playlist! Idina Menzel and Billy Porter, two of the most incredible voices to grace the contemporary Broadway stage, do not disappoint, and the big band orchestrations are extremely well-written and executed.
Your turn
What three songs are going into your holiday/seasonal playlist this year? If you’re game to share, here’s all we need:
Three songs and the artists.
One or two sentences about why you chose each one – could be a memory or a short history or review about why that track belongs in your mix and why you’d recommend it to others.
A little bit about you to let readers know who’s making the picks.
Send to: davebangert1@gmail.com
Thanks to sponsor Purdue Convocations, offering 25% all shows for Black Friday weekend. Get your tickets now.
Thanks also for sponsorship from the 11th Annual Indiana Makers Market-Holiday Market at Wea Creek Orchard, 5618 S. County Road 200 East, just south of Lafayette. Hours for the first weekend: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, Nov. 30-Dec. 1. For more details: www.indianamakersmarket.com
Thank you for supporting Based in Lafayette, an independent, local reporting project. Free and full-ride subscription options are ready for you here.
Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.
Hoping for partial credit on the assignment: While secular Christmas songs are usually bad, the jangly atheists comprising XTC did alright with "Thanks for Christmas," released under the pseudonym The Three Wise Men. Achieves a rare balance of cheese with the dour acknowledgment that Christmas makes other days seem sucky in comparison. Yes, there is too much glockenspiel in the mix, but it is completely free of imaginary characters.
You didn't mention that the Soulful Celebration Messiah album was a Quincy Jones project. He was a giant.