Aimee Mann and John Krasinski duet at last year's show (via TheInsider.com)
Living in LA, it can be hard, especially for recent transplants, to get that Christmas spirit when it’s 75 degrees and sunny in December. Hailing from Christmasland (aka New England), I’ve felt this, but for the past two years I’ve been able to get that spirit back by attending Aimee Mann’s annual Christmas show. Both of the shows that I have seen have been packed with celebrity cameos, Christmas carol sing-a-longs, and hilarious documentary-style videos featuring Aimee and pals.
This year the show will be at Largo at the Coronet on December 13 and 14. Tickets are going fast so pick some up before they’re gone: http://www.largo-la.com/largohome.html
Press Release:
Los Angeles, CA–Aimee Mann announces the return of her annual holiday extravaganza for the fourth year in a row. Fresh off of the road from summer and fall tour dates throughout the East and West Coast with international dates in Japan, Argentina, Chile, Singapore and Australia, Aimee will bring back her fan favorite Christmas variety show for two dates only at the legendary Largo at the Coronet in Los Angeles on December 13th & 14th.
With a full year of touring, a recent speaking date at Yale, a new album in the works, writing a musical and co-illustrating a graphic novel, Aimee has been staring down at a full plate. Mann considered giving the Christmas show a year off until visions of scrooge began to surface. In response she decided to put together a two day run in Los Angeles to appease the Christmas ghosts. This year’s line-up will bring back a host of old favorites along with some new faces to the Largo, Aimee’s home away from home (recently immortalized in film.)
See Largofilm.com for further information and screenings.
Mann’s homage to the holiday variety show of yore has consistently played to sold-out crowds across the U.S, featuring a mixture of music from One More Drifter in the Snow, hosting comedians Paul F. Tompkins, Patton Oswalt and Fred Armisen along with special drop-in guests that have included Jackson Browne, John C. Reilly, Amos Lee, Chuck Prophet, Rachel Yamagata, Nellie McKay, Josh Ritter, Ben Lee, Ben Gibbard, comedienne Morgan Murphy and fellow singer-songwriter Grant Lee Phillips. The New York Times has described the holiday pageant as “Delightful…a Santa-stupefying balance of naughty and nice…with the giddy warmth of an eggnog buzz. Hangover included of course.”
One More Drifter in the Snow, Aimee Mann’s first Christmas CD released through her own SuperEgo Records, has continued to be a holiday standard with O magazine hailing it as an “intimate take on the season too brilliantly affecting for strangers.” Aimee explains, “I wanted to do a Christmas record that reflected the whole range of emotions that people have around Christmas. I thought a lot about the feeling I had about Christmas as a kid, the almost spooky beauty and mystery that the holiday has, and wanted to do something that echoed that musically.”
Mann and her producer Paul Bryan used the Peanuts Christmas special as one jumping-off point, with both the jazz-inflected Vince Guaraldi Trio soundtrack and comic melancholy of Charlie Brown as influences. Mann also cites the Johnny Mathis record she heard every year in her house as a kid as another major influence and archetypical Christmas record. “That’s why I wanted
to make sure at least half of the songs on the record were classic Christmas standards that everybody knows.”
The album is also sprinkled with some lesser-known but no-less-classic songs: the Jimmy Webb song “Whatever Happened to Christmas,” which opens the record; “Christmastime” written by Michael Penn; the brilliant “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” from the Dr. Seuss cartoon “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” featuring Grant Lee Phillips’ inspired narration; and an original song, co-written with producer Paul Bryan, “Calling on Mary.”
“For those of us who wrestle with warring impulses — bah, humbug the holidays or succumb to the twinkly lights — Aimee Mann has created an old-fashioned Christmas variety show that reminds us that it’s possible to have our cynicism and eat our fruitcake too.”- Boston Globe. Look for One More Drifter in the Snow online and in stores now along with Aimee’s critically acclaimed 7th solo album @#%&! Smilers. Aimee and her cast of Christmas elves will take to the stage on December 13th and 14th. For tickets please go to http://www.largo-la.com/largohome.html and check out www.aimeemann.com for updates.
Track Listing:
1. Whatever Happened To Christmas
2. Christmas Song
3. Christmastime
4. I’ll Be Home For Christmas
5. You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch
6. Winter Wonderland
7. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
8. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
9. White Christmas
10. Calling On Mary
