For my birthday, John and Jackie gave me six tickets to the “Straight No Chaser” Concert on December 5.  Two were for Tom and I, two were for John and Jackie, and two were for me to invite someone.  What a wonderful, thoughtful gift!

I started by inviting Mom and Dad but they didn’t want to come to Columbus at night.  So then I invited my brother Steve and his wife Kathy.  Kathy is the director of Music at Grove City UMC and she has handbell practice on Thursday night.  But she moved practice so she and Steve could come.  I have a wonderful family!

We had intended to go out to eat all together before we went to the concert, but this was the height of my bronchitis.  I was determined to go but I started coughing like crazy if I did too much.  So we reluctantly canceled our supper plans, which really worked out better for everyone.  We met at the Palace Theater around 7:30 and found our seats.

“Straight No Chaser” is an a cappella group that started at the Indiana University back in 1996.  In 2007 an old video of their version of “The 12 Days of Christmas” went viral on YouTube.  Eight of the original “Straight No Chaser” members reformed the group and recorded and toured all over the United States.  In the last 10 years, members have come and gone, but the group is known for their close harmony and spoofs of various songs.  During the concert they called themselves “the a cappella Weird Al Yankovic.”

This concert is part of the “Open Bar” Tour, to introduce the songs from their new album.  Listening to their arrangements is awesome, but most of the songs are better in the original versions.  Their best songs are the spoofs, and they limit themselves to one per album.  The first half of the concert was all songs from the new album, but the second half was their Christmas songs.  They are best known for these and the audience really responded to them.  My favorites are, of course, “The 12 Days of Christmas” and “Christmas Can-Can.”  You can see all their other songs on YouTube.

We really enjoyed attending the concert together.  Getting those tickets was an awesome gift from John and Jackie.  One that I enjoyed as I anticipated and now as I remember the concert.