{"id":5487,"date":"2015-11-25T17:31:32","date_gmt":"2015-11-25T17:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.artinfo.com\/blunotes\/?p=5487"},"modified":"2015-11-25T17:31:32","modified_gmt":"2015-11-25T17:31:32","slug":"laugh-dont-cry-its-christmas-with-harry-shearer-judith-owen-and-their-talented-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/2015\/11\/25\/laugh-dont-cry-its-christmas-with-harry-shearer-judith-owen-and-their-talented-friends\/","title":{"rendered":"Laugh, Don't Cry! It's Christmas With Harry Shearer, Judith Owen and Their Talented Friends"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"720x405-JO-XMAS-2015-V2-BEFORE--(1)\"<\/a>
photo: Greg Shappell<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nHarry Shearer<\/strong> described his wife,\u00a0Judith Owen<\/strong>, as \u201ca Welsh woman prone to melancholia who could not stand the fact that, at Christmastime, Southern California was about 78 degrees and sunny.\u201d
\nShe confessed the truth in all that. \u201cIn a strange way, bad weather means Christmas to me.\u201d
\nI learned that at last year\u2019s New York edition of \u201cChristmas Without Tears,\u201d<\/strong> the annual holiday season pageant, a fundraiser for charity, that the couple hosts each year. There, Shearer, the humorist and actor\u2014whose many credits include The Simpsons\u2019 megalomaniacal Mr. Burns, Spinal Tap\u2019s affably insecure bassist Derek Smalls, and former president Richard Nixon<\/a> (who was, among other things, both megalomaniacal and affably insecure)\u2014revealed his innate musicality. Owen, a magificently gifted singer, pianist and songwriter, flashed a biting\u00a0wit that might well cast Harry as the straight man in the family.
\nThe couple\u2019s traveling Christmas show, now in its tenth year, began as a house party in Los Angeles, a way for Owen to \u201creinvent the joy and fun of Christmas\u201d not long after losing her mother and moving to Southern California (with\u00a0its oppressive lack of incelement weather). In 2005, they were invited to stage a version of their party at Walt Disney Concert Hall, which they turned into a benefit for musicians suffering as a result of the floods caused by the levee failures following Hurricane Katrina. (The couple also owns a home in New Orleans, where, as readers of this blog know, Shearer has been a staunch advocate for post-Katrina truth telling\u00a0<\/a>and for support\u00a0of an often-embattled culture.)
\nLast year\u2019s \u201cChristmas Without Tears\u201d highlighted New Orleans musicians, some who brought moments of musical piety\u2014especially clarinetist Evan Christopher\u2019s lovely original song \u201cWaltz for All Souls,\u201d and pianist\/singer Davell Crawford\u2019s riveting version of \u201cO Come All Ye Faithful.\u201d It was also deeply funny, never more so than during Amy Engelhardt\u2019s \u201cHow Did This Thing Get in Me?\u201d sung from the perspective of a puzzled pregnant virgin.
\nIt\u2019s a spectacle that embraces its own trinity: joyous celebration of the Christmas season; the sort of cynicism we all start itching with around this time of year; and an authentic sense of giving\u2014all proceeds go to charities, with performances from the 2015 Tour benefiting the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Elton John AIDS Foundation, My Friend’s Place, the New Orleans Musicians Clinic & Assistance Foundation, and the nonprofit Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre.
\nThis year\u2019s lineup is silly with diverse talents. The New York edition, at Brooklyn Academy of Music on Dec. 1<\/a>, features. among others: \u2028Alan Cumming, \u2028Mario Cantone,\u2028 Olympia Dukakis,\u2028 Paul Shaffer,\u2028 Artie Lange,\u2028Fred Willard,\u2028 B\u00e9la Fleck, \u2028Peter Asher,\u2028 Davell Crawford,\u2028 Godfrey Daniels,\u2028 Jerry Dixon,\u2028 Amy Engelhardt,\u2028The Gregory Brothers, \u2028Keith Nelson,\u2028 Do\u00f1a Oxford,\u2028 and The SongBirds.
\nPlus a house band that includes bassist Leland Sklar, a legend to anyone who owns a record collection, and who I heard recently in spectacular duet performance with Owen.
\nThe complete itinerary is:
\nDecember 1: \u2028Brooklyn Academy of Music\u2028New York, NY
\nDecember 4: S.P.A.C.E.\u2028Evanston, IL
\nDecember 19: \u2028Largo at the Coronet\u2028Los Angeles, CA
\nDecember 20: Largo at the Coronet\u2028Los Angeles, CA
\nDecember 23: \u2028Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre\u2028New Orleans, LA
\nBut wait, folks! There\u2019s more under that tree! <\/em><\/strong>
\nThis year, Shearer and Owen have created a companion EP<\/a>,\u00a0also titled \u201cChristmas Without Tears.\u201d It features three studio recordings\u2014two from Owen, another sung by Shearer and a cast of guests\u2014and three tracks from a performance last year in Los Angeles: one each from Catherine O\u2019Hara, Fred Willard and Amy Engelhardt.
\nIsn\u2019t there an over-the-top single to download and share with your friends, you ask?<\/em><\/strong>
\nWhat did you think?
\n\u201cToo Many Notes\u201d<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>caricatures a world no longer safe for melismata, where embellishment crowds out melody and message. Actress Jane Lynch (\u201cGlee\u201d), soul singer Alice Russell, vocalists Ian Shaw and Davell Crawford, and saxophonist Dave Koz battle to outdo each other with such senslessness.
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Harry Shearer described his wife,\u00a0Judith Owen, as \u201ca Welsh woman prone to melancholia who could not stand the fact that, at Christmastime, Southern California was about 78 degrees and sunny.\u201d She confessed the truth in all that. \u201cIn a strange way, bad weather means Christmas to me.\u201d I learned that at last year\u2019s New York … <\/p>\n

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