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One of Brandon’s fondest childhood memories (though I think he complained about it at the time) was attending an annual Christmas performance, either A Christmas Carol, The Nutcracker, or a performance of Christmas music.  In Lawrence this year, neither of the plays were showing, but the Boston Brass presented A Stan Kenton Christmas at the Lied Center Saturday night.

The Boston Brass

It was billed as a jazz Christmas concert, so I wasn’t sure I would like it.  But it was more big band style than improvisational jazz (and no saxaphones), and their renditions of the dances from The Nutcracker and White Christmas were just wonderful.  The kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves, though Hannah fell asleep in her seat after intermission, and Brae and Kaity giggled through The 12 Days of Christmas, thanks to their introduction to the MacKenzie Brothers’ version earlier in the day.  Totally my fault, and they now have another warped Christmas song to add to their repetoire, right after Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.

Since we’ve moved to a hosting service, I’ve decided to try a little experiment.  Rather than burning a bunch of DVDs for the grandparents, I’m going to upload the videos of various school performances here. These will be in Quicktime format (get the plugin).  The first is the 9th Grade Recognition Band Concert (large file), held on May 13th of this year.

Note: We’ll be working backwards through 8th grade, and then I’ll start uploading the stuff from this school year.  Enjoy!

Kaity had her Fall band concert this evening, her first as a high school freshman.  The percussion session had a song all to themseleves, with Kaity doing a wood block solo.  Pretty cool.

Kaity in her official concert uniform. Dig the bowtie.