Up at the top of this post you see Radio Free Charleston’s 116th episode, “Christmas With CYAC.” 2010 was almost a year without an RFC Christmas show. The only other time that had happened was in 2008 when I was shaken up by an early-December car accident. However, after a production schedule bedeviled by weather woes and other intrusions of life, I decided to call an audible.
The original plan was that this episode of the show would feature songs from two local favorites, plus a song or two from the 2010 Contemporary Youth Arts Company production of the original rock opera, “Mary.” with everything being tied together with host segments shot the Monday before Christmas while caroling with Dan and Penny Kehde and the gang from CYAC.
The taping for the other songs didn’t happen (through no fault of the artists) and I was left with the possibility of skipping the holiday show this year, when it occurred to me that I could record some of the Christmas carols, toss in some of the tunes from “Mary” and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. We took a scrawny little batch of videos, and with love and the spirit of Christmas, shaped it into a beautiful Christmas Treat. Just like on A Charlie Brown Christmas, only without the copyrighted music. The result is one of our most-watched Christmas shows.
This year, we have a killer Christmas show in the works that should be online Monday. Expect music by Melanie Larch with Mark Scarpelli, Lady D, Marium Bria and The Laser Beams, plus animation from Jake Fertig.
Oddly enough, after going to such great lengths to have a Christmas show in 2010, we didn’t do a full episode in 2011. Nobody seems to remember why. We did manage to present a “Christmas Treat” featuring Charleston’s jam-night institutions, Prank Monkey…
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