Xmas sweater bonanza

While home for Thanksgiving break, I rifled through my family's front hall closet and uncovered a lost gem! Buried amongst broken umbrellas, unused tennis rackets, and my stepdad's reflective jogging pancho was my beloved childhood holiday sweater, the one my mother made for me circa 1995. The finest of cotton and hippest color of red, my childhood sweater was once all the rave. It has a sewn-in white turtleneck and an iron-on cut-out of Mickey Mouse. And the best part is if you press Mickey's ear he sings "jingle-bells jingle-bells jingle-all the way"! However, now that a decade or so has passed the tune sounds more like Tom Waits took two too many sleeping pills and sang "ju-un-gle be-al-as...ju-un-gle be-al-as...ju-un-gle AAALLL th-uh waaaay." You almost expect to hear him burp after it plays. Nonetheless, to a 5 and 1/2 year old this holiday sweater was dope (and frankly, still is). Truly one of a kind. Well almost, apart from the fact that my brother had a matching green one. How, you might ask, should I remember this? because we have a Christmas portrait from 1995 perched on our fireplace mantel, in which the entirety of my family is wearing equally as dope sweaters. You should see my stepdad's, I didn't even know they made iorn-ons that big...I'm not saying he's fat he's just 6'2" and broad shouldered, and he certainly wouldn't have fit into my Mickey Mouse sweater, I should know because after I dug through that front closet I couldn't help but try the sweater on. You may be curious, did it fit? Let's just say I'm a little disillusioned that they don't make children's size smalls with larger neck openings.

Has all this talk of childhood Christmas sweaters got you nostalgic? If so, you should join me and the Portland Cello Project this Friday at the Aladdin Theater in SE Portland for an Xmas sweater bonanza. The Portland Cello project is a local, but nationally renowned, group of up to 16 indie contemporary classical cellists (one of which is an LC alumni!) they are known for getting indie kids to listen to classical music and classical junkies to venture into the world of indie rock. That's right, indie rock! They will be preforming with guests Mirah, Ritchie Young, Jenny Conlee (from the Decemberists), Justin Power, Ali Ippolito, Matt Sheehy, Shostakovich, and The Flash Choir this Friday December 5th. Expect the unexpected (bet you've never heard superMario brothers or Britney Spear Toxic on cello) and WEAR THOSE TACKY HOLIDAY SWEATERS FOR FREE MUSIC!


-mh