Toes were a tappin’ and hands were a clappin’ as Chris and Peter--and a host of friends--took the stage at Local 506 in Chapel Hill Saturday night. The event was billed as a CD release show for “Christmas Time Again.” And there were plenty of proverbial stocking stuffers to be had/heard--too many to remember, actually. Some highlights: Peter joined Caitlin Cary and Lynn Blakey (of Tres Chicas) on accordion for one number; Peter and Caitlin sang a gorgeous rendition of “I Want to Learn to Waltz with You” with just an acoustic guitar and mic (the song appears on Cary’s “I’m Staying Out” CD); Chris, Peter, Wes Lachot, and friends played “Christmas Time,” “Home for the Holidays,” and “Holiday Spirit,” (all recorded by the dB’s), “Lonely Christmas” (recorded by Marshall Crenshaw), “Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy” (recorded by Buck Owens), and “Jesus Christ” (recorded by Big Star); Lachot sang “Christmas is the Only Time” and “Chestnuts Roasting”; Chris introduced one song as “new,” titled “I Want You in my Life” (maybe from an upcoming dB’s album???); Peter sang a very emotional “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” Maybe the biggest surprise came when the band threw in “Big Brown Eyes” and later “Angels” from the Mavericks album. The band encored with “The Chipmunks Song,” which was great to hear Peter sing, “Me, I want a Hula Hoop”! Roman Candle kept the joint rocking into the wee hours.

The tease of dB’s material has me envious of those of you who will make it to the Bowery show in NYC. Of course, the dB’s will be playing the Cat’s Cradle in Chapel Hill in February, which I anxiously await…

I was there, too. I dragged my 19-year-old son with me and let him experience the show for himself. Interestingly, he and I agreed on the peformance that night - - - all-in-all quite good. The pedal steel guitar man was extremely good, and the two Tres Chicas in attendance have fantastic (and complimentary) voices. It's probably been 20 years since I saw Chris perform, and he looks the same.

Steve, it would be remiss to ignore the contribution of Django Haskins. His set was full of interesting lyrics, wry humor, and fine acoustic guitar work.

. . . and who were those guys in the Union Jack tank tops? Weird . . . I also look forward to the February show at the Cradle.

Jeff--by no means was I trying to slight Django Haskins. His set was indeed intelligent, curious, and eccentric--all in a good sort of way. For some reason Robyn Hitchcock comes to mind. I was attempting to focus on Chris and Peter's contributions in my original post.

And the guys in the Union Jack tanks? Beats me. It reminded me of '80s Def Leppard !

Sounds like a fantastic weekend of music in Chapel Hill. Nice reviews guys. I laughed at the Union Jack guys. I'll admit I loved Def Leppard back then. Hard to resist the Pyromania record and then Hysteria. Although, there's no reason why the dB's songs couldn't be played next to the Leppards back then. C'mon, 'Photograph' into 'Love is For Lovers'.

The dB's were easily as talented. Maybe if they'd just hired Mutt Lange?

Alright, silliness aside. Happy holidays!!

The next night at the Pour House in Raleigh, Peter performed at a songwriter's showcase with Greg Humphreys (of Hobex formerly of Dillon Fence), Mike Connell (of the Connells) and Sally Spring. They took turns singing songs. They performed about an hour and thirty five minutes. Peter did "Next to Last Waltz," "She Was the One," "I Want to Learn to Waltz with You," "Lonely Is (as Lonely Does)," the Buck Owens song "Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy," and "Feliz Navidad." Greg Humphreys took a verse of "Feliz Navidad" in Elvis voice. Sally Spring did a few songs from her new CD Mockingbird and had a beautiful Christmas song she had recently written (she had to read the words as she sang them. I would guess it to be called "Holy Holy Holy Night." Ted Lyons was backing her up on guitar. Ted took a turn on "The Only Law That Santa Understood" which is an absolute scream. After doing a couple of Hobex songs, Greg Humphreys sang "It's Christmas Time" (the Vince Guraldi song from A Charlie Brown Christmas). Mike Connell did a few Connell's songs and apologized for his vocals pointing out that he is not the singer in his band. It was a genuinely fun, low key evening. My only complaint is that it was much too short.

I attended the Pour House show as well--a great time, brief as it may have been. Several hours prior to Peter's arrival at the Pour House, I saw him do a short solo set at the Broad Street Cafe in Durham. He did a set of kids songs (and book readings!) for the children in the crowd ("I've Been Working on the Railroad," "My Old Man's a Dustman," "You Are my Sunshine") followed by a set for the adults, er, older kids... including "This Is Where I Belong" by the Kinks, "The Invisible Boyfriend" by the Continental Drifters, and "Big Brown Eyes" and "Today Could Be the Day" by the dB's. No, I wasn't stalking Peter all weekend--it just so happened that I lucked out and saw him perform at three different shows. Lucky, indeed!

Invisible Boyfriend...?!?! You lucky, lucky man!!