Dave and Tara Powers, It’s Christmas Time

MountainCity presented another spectacular show to a packed house on December 3rd. If you were there, you know it was the party of the season, with people of all ages being treated to a show filled to the brim with many fun surprises.

Merry and Bright

The Armory Center for the Performing Arts, Brighton, CO, where the foyer smelled of rich, warm coffee, simmering cranberries and fresh-baked cookies, was the place to be to kick off the Christmas season. Friends and families enjoyed winning prizes (Home Depot in Brighton, Colorado provided 7 beautiful, live Christmas trees for a drawing give-away), hula-hooping, bubbles and disco ball lights swirling as “snow”, jingling bells, and a lighted, red balloon drop during the encore. There was some SnapChat, a couple of movie clips, and a musical tribute to the animals of Christmas. Inexplicably, a T-Rex ended up dancing around The Armory.

Stage Manager, Rhonda Morrison, says the biggest challenge of the evening was making sure all the props were ready as needed: bubbleguns, hula hoops, glow sticks, blinking red noses, hippo masks, red bow ties and a certain red onesie – and making sure the children, from one to ninety-two, who were using the props were ready to go at exactly the right moment! There was so much fun, plenty of laughter and surprise after surprise as the evening went on.

Kreutzer Photography // MountainCity

Love and Joy Come to You

But the tone was really set early, just after Dave and Tara took the stage and had sung a couple of songs in their unique folk-pop style. Tara shared from her heart how they didn’t just want to perform for the audience, but rather create a space for peace, and for everyone to experience the joy of the season in spite of circumstances that might be causing heartbreak. You could nearly hear a collective sigh as concert-goers relaxed and took her words to heart. (Dave spoke about this in his reflections previously, click here)

And then there was the music. It was amazing. There was a little country, of course, and modern folk, too. The band shined playing jazzy numbers and some blues. They did wonders making traditional, much-loved songs their own, bright and sparkly, without sacrificing the melodies and styles people revere so very carefully in their Christmas carols.

MountainCity performed many seasonal favorites, both popular songs everyone knows, and some a little more obscure. Each arrangement was well performed, lush and rich. They had a brass section for the first time, and a mandolin player joined them for Colorado Christmas, which just needs to be an annual signature song for MountainCity! A graceful, beautiful couple waltzed lightly across the stage for one of the songs. And the band’s outstanding, bluesy cover of Ray Charles’ “That Spirit of Christmas,” threatened to possibly, actually, bring the house down.

By the time the sing along of old Christmas favorites came near the end of the show, the whole audience was fully engaged, joyous, at peace, living fully and singing their hearts out.

The concert was specially designed to appeal to all five senses, but to the heart most of all. Each special touch and every guest, including the amazing Dave Beegle who thrilled the audience with his guitar performances, added depth and merriment to an evening that got better as it progressed.

Dave and Tara and their talented team carefully planned the festive details of the entire production. Team member, Rhonda, remembers that moment in the evening when she suddenly realized, after hours of set up, excitement and adrenaline, that she’d been on her feet for more than ten straight hours putting this concert together and her feet “had long since disowned” her.

Sara Walsh masterfully coordinated the entire event, and might possibly have cloned herself, as she was in the grand foyer, or balcony, or stage or backstage…at all times. Her role included encouraging and supporting volunteers who were worried that their hula hooping skills might not be great. And she directed the precarious hanging of the glorious paper star in the foyer by two able volunteers, which ended up falling on a man’s head before the concert even started. No one was hurt though, in the production of this concert. But many left more joyously!

The band, By Kreutzer Photography

Bravo, MountainCity and friends! It was a great show!

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Gallery of photos seen on Social Media

See more photos on Facebook and Instagram. Thanks to those who shared the ones in the gallery below: Kreutzer Photography, Scott Hamilton, Roxy Chessar, Steve Crowder, Robbie Roos, Sweet V’s Bakery. 

101 Extra Details for the MountainCity information junkies:

The concert was put together by an amazing production staff, led by Event Coordinator, Sara Walsh and her fantastic team of volunteers.

Song List from the Concert

• Go Tell it on the Mountain
• Silver Bells
• White Christmas
• It’s Christmas Time (MountainCity original) 
• Have Yourself a Merry little Christmas
• That Spirit of Christmas
• Christmas Don’t Be Late
• Christmas Medley
• Dave Beegle performed 3 songs
• Christmas Waltz 
• Love’s Gonna Find You 
• Being With You 
• Let It Snow
• Colorado Christmas with Mike Dudley on the mandolin
• Singalong: Joy to the World 
• Jingle Bells
• Encore: Holiday Inn

Volunteer Team:

• Event Coordinator: Sara Walsh
• Stage Manager: Rhonda Morrison
• Emcee: Tom Walsh
• A/L: George Dougherty
• Media: Jon McMinn & Jacque Kreutzer
• Videography: Matt Short and Benson
• Photographers: Chris Kreutzer and Scott Hamilton
• Artist/Sponsorship Hospitality: Cheri Atkinson
• Lighting Design: Dave Powers, Kenn Atkinson
• Ticket Booth: Donnie & Kim Richards
• Merch Table: Chelsie French & Wendi Coop
• Refreshments: Olivia Walsh
• T-Rex: Coleen Walsh
• All the extra fun stuff: Tom, Ellie, Alex, Matt, Jesse, Kenn, Jake, Hunter, Kevin, Sara, Cheri, Jamen, Olivia, Aria

Band:

• Charles Ciepiel -keys
• Nathan Phillips-bass
• Erik Johnson-drums
• Barry Johnson-trombone
• Robb Newman-trumpet
• Larry Stephens-saxophone
• Mike Dudley-mandolin
• Dave Beegle-special guest
• Eldeen Annette Pickett-background vocals

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Upcoming MountainCity Events

We play in a variety of different environments throughout the year, and some of our favorite events are house concerts! If you would like to have us come over and shred some love songs in 2017, we would love to chat with you about that! Contact Dave: [email protected]. He would LOVE to explore ideas with you! 🙂 

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Dave would like to thank his sponsor, Grosh Guitars

Dave Powers loves Grosh Guitars!