You don’t have to watch out. You can cry, and you can pout ’cause Santa Claus isn’t coming to the Lamplighter Lounge. Instead of the big man in red, you can expect a flock of flute players in the vein of “marching band meets bad Santa” or “your office Christmas party meets some kind of drug trip.” At least, that’s how Elise Blatchford describes the upcoming fifth annual flute-forward concert at the Lamp.
The associate professor of flute at the University of Memphis says that the yearly shindig started as a fundraising effort for local flute players to go to a flute convention in Minneapolis. “And then we had so much fun [putting on the concert] and we decided to do it again,” she says. “Now every year we just want to do it. So it’s like members of the Memphis Symphony. There’s me and [U of M flute] students. There are sometimes alumni who are back in town for Christmas.” Also performing will be Jenny Davis, Delara Hashemi, and Shantanique Moore. “It’s just like this big, weird family reunion. And if you have a flute, just bring it with you.
“And you know,” Blatchford says, “flutes are having a moment the last few years — really having a moment. Flute seems to be getting cool again, which is really funny. We’re sort of banking on this being not cool.”
So, this year’s edition is titled “The Empire Flutes Bach,” but don’t expect Star Wars music or Bach, just your holiday classics. (The pun was just too good not to make for their fifth performance, says Blatchford.) “Someone made an arrangement of the Mariah Carey ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ for us. That always comes out although I think people hate that song now. And we do some Nutcracker arrangements, but a lot of it is just us playing very simple arrangements of Christmas carols.
“Oh, and we usually play a rendition of ‘Smoke Gets in Your Eyes’ in honor of the Lamplighter because it’s always so smoky in there or it used to be so smoky in there. So, we have a really great arrangement of ‘Smoke Gets in Your Eyes’ for five flutes randomly.”
Admission is free, but the flutists will host a bake sale to help fund guests artists for flute at U of M. Plus, there will be kazoos for non-flutists who want to kazoo along to any familiar tunes, and Blatchford wants you to “bring your cigs and your bad attitude. If you’re grumpy, this is the event for you because we can all be grumpy together. And there’s also a drag show right afterwards. So, come for the flutes and stay for drag if you want. It’s a full-service evening.”
River City Flutes Sleigh Christmas Part 5: The Empire Flutes Bach, Lamplighter Lounge, 1702 Madison Ave., Monday, December 18, 8 p.m., free.
