Holiday Time, 2022!

This is absolutely one of my favorite times of the year. It is my sincere hope that you are able to enjoy your holidays to their fullest. May you have the problem of having too much to feast. And may you be fed even more by good fellowship.

Certainly bringing joy to those of you who love seeing live music must be the return of the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge. Yes, the veteran haunt of so many great shows in an intimate subterranean setting is back! Their bookings have been a little slow thus far. But they have already had some shows that have brought back the “wow” factor. November has been sprinkled with some terrific collaborations. December will include Abbie Barrett. And New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day with Ward Hayden & The Outliers.

We have been lucky for years to traditionally have certain performers play on or around New Year’s Eve – even after they moved away from Boston. A Grade A example would be Ellis Paul. Sure enough, he’s booked at Club Passim for a 3-night run culminating in two New Year’s Eve shows.

A December tradition since 2004 at Passim returns, the Under The Covers series. This features Mark Erelli, Rose Cousins – who doesn’t live here, but she remains a steady part of the Boston/Cambridge music scene just the same – Zack Hickman, and Jake Armerding. WUMB members, if you haven’t checked wumb.org for the Weekly Online Member Giveaway, take a gander the week of Nov 26 to Dec 2 for a chance to win a pair of tix to the Dec 11th show.

Generally, the live music venues that are back are getting better and better shows as they move along. So I encourage you to actively keep in touch with their calendars. It’s so great having live music back.

Take a trip in the Way Back machine of your mind to about ten years ago…back to when a 15-year-old named Hayley Reardon made some big splashes in the local music community, including on WUMB. Hayley is back with new music. In June she released an EP called In The Good Light. This was recorded in Barcelona with two respected Spanish musicians. She has another EP due out in the Spring. I’ll preview a song from it on the November 27th edition of the SAMW Café on WUMB, Sunday from 8am to Noon.

And with that, it’s just about time – formally – to give thanks to those who make your life good or better. OK, there’s absolutely never a bad time for that. But at this time of the year it is top of mind. So let those people know you’re thinking about them.

And thank you for being a part of WUMB. Feel free to spread the word. And may you have the problem of dealing with too much food.

Happy Holidays, everybody!

~ Perry