Hi, everybody,

Jeepers!  I just saw Christmas trees for sale.

I’m.
Not.
Ready. 

While I do enjoy the holidays and all they bring, I also like to bask in leftover candy and fallen leaves for a bit before the tsunami of festivities and obligations washes over my calendar. Since we are conveniently on the subject of holiday festivities, I’ll happily remind you we have some of our own again this year. Take note of these dates before you commit to that 5th or 6th variation of the eggnog/gift exchange party.

• December 10 – A Consensual Christmas* – laugh it up with your favorite (and only) improve group in the RFV. They have a special night planned and are mixing in a little sketch comedy for this one.
• December 11 – Aspen Choral Society presents Handel’s Messiah – More information to come on this one. Stay tuned.
• December 16 – Holiday Jazz – The Josefina Mendez Quintet returns this year with their jazzy takes on traditional holiday songs. This 2nd year makes Holiday Jazz a TACAW tradition.
• December 31 – New Years’ Eve Bash with LowDown Brass Band – This one should sell itself, but just in case, ring in the new year with Chicago’s own street music mavens.

Before we get there, we have a few events this week. 

• Tonight – 2022 Longevity Project: Brain Health & Injury – A compelling panel of experts discusses an important subject.
• Friday – Comedian Myq Kaplan – An evening of great comedy and a bonus Kaplan makes his comedy debut.
• Saturday – Lizzy Plotkin & Natalie Spears – We waited a year to bring them back. I think that was too long. I’m glad they are here this weekend. 

We just added a couple of other events as well.

• December 14 – 52/13: A Film and Conversation with Michael Wirth and Neil Beidelman – I’m excited about this one for a few reasons. A local athlete speaks with a mountaineering legend about an impressive accomplishment. He hiked and skied all the Elk Range peaks over 13,000 feet in 60 days. Seriously!
• January 14 – Birds of Play – An overdue visit from Telluride’s fantastic roots/Americana band. Super bonus of The Red Hill Rollers opening.

I hope to see you around as 2022 winds down! Dang, I’m out of fun-size Snickers.

Best,

Kendall Smith
TACAW Director of Programming