Nativity Hoedown: Best Christmas Party Ever!

My friend Kate Risker, aka Miss Risk, along with Simon Harris who runs the record label Hand of Glory threw a one-off

themed Christmas party this past weekend called the

Kate put her skills as a professional event organizer to full use, dreaming up a hilarious Americana hillbilly theme and working with Simon's top talent scouting ability -- booking fantastic musical acts to get the crowd in a barn dancing, hee hawing mood this past Saturday at the Passing Cloud art centre in Dalston.
 

The guests showed up dressed in their finest hillbilly attire, having raided charity shops searching for fancy dress outfits. More than 250 RSVP'd to attend, and by 1 AM the queue to get in was snaking around the block, with many who weren't on the list having to be turned away, as the venue was filled to capacity. All the proceeds were earmarked to benefit the Malawi Education Project, and I hear that it was a good night of fundraising for the charity, in additon to being a hoot 'n a holler of a good time.

Kate and Simon booked several music acts by researching some of the bands on MySpace - and I really enjoyed their finds. The line-up began with a full brass explosion of ska-style sounds from Danny Fontaine and the Horns of Fury, that got the hillbilly crowd stomping and considering stage diving (at least I thought about it, but decided I was past my stage-dive prime). Next up was a solo blues artist called D66, who could have fooled me as to not being straight from

the blues capital of the world - Memphis, Tennessee. After his gig I congratulated him on rocking my world with his soulful tunes, and he responded with a strong German accent, as that is where he is from originally. He heads to the USA soon to tour blues clubs in Nashville, New Orleans and Memphis, and I hope they give the European blues talent a warm welcome.

The final, show-stopping act, got everyone a hooting 'n a hollering when a star fiddle player took centre stage along with other talented musicians in the band Victor Menace. The fiddle pro goes by the artist name Fisters McWhiskers

My First Self-Created Pantomime Script and Performance

I also added to the hillbilly-themed mix by writing, performing and organizing a 'White Trash Nativity' pantomime-style comedy skit. Casting guests as Joesph (Simon Harris), Mary (Mary Epworth), the Innkeeper (Jim Hanner who can be found here), and others as the three wisemen and three 'hippie' shepherds, all the performers pulled off a terrific show -- with only a quick one-time read through prior to stagetime. The art of the British

pantomime performance is 400 years old this year, and still a seasonal classic that Saturday's participants gave good tribute toward.

Mary Epsworth peformed beautifully as Mary and sang, and Jim Hanner was hilarious as the Innkeeper and taking the lead in a carol of Silent Night.

I narrated the classic Christmas tale, spicing things up with a bit of improv spoken word poetry and keeping things in a bit of Baptist revival-meeting style in tribute to the Bible's most famous story. I think the audience most enjoyed when I tossed out plush toys as part of setting up the 'barnyard' for baby Jesus. I saw many delighted guests dancing about with a little stuffed animal - my gift to the audience. I also lassoed my husband John into helping out, and he acted as VJ Scrabulous for the night, projecting some images of America that we filmed on our recent holiday in the USA for Thanksgiving, along with showing the movie The Dukes of Hazzard.

A nice surprise was to find that Kate invited along The Wishing Tree creators, a beautiful tree that is decorated with more than 36,000 wishes that people have made during the 2007 festival season. The Wishing Tree traveled to Glastonbury, Bloom, Leeds and other UK festivals this year, and its creator is carefully caretaking the thousands of wishes that hang from the tree -- quite the responsibility!

I look forward to what Kate may have up her sleeve for her next one-off event, because I vote the Nativity Hoedown as the best Christmas Party I have probably ever attended!

More photos of Nativity Hoedown fun by Sarah Platt, head of Kinura.com, can be found here and Jim Hanner also documented the festivity on his Flickr.com site here.