2nd December - Lyrica at Martin & Co

We were at Martin & Co on the 2nd December for our second Wokingham Living Advent Calendar performance.

It was a cold evening, but act Lyrica warmed the crowd up with dancing and getting everyone singing along, while enjoying a mince pie and a tipple of mulled wine kindly provided by Martin & Co.

Lyrica are a fabulous trio comprising of the wonderful Gillie on vocals, Diane on the soulful cello and the awesome Kevin on guitar and backing vocals, who cheered the crowd with a fantastic mix of music including "Stand By Me", "Proud Mary", "Those were the days my friend" and everyone joined in with their final Christmas song, "We wish you a merry Christmas". 

Enjoy these photos of the evening, also below a short video from the evening from Facebook.

Tonight we are all gathering in the Market Place for the annual Dressing of the Christmas Tree where 13 local schools will present their decorations to the Town Mayor Cllr Gwynneth Hewetson, carols will be led by Wokingham Choral Society and refreshments provided by 1st Winnersh Scouts and local supermarkets.

19th December - Gillie at Kaanaanmaa

Saturday 19^th saw us at Kaanaanmaa the jewellers for another Wokingham Living Advent Calendar performance. Gillie performed a light-hearted jazz standards set, including popular American Songbook compositions, with a touch of Tina Turner!

Kaanaanmaa were great hosts providing some tasty refreshments to the gathered crowd.

The Wokingham paper has a lovely article with photos of the event. 

 http://www.wokinghampaper.com/wokingham-living-advent-calendar-day-19-kaanaanmaa/

Later that evening Gillie made a special appearance at Code Boutique with the Wokingham Living Advent Calendar team to support a special performance put on to celebrate the life of Cloudglider Elisa who sadly passed away this year. Ex Cloudglider singers and students joined in with some songs to remember her. 

Tonight the WLAC will be at Broad Street Tavern for a little bit of Woodley Theatre.

Videos: 8th December 2012 performance - Austentation at Anthony Blay

Our volunteer amateur photographers and filmmakers are really staring to get the film making bug. I have been receiving memory sticks often with 5-6 videos in them from each night.

Here are two of Austentation from Saturday nights performance.  Videos by Tony Hewetson.

First up a longer version of the "Lass of Richmond Hill" clip that can be seen on the calendar.
(Have you noticed that if you click on a previous nights date there is video or photographs to be seen?)



Secondly, "Plaisir D'Amour"

8th December 2012 - Austentation at Anthony Blay

Who better to perform on the 8^th day of our Living Advent Calendar and outside a formal Menswear specialist (Anthony Blay on Rose Street) but a trio of musicians who hark back to days of bodices, corsets and top hats!

Austentation are a Regency Musical Trio, with Frank and Angela Underwood on romantic guitar and Gillie Tunley on vocals and percussion. They perform popular tunes and airs from the time of Jane Austen, including "The Irishman", a witty and incisive song written by Jane Austen herself. They have performed in the splendid domed Prince Regent's Music Room at the Royal Pavilion, Jane Austen's house at Chawton, the Jane Austen Centre and the Royal Crescent Hotel in Bath.

But it was not just the music, Gillie, Frank and Angela were dressed up in fashions of the time adding an extra element to the performance. The only thing missing was a light dusting of snow and out Regency Christmas would have been complete.

Regency versions of Carols and less well known Regency Era songs were sung. I was intrigued to learn when I got home that many well known carols had a completely different tune in the Regency Era than today.

Photos by Anne Coffey and Tony Hewetson.

Thanks to Anthony Blay (www.anthonyblay.co.uk/) for hosting last nights event.

Tonight we hope you can make it to Bookends on Peach Street for a literary performance.