This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Dec. 20, 2012 - The holiday season is filled with traditions. One of the best, most entertaining musical traditions in the St. Louis area happens once again this Sunday, Dec. 23, at BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups: the 20th annual Noelathon concert.
Set to kick off at BB’s Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m., Noelathon will feature more than a dozen area bands – each playing approximately half-hour sets until the event ends at approximately 9. This year’s lineup includes Miss Jubilee & the Humdingers, the Mighty Big Band, the Western Satellites, Hudson & the Hoodoo Cats, Sarah Jane & the Bluenotes, Box of Nerves, the Willem Von Hombracht Group, 10th Street Trio, the Cherry Bomb Hurricanes, the Torture Chamber Orchestra and several other bands that are still being determined.
Admission is $5, and attendees will also receive a free raffle ticket for giveaways of CDs, T-shirts, DVDs and other musical collectibles provided by emcee Beatle Bob between performances.
In addition, a Noelathon CD – featuring recordings by many of the bands on the bill – will be sold at the event. All proceeds will go to benefit the band instrument fund for music program at St. Francis Cabrini Academy in the Benton Park West neighborhood, which also happens to be where singer and musician Margaret Bianchetta, the driving force behind the annual Noelathon event, teaches music.
According to Bianchetta, the concept for Noelathon actually evolved back in 1993 with the thought of bringing together the bands that the members of her group, Hot Club Canary (Bianchetta, Mary Dee Brown and Monica Casey), had performed with over the years.
“When that started, we had about five bands, and the music only lasted about three hours,” recalls Bianchetta. Now it’s 20 years later, and we have bands playing for about 7 hours. It’s definitely taken on a life of its own!”
Noelathon has moved to different venues, but the event is now a holiday fixture at BB’s. But for the first time, Noelathon will be happening on a Sunday – and starting in the afternoon and wrapping up by 9 p.m. - rather than going into the wee hours of the morning.
“John May at BB’s convinced me that doing the concert on a Sunday and starting earlier would make it much easier for people to attend,” explains Bianchetta. “Given all the commitments everyone has during the holidays, this earlier start on a Sunday will allow people to come early or late if they already have something on their agenda.”
Each year, Bianchetta picks out a theme for Noelathon, and often it comes from the lyrics or title of one of the songs on the annual CD. But there have been exceptions, and the themes can be witty and at times, off the wall. This year the theme, “King of Kings of the Wild Frontier,” falls into that category
“It’s a combination of ‘King of Kings’ and a line from the song about Davey Crockett – ‘King of the wild frontier,” says Bianchetta. “It’s just something that popped into my head and it just kept coming back to me. I’m not sure everyone gets it, but that’s OK.”
The annual Noelathon recording started out as a cassette, but with the advent of digital technology – and the assistance of guitarist Steve Martin and his studio skills – it’s been assembled as a CD for several years. All the tracks are either donated by bands from previous recordings or actually recorded especially for the Noelathon release.
“This year we have Dave Toretta and Vince Corkery, who are both great musicians and have studio expertise, helping out with the CD,” says Bianchetta. “That’s really helped, especially when it gets to be a time crunch to get the CD ready for the show.”
The Noelathon concept also carries through with a special poster, T-shirts and coffee mugs with that year’s logo – all designed by graphic artist Bill Michel in collaboration with Bianchetta.
In addition to producing Noelathon, Bianchetta will be on stage quite a few times during the concert. She’s a member of the Mighty Big Band, the Western Satellites and the Cherry Bomb Hurricanes. She’s also part of the Torture Chamber Orchestra, the wacky, open membership group that traditionally wraps up Noelathon.
The only rule for the Torture Chamber Orchestra is that members can’t play their usual instrument, they have to play something else,” she explains. “And anyone can be part of the group, so you really never know how anything is going to sound. But it’s a lot of fun!”
Since this is the first time Noelathon will be held on a Sunday, it also enables some of the music students from St. Francis Cabrini Academy to take part.
“I’m really glad they’re finally going to be able to part of the concert,” says Bianchetta. “They’re the reason we do this.”