ENTERTAINMENT BUZZ
Mannheim Steamroller :
The new Christmas traditionalsits
By Honey D. Hallock | Background Photo by Matt Christine
JT & the Dirtbox Wailers
The Hunt Club; Tulsa, OK
918-599-9200 or
www.thehuntclubtulsa.com
Broncho
Opolis; Norman, OK
405-820-0951 or
www.opolis.org
Neal McCoy
River Wind Casino;
Norman, OK
405-322-6000 or
www.riverwind.com
Grind’s 3rd Annual
Christmas Toy Drive
The Vanguard; Tulsa, OK
918-561-6885 or
www.thevanguardtulsa.com
December 9, 2017
Cody Johnson
Expo Square; Tulsa, OK
918-376-6000 or
www.exposquare.com
ENID, Okla. – Manheim
Steamroller has earned six No. 1
spots on Billboard’s holiday chart
by making Christmas music into
rock music that sounds like it came
from the 18 th century. This intense
and distinctively un-Christmassy
music has become a new Christmas
tradition, and it’s coming to
Oklahoma this holiday season.
Manheim Steamroller is playing
in Enid on December 7, at the
Central National Bank Center, and
in Oklahoma City, Dec 26, at the
Civic Center Music Hall. After 33
years of touring, the performance
has evolved into a multi-media
production with lights, effects and
synchronized videos to create an
other-worldly atmosphere. The
Christmas tour is so popular it
requires two ensembles, named Red
and Green, to play shows across
the country.
The group’s founder, Chip Davis,
set out to combine the emerging
sounds of electronic music, smooth
jazz and progressive rock with a
more traditional, orchestral sound.
He called it neo-classical, but in the
‘70s, this anachronistic cross-over
music was associated with Eastern
16
|
Winds of Plague
89th Street Collective;
OKC, OK
www.89thstreetokc.com
Roxanne Layton and Becky Kia
Photo Courtesy
Mannheim Steamroller
Tommy Emmanuel
BOK Center; Tulsa, OK
918-894-4200 or
www.bokcentertulsa.com
Dan Martin
The Branch; Tahlequah, OK
918-456-1500
Lady Gaga
Chesapeake Energy
Arena; OKC, OK
405-602-8700 or
www.chesapeakearena.com
religion and counter culture – it was
not particularly mainstream.
Although new age music would
eventually become a familiar
genre, Davis had to found his
own independent record label,
American Gramaphone, in 1974
in order to produce the first
Steamroller album, Fresh Aire
I. Soon after, Steamroller was
performing Christmas shows and
released the first holiday album,
Christmas, in 1984.
Playing traditional carols like
“Silent Night” and “Deck the Halls”
www.thecurrentbuzz.net
made new age music instantly
more accessible. It seems that these
freaky Christmas albums were
a part of normalizing electronic
music for the masses. Their sales
are higher than Mariah Carey
and Barbra Streisand’s Christmas
albums combined. Maybe Manheim
Steamroller remains relevant
because its uniqueness emphasizes
the timelessness of Christmas
traditions in a pop-saturated world.
Visit mannheimsteamroller.com/
event/ for more info.
Chris Young
Choctaw Casino;
Durant, OK
1-888-652-4628 or
www.choctawcasinos.com
Straight Shot
The Hunt Club Pub;
Tulsa, OK
918-599-9200 or
www.thehuntclubtulsa.com
Broncho
Opolis; Norman, OK
405-820-0951 or
www.opolis.org
Ben & Noel Haggard
w/ the Strangers
Sugar Creek Casino;
Hinton, OK
405-542-2946 or
www.sugarcreekcasino.net