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Thursday, December 13, 2007

Khyber, Windom Earle, CKDU, Special Ed

Posted by Stephanie Johns on Thu, Dec 13, 2007 at 9:00 AM

On December 15, all should prepare themselves for the utter delight of supporting not one, but two of the city's most treasured resources: The Khyber Institute for Contemporary Arts and CKDU. The Khyber's annual Holiday Toast is partnering up with CKDU (which makes it extra awesome) and the night is packed to the rafters with eggnog-soaked fun. Beginning with an all-ages rock 'n' roll bonanza with Matt Reid, A History Of, Brent Randall and his Pinecones and Windom Earle (the show will be also be projected into the Ballroom Gallery where there will be a holiday sweater contest and the End of Term exhibition closing party), and wrapping up with a dance party (for those 19 and over), this may be the night you will still be talking about well into 2008. It may also be your chance to see some stellar local musicians doing their own rendition of the Sobeys' "Star of Christmas" commercial. "I did dust off "Carol of the Bells' at practice like I do every year, but I'm not sure it will happen," says Matt Reid. "We are playing a Joe Jackson song with Laura Peek, though."

Windom Earle also have some special holiday plans. "We're going to attempt a video set," says Stephan MacLeod. "And I thought I would spruce it up with some Christmas videos. If that plan fails, I'll just tape cotton balls to Nathan Pilon's face." A

Windom Earle video set is always a treat, and MacLeod says he intends to make them more of a regular occurrence beyond this holiday show. "We want to incorporate more videos into the live set. I would love for the show to have that same sort of dynamic as Weird Al, Picnicface or Tim and Eric. I've been watching public access television clips on YouTube and feel like the amateur talent show aesthetic suits our approach to putting on a show," says MacLeod. "We usually don't know what will happen during a show and I will inevitably be singing bad karaoke, wearing a superhero suit, or both."

Proving that MacLeod has more Christmas magic in his little finger than most folks I know combined, Windom Earle recently contributed a track to zunior.com's An Instrumental Christmas: The 2007 Zunior Holiday Album featuring classics and originals by some well-loved indie bands like Great Lakes Swimmers, Royal Wood, Mike O'Neill, Ben Gunning, The Bicycles and more. All proceeds from this digital-only album will go to the Daily Bread Food Bank. "I was pretty excited to try and do something like the Jingle Cats," says MacLeod. "When I saw that Mike O'Neill, Great Lake Swimmers and The Bicycles were also going to be on it, I was just honoured to be a part of it." Seeing as most Christmas carols give me a pain in my brain (except for "Good King Wenceslas"—that's a banger), this sounds like the perfect remedy.

The CKhyberDU Holiday Toast is $7 for non-members, $6 for KICA/CKDU members; 7:30-11pm for the all-ages portion and those over 19 can stay until 1am. I would also like to mention that Khyber memberships are a mere $10 for students/unwaged. That's quite a deal, no?

You might remember old-school hip-hop star Special Ed from his 1989 hit "I Got It Made," and if you do, you will be pleased to hear that he's playing The Marquee Club on December 15. Expect new songs, old hits, fresh styles, a couple of British Knights and help from Ghettosocks, Cosmo, Spesh K, Blowflyy, Jordan Croucher and Joe Buck. Hosted by RS Smooth and DJ Candyman.