There just aren’t enough variety shows these days… And I don’t mean TV shows like “Donnie & Marie” (although a decent TV variety show put together with some taste would be cool). I mean live shows like Chris & Heather’s County Calendar Show, which happens every December at FitzGerald’s in Berwyn. Dozens of musicians take turns on the stage, each paying tribute to a country music star, each playing only a couple of songs. Old-time movies of country singers are projected on a screen in between some of the musical acts. Highlights this year including a Purina dog chow commercial with Hank Williams Jr. The show’s ostensible purpose is for cartoonist Heather McAdams to sell copies of her calendar featuring drawings of country musicians and trivia facts about twangy music, all printed on brightly colored paper. It was sort of weird that one of the acts this year (Flat Five, including Kelly Hogan, Nora O’Connor and Scott Ligon) paid tribute to another one of the acts (Robbie Fulks), but hey, Fulks has a ton of great songs and is worthy of tribute. Some roller-derby girls added action to the Leon Russell tribute played by Vernon Tonges and David Drazin. And then we had the amusing spectacle of Jon Langford singing “Stand By Your Man” with Sally Timms.
Click here to see my photos from the calendar show.
If you missed the show and want to buy a calendar, mail a check or money order ($22 for one calendar, including shipping) to: Heather McAdams, 203 S.E. Front St., Milford DE 19963, or e-mail her at heathermcadams@hotmail.com