LOUDsoftLOUD Christmas 2012

A Very LOUDsoftLOUD Christmas!
Friday, December 7, 2012
Blue Planet Cafe (in the Crane Room), Topeka KS
Produced by Chris Aytes & The Good Ambition
pics by Danl and Sharidy Blackwood
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  • soundcheck in the Crane Room at The Blue Planet
  • all decked out with festive lighting
  • early arrivals hoping for good seats
  • I expected the room to fill fast and was not disappointed
  • Chris Aytes, master of ceremony and mastermind of entertainment, started the ball rolling with "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town"
  • R.J. Soldani (left) joins on lead guitar for "Christmas All Over Again"
  • Nat Dingman (left), also sharing lead guitar duties, Josh Hartranft (center) of Chris Aytes & The Good Ambition on bass
  • Renelle Aytes (left) also from Chris Aytes & The Good Ambition on drums, Ellie Smith (center) on vocals sings "Merry Christmas Baby"
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  • R.J. belting out a lead while Ellie is groovin'
  • joining the stage is yours truly, Danl Blackwood on bass and Josh slides over to join me on BGVs while Ellie and Chris share lead vocals for "Baby Please Come Home"
  • Chris is literally wailin' on this one
  • Danl sings "Jingle Bell Rock, and Ashley Reynolds (center) of Monk's Wine joins us on saxophone
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  • Chris introduces Kara Garcia (center) ...
  • and the band fires up "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" ...
  • ... while Chris' mom and his son Josh rocked out in the foreground
  • Ashley Young is next ...
  • ... and dazzled everyone with "Santa Baby"
  • click on her name in the info panel (click the "i" in the upper right hand corner of the index page) and check out her YouTube Page for more of this talented young singer
  • the band is rockin' so hard they buckle at the knees :-)
  • Joey Desch singing to a full house ...
  • ... and shares an original Christmas tune
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  • this is what you call S.R.O. (standing room only)
  • Chris shares the challenge of putting this show together ...
  • ... including arranging for Ashley to cover a last minute cancellation ...
  • .... and sang a wonderful acapella arrangement of "The Christmas Song" ...
  • ... and it was awesome ....
  • Darren "Danger" Boaz (center) of Lo Pan's Revenge joins the house band for "Run, Run, Rudolph"
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  • ... rockin' out on "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree"
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  • Lo Pan's Revenge takes the stage for "Little Saint Nick"
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  • rockin it!
  • Chris introduces the next group of talented Topeka musicians...
  • Tiffany Burtin (center) is joined by her husband and Jeff Burtin (right) on guitar, and Jacob Hodge (left) on vocals for "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas"
  • Nate takes a solo
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  • Jacob (left) recently joined Sixteen Penny as their new lead singer
  • Chris closes the show ...
  • ... with a solo version of John Lennon's "So They Say This Is Christmas"
  • it took very little encouragement to get the crowd to sing along
  • Aweosme job, Chris! Can't wait til LOUDsoftLOUD Christmas 2013!