All That Jingles
There's no shortage of ways to spend the holidays in New Orleans: parades, parties, dance performances, park festivities, tree and menorah lightings, musicals, markets, ballet, burlesque, bonfires, concerts, caroling, cabaret, Acro-Cats, and more. It's an embarrassment of options.
So we are bringing you three holiday concert fundraisers where you can celebrate with the whole family and donate to charitable causes: Trombone Shorty Foundation's Tunes for Toys: Toy Drive and Concert, the NOCCA Foundation's Home for the Holidays, and Harry Shearer and Judith Owen's Christmas Without Tears: 20th Anniversary Holiday Extravaganza.
Trombone Shorty Foundation's Tunes for Toys
Toy Drive and Concert
Date: December 4; Location: Tipitina's; Admission: Free with new toy donation
Toys From Troy
Date: December 6; Location: Warren Eastern; Admission: Free
Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews is a New Orleans staple and synonymous with the city. As a musician and a philanthropist, his impact on our city is wide-reaching. On Jazz Fest posters, at the White House during the Obama administration, at the GRAMMYs, on TV shows, in films, as a muppet on Sesame Street, as a float on Mardi Gras, and as a children's book author, he is inescapable and has been since 4 years old when he performed at his first New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and he's played there nearly every year since.
The annual holiday event he hosts is actually two events: Tunes for Toys Toy Drive concert on Thursday evening at Tipitina's and Toys from Troy, a toy giveaway at Warren Easton on the following Saturday morning.
Students of all ages from the Trombone Shorty Academy will be performing at Tunes for Toys Toy Drive nighttime concert event, which includes beginner, intermediate, and advanced ensembles. The Dirty Dozen Brass Band will also be headlining. It's a toy drive concert, filled with brass, so the theme is the spirit of giving and the warmth of the holidays. Because there is a bar, attendance is 18+.
Toys from Troy is open to the community. There will be a bounce house, a Santa, Andrews will be signing his books, and, of course, free toys will be distributed. The toys that were collected at the concert are free for children under 12 to choose from, but there's also plenty of family fun to be had.
NOCCA's Home for the Holidays
Date: December 6; Location: House of Blues New Orleans
The New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, aka NOCCA, is the training ground for many of Louisiana's most successful working musicians and artists, including the aforementioned Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews. More than a high school, the pre-professional arts training center is an important resource for our city, providing free education to local students who show promise in their future field, be it dance, theater, visual art, music, culinary arts, or creative writing. The NOCCA Foundation is the school's nonprofit partner, which raises funds to keep their supplies flowing, to bring visiting artists to the classrooms, to support summer training programs, to build practical projects including Press Street Gardens, and to offer concerts, art classes, and literary and gallery events to the community.
The NOCCA foundation's yearly celebration concert "Home for the Holidays" is a large part of those fundraising endeavors, and this year will be featuring four major heavy hitters: Irma Thomas, Big Freedia, Kermit Ruffins, and the Soul Rebels. The NOCCA foundation is partnering with the Daniel Price Memorial Fund for Aspiring Artists, which creates scholarships in honor of visual artist and NOCCA alum Daniel Price, who was taken from the world in 2003 at the start of his promising career. As well as supporting high school age students, this particular foundation also creates scholarship funds for remarkable graduates in order to help them further their arts studies in college. So far, this annual event has raised $700,000 for these admirable endeavors.
Harry Shearer and Judith Owen's Christmas Without Tears: 20th Anniversary Holiday Extravaganza
Date: December 16; Location: Orpheum Theater
For two decades, actor/comedian/musician Harry Shearer and musician Judith Owen have spent every holiday season fundraising for charitable causes. This year, in honor of their 20th Anniversary Extravaganza, they will be supporting the Innocence Project of New Orleans.
Best known for voicing some of your favorite and least favorite characters on The Simpsons (Ned Flanders, Smithers, and Mr. Burns, among others) and for his big screen performances in Christoper Guest's This is Spinal Tap, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration, Shearer is a big deal. Just this year, Shearer's fame skyrocketed back up again when he returned to his role as Derek Smalls in Spinal Tap II: The End Continues.
Welsh-born singer-songwriter Judith Owen has been releasing albums since 1996. She once appeared as an animated version of herself in honor of The Simpsons' 600th episode. Owen has toured in France, Ireland, Norway, Germany, Italy, Austria, Sweden, and the UK and has put out over a dozen albums. Shearer and Owen have been married for 32 years, launched their own record label 20 years ago, and began hosting these annual charity shows at that same time.
Whichever event you choose, these three embody the giving spirit of the holidays and are sure to be evenings filled with music, love, and joy.
