Winter Shelter

There's a new IMN podcast up, and it's the time of the year where we're talking a lot about holiday shows. There's an abundance of dancing Santas and Sandi Patti every year courtesy of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and it's truly . . . a sight to behold. I witnessed it as part of a corporate outing a few years ago, and the only moment I recall vividly is the slack-jawed amazement I felt when that line of Santas did it up right. It was an awesomely disturbing event.

We usually get a visit from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (they of the orchestral-metal holiday music that everybody syncs their X-mas lights to) every year as well, and they made the upper part of the list this week. We looked up the lineup during the podcast to verify that Alex Skolnick (Testament) was still a member. He was, and that was just the tip of the iceburg. I found heavy metal violinist Mark Wood lurking in the wings as well; he's the only man I've ever seen perform a metal-laced medley of Sly and the Family Stone's "Stand/I Want To Take You Higher" on a DOUBLE-NECKED electric violin. You've also got most of the members of Savatage, a drummer from Metal Church, Kitaro(!)'s guitarist, and Al Pitrelli, a guitarist who's played with everybody from Michael Bolton to Megadeth.

I can't help but think this was a brilliant career move for them - the bands drew a decent audience, but this thing is a huge seller all around the nation. Nice work. And it doesn't involve Michael Bolton, which is also a huge bonus. It may be holiday cheese, but it has to be better than tap-dancing in red velvet.

And I wanna see a double-necked electric violin, dammit.