Trailer Trash's Trashy Little Xmas Family Show at The Guthrie Theater on 12/14/08

By: David de Young

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Trailer Trash at the Guthrie - Photo by Jenn Barnett (click photo for full set)

When I announced I’d be attending the Trailer Trash Trashy Little Xmas Family Show at the Guthrie, some people told me they thought “Trailer Trash” and “Family Show” were a contradiction in terms. I’m here to tell you emphatically it’s just not true! 

 

Trailer Trash has been around for many years now and several of the guys in the “Santa’s Service” uniforms are family men themselves, so it should be no surprise that the band could tailor their holiday show, which has been going strong at Lee’s Liquor Lounge in Minneapolis since 1993, to the younger set.  The band has previously done special family friendly shows at the Eagles Club in Southeast Minneapolis.  But this year marks the first time the show has taken place at the Guthrie.

 

We arrived at the 3PM matinee to find the entire side of the Guthrie’s Dowling Studio opened up wide, a short band stage set up along the far side wall. Cocktail tables were set up around the perimeter, but there were no seats in the middle, just wide open floor space with dozens of kids and their parents already spread out awaiting the fun. Trailer Trash band leader Nate Dungan stepped up to the microphone to tell the crowd the band was about to start. “We’re going to strap on our guitars,” he explained to the kids.

 

Trailer Trash opened with “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” and in keeping with the family-friendly show agenda, Dungan checked with the kids (and parents) to make sure they weren’t playing too loud. The volume was just about right, I think, judging by the fact that I didn’t need the earplugs I had brought just in case. There was a perfect setup for a missed joke in all this, of course:  “If it’s not too loud, you’re too young!” 

 

Dungan demonstrated the renowned Jingle Stick, the very same festively painted hubcab on a broom handle that TT uses at their adult shows, and pointed out how with the affixed sleigh bells, the jingle stick equals instant Christmas. At first the kids were a little shy to try it out, but then a volunteer came up to assist (the son of one of the band members) and soon there was a line of little Santas and other children in holiday garb that didn’t let up for the rest of the show.

 

Trailer Trash - Photo by Barnett

Most of the Trailer Trash favorites were included Sunday afternon.  Roger Miller’s “Little Toy Train,” “Need a Little Christmas,” “Winter Wonderland,” “Sleigh Bells,” “Feliz Navidad,” even Trailer Trash rock staples like “Santa’s a Spy” and their version of “Do You Hear What I Hear” meshed with The Kinks “You Really Got Me.”  It didn’t seem to matter to the kids that they didn’t know all the songs. It wasn’t long before a dance party had broken out both stage right and left. 

 

Soon pretty much the whole audience was on their feet and dozens of children had gathered by the edge of the stage to watch and bang the jingle stick.  I should note that these kids had as good a rhythm on that stick as the drunk adults typically do at the grownup shows at Lee’s. (Sometimes their rhythm was even better.) And because of their small size, more of them could work the stick at once.  At one point I think I counted as many as ten!

 

Now, I admit I’m not around kids or families very often, but this show appeared to have all the elements required to earn it the “Fun for the entire family” badge. Even the adults were going a bit wild, dancing for the sheer fun of it not just with or to encourage the kids. And it wasn’t like the grownups were left entirely out anyway. There was a full bar, and you could bring your drinks into the Dowling.  And when Dungan introduced “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch," sung in a booming bass as usual by other TT frontman Dan Gaarder as being about a bad man who lives on a hill and only comes down once a year he added, “And no, it’s not about Dick Cheney.” 

 

The only casualty of the afternoon was the rubber bumper on the bottom of the jingle stick being broken off by a strong young boy with a little too much holiday spirit. The jingle stick also lost a sleigh bell, but that seems to be par for the course for these shows, and I have seen the same thing happen at Lee’s.  Jubilation sometimes comes at a price.

 

At two hours with one intermission, The Trashy Little Xmas Holiday Show might have been just a tad too long for some of the younger kids, but if you are looking for holiday good times that will be sure to please everyone from 5 to 50 (and up!) this is it.  Here’s hoping for an encore performance next year.

 

There are still two more Trashy Little Xmas regular shows at Lee’s Liquor Lounge yet this year, Friday and Saturday nights, December 19^th and 20^th.  More info here.

 

See also: Jenn Barnett's slideshow of photos from this show featuring the Trailer Trash rendition of "Do You Hear What I Hear (You Really Got Me)"

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Location Info: The Guthrie Theater
Artist Info: Trailer Trash

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