Bad Santa and the Angry Elves at Maxine’s

Posted on by Thor

At Maxine’s on Shine the doorman was checking his list twice and the venue started to fill. This show was a precursor to Bad Santa and the Angry Elves going to Edinburgh in a month. Jameson’s whisky was a sponsor, and all drink proceeds would help get the group over to Scotland. Knowing that the drink sales were helping the group, I had to order several Santa themed drinks with chocolate and green whipped cream. The drinks had a kick and probably influenced the sketch. Christmas is here!

My seat was as close to the stage as you can get without being on stage. I had to climb over some speakers and tons of chords to squeeze into my seat wedged against the wall. Diane was seated across from me and we had some wonderful war stories to exchange before the band got on stage. I had searched for a Christmas themed shirt but don’t have any. Diane also wanted to be Christmas fashionable but could only find a blouse covered in hearts. That was close enough. The director got up to the microphone and let us know that the band was having a bite in the back room before the show. We joked that they probably were having a few swigs of spiked eggnog.

This Santa has daddy issues. Being the son of THE Santa, Kris Kringle IV has big shoes to fill. The other sons of Santa Kris II, and Kris III, had no desire to work in the family business. Kris IV brought a radical idea to his dad by suggesting that maybe Christmas should be on every day of the year instead of just December 25. Dad wasn’t having it. Riffs from familiar Pink Floyd songs echoed through Maxine’s. Santa and the Elves were singing, “All in all its just another gift from The MALL.”

Rather than the Elves being Angry, it was Santa who seemed angry as he shouted into the void that every day deserved the Christmas spirit of Kindness, Joy and Gratitude. In a world gone mad, that message is needed now more than ever. The elves were not particularly petite except for the one tied up to a microphone stand.

Kris climbed on the bar to be sure everyone could see him as he sang the punk, hard edged rock and roll Christmas tunes. Besides building Christmas carols from Pink Floyd songs, they also had Prince inspired holiday music. Everyone in the room was beaming. If there was room to dance in the aisles I am sure people would have done that. Kris was certainly dancing up a storm with the elf with the orange washboard abs.

I was flying high by the end of the three hour set and the lines were swarming all over the page. Stop doom scrolling for a moment and pretend Americans are not being put in concentration camps, and pretend a narcissistic geriatric patient who fancies himself a dictator isn’t in charge of this country and live each day with Kindness, Joy and Gratitude, mother F#cker.

Bad Santa and the Angry Elves Blitzkrieg Maxine’s

Posted on by Thor

Bad Santa and the Angry Elves have been performing their rebellious, punk-rock twist on Christmas tunes around Orlando for some time. These shows were short high octane sets. Bad Santa has been expanded into a 90 minute show that builds on the premise that this Santa aka, Kris Kringle IV, is the son of THE Santa and he is trying to win his fathers respect by promoting the idea that Christmas should not be one day a year but should be celebrated every day of the year with small acts of kindness generosity, joy and giving. This radical idea caused a family rift.

This dress rehearsal was held in a beautiful lake front home in Winter Park. This was actually my old stomping grounds. I lived a few blocks away for a summer and did a series of paintings of the sunsets at the lake. The home owner is an avid art collector and he gave me a tour of his collection. A large flip board display in a bedroom showcased classic pin up art along with pop art from such pop art giants like Roy Lichtenstein. In the living room there was an original Soviet propaganda poster that showed a woman half in darkness with the dark representing the past while the light hinted at a positive future. I loved that I got to sketch amazing art along with the live performance.

Much of the early music in the show is based on one of my favorite bands, Pink Floyd. It was very fun singing along to the new Christmas themed lyrics to very familiar dark and moody Pink Floyd tunes. The eclectic mix of edgy tunes kept coming. If people go to the show expecting a saccharine sweet Christmas show they will not know what hit them. Santa started out the show all decked out in his full hot red suit but as things heated up, the winter suit and hat were pealed off with gusto allowing his jiggling belly ample room to breathe. Santa is very athletic as he acted as the hard core lead singer in this Angry Elves band. One of the microphones was misbehaving but the energy of the show never faltered.

One rather tall elf had on a muscle bound tee shirt that gave him the appearance of washboard abs in contrast to Santa’s belly. This elf in his green suit was all over the stage, sometimes singing back up and sometimes on guitar. I had trouble deciding where I should place him in my sketch. Santa was indeed angry as he sang about brotherly love in a world where conflict out shines compassion.

There is a constant driving energy to the show that had me whooping and hollering. Bad Santa and the Angry Elves with be performing excerpts from the show at at Maxine’s on Shine before they bring the show to Edinburgh Fringe later this year. There is a show on July 20th with doors open at 6PM and show at 6:30PM. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door.

A rebellious and loud Christmas should indeed be celebrated every day of the year.