When the Music Tapes tour initially morphed into the Elephant Six Holiday Surprise Tour, I found the news a little bittersweet. As much as I love the E6 crew, I was really hoping for a "proper" Music Tapes tour since I'm so ridiculously obsessed with Julian Koster's latest Music Tapes album, Music Tapes for Clouds and Tornadoes (TMT Review). I HATE that I haven't seen The Music Tapes live yet.
Well, good things come to those who hate, as the lovable smurfs at Merge have just informed TMT of an upcoming Music Tapes tour! But it's far from a "proper" tour: Instead of having fans come out to see a show, Koster and the Singing Saws will be coming to the fans, caroling from house to house for three hours in each city of the tour. According to Koster, "I will carol Music Tapes songs, and the Saws will carol holiday songs for the hosts and [their] assembled guests. We will then move on to the next house."
Sounds far-fetched right? Of course it does! Obviously they won't be hitting just any ol' house, so Koster will be accepting invitations from you to play at your house (with the option of welcoming outside guests) from now up until the caroling night in your city. You can send invites by emailing musictapescaroling@gmail.com or sending a written invite here:
MUSIC TAPES CAROLING
c/o G. Stewart
175 Talmadge St. Apt 1
Athens, GA 30605
Preference will be given to written invites, as well as hosts willing to allow outside guests into their homes. Which means: if you're too shy to host a party for both your circle of friends or for people outside of your circle (pssh... yeah right, you just don't want people to know that your home consists solely of Martha Stewart furniture, loser!), you can always hit up a home welcoming outside guests. A list of these homes will be distributed via email (not published online) to anyone who wishes to attend.
This may all seem a bit confusing at first, but don't worry; The Music Tapes' official website will detail a "complete explanation of the workings of the tour and provide caroling information as the tour is under way." In the meantime, you can order Koster's The Singing Saw at Christmastime to get into the holiday spirit, and if you ain't got nuttin' going on tonight, set your GPS to Chicago's Bottom Lounge, as The E6 Holiday Surprise Tour will be starting up around 8 PM.
"Congratulations. Thank you!"
Initial Outline of The Music Tapes Caroling Tour (from 6:30-9:30 PM):
