RESCUING CHRISTMAS FOR KING & COUNTRY SAVES THE HOLIDAY FOR THE LESS FORTUNATE BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI
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Photo by Robby Klein
or King & Country’s Luke SmallFor King & Country’s first holiday album, “A Drummer Boy bone didn’t necessarily feel down Christmas,” was recorded around the world. about the quarantine. It gave him time to slow down. “Everybody’s situation is different,” Smallbone says. “For me and my household, it was an amazing reprieve. I’m just gone—in and out of town a lot. I was able to be home for the longest time in our marriage and we’ve been married for 10 years. “Last year, I said, ‘I’d love to be able to take six months off and just be home.’ I didn’t think it would come with a pandemic. We live on a little farm. We bought some cows, eight cows. We were doing things I wouldn’t otherwise get to do. We were able to make some memories that otherwise wouldn’t exist. I hope for better circumstances, but it’s great to be home.” Now, however, he and his brother, Joel, are returning to the stage for “A Drummer Boy Drive-In: The Christmas Tour” to celebrate the duo’s first holiday album, “A Drummer Boy Christmas.” The tour includes a stop at the Rose Bowl’s parking lot on Sunday, November 15. Smallbone says the album, which was in the works for “years,” was no easy task. “In the past, we overemphasized every tiny little detail,” he says. “With that, you lose a little bit of the big picture. We had to get this thing done in a certain time frame. We had to go in with our intuition the first time around and we didn’t have an option to go back. “Every record that you ever make is a small miracle. There are so many things that have to go according to plan. We tracked most of this while the pandemic was going on. It was mixed in London, with some tracking in LA, mastered in New York and also tracked in Nashville. Yet, we were all basically in our homes.” With the live shows, the Grammy Award-winning Australian brothers teamed with The Salvation Army and ask concertgoers to bring new, unwrapped toys. The goodies will be collected by representatives from the nonprofit and distributed to families struggling during the holiday season. “When we first came to America, we didn’t have any money,” he says. “If it wasn’t for our family being a first-grade class project, we wouldn’t have been able to have Christmas. “We were looking at the idea of not being able to have gifts under the Christmas tree. The idea of gifts isn’t what defines Christmas. It is the element of Jesus and his birth. It’s a gift. It’s representing the birth. Partnering with the Salvation Army, it’s a way to remember what it was like to come to a new country, a place where we had nothing. We’re at a situation where we had this opportunity to give back to people and Rescue Christmas.” For King & Country is saving Christmas in other ways. With collectives like Mannheim Steamroller and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra grounded due to the pandemic, For King & Country is providing holiday entertainment across the country. “I say from the stage every night how grateful we are that people come out and join us for these drive-in events,” Smallbone says. “For us to do these shows for people in cars—and doing it safely—it’s a real honor for us.” n
For King & Country’s A Drummer Boy Drive In: The Christmas Tour 7 p.m. Sunday, November 15 Rose Bowl, 1001 Rose Bowl Drive, Pasadena Tickets start at $50 | universe.com 10 PASADENA WEEKLY | 10.29.20
Photo courtesy California Philharmonic
• ARTS & CULTURE • Every year, Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts awards gifts and grants to diverse nonprofit organizations to support performing arts in the community.
HELPING THE COMMUNITY
PASADENA SHOWCASE HOUSE SEEKS ARTS APPLICANTS BY KAMALA KIRK n avid supporter of performing arts in the community since 1948, the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts (PSHA) provides financial support and assistance to nonprofit organizations to help with their efforts every year through its annual Gifts & Grants program. The 2020 program began accepting submissions on October 1 and encourages all qualified organizations that provide music education and programs to the community to apply. “Each year, PSHA awards gifts and grants to a broad and diverse list of nonprofit organizations to support their efforts in the community,” said Marybeth Rehman-Dittu, chairwoman of the Gifts & Grant Committee. “We underwrite concerts to ensure that the joy of live music is made available to a wide range of audiences. We support choirs, musical theater, school marching bands, dance programs, opera, jazz bands and orchestras. This enriches the community and provides opportunities for a variety of groups—from students to seniors—to learn, enjoy and grow from their experiences in these programs.” The application period for the 2020 Gifts & Grants program closes on November 15 and awardees will be notified in April 2021. Over the years, gifts and grants have included music education at all levels, music therapy for at-risk children, the underwriting of concerts, the purchase of instruments and uniforms, as well as other art programs. The geographical scope of the program extends to nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations within the greater Pasadena area and designated areas of Los Angeles. Past recipients have included A Noise Within, California Philharmonic Orchestra and Pasadena Symphony Association. “All manner of music plays center stage,” Rehman-Dittu said. “Past grant recipients include concerts, choral productions, music theater, jazz quartets, marching bands and orchestras at local schools, senior centers and a spectrum of other nonprofit organizations. What’s more, music therapy for at-risk children, scholarships for young musicians and music education at a variety of levels are the brainchildren of our program.” An elected group of dedicated PSHA members decide who receives gifts and grants. The selected recipients’ merits are based on the project’s quality, accountability and soundness of the design. Committee members conduct interviews and site visits to better learn and assess a project’s impact on the community. The public can help support the program a number of ways, which include participating in one of PSHA’s fundraisers, becoming a patron or sponsor, designating PSHA as their choice at AmazonSmile, volunteering as a PSHA member, and making a selection in the Shops at Showcase when buying a ticket to Pasadena Showcase House of Design. “Pasadena Showcase is more than dedicated, we are ‘ferociously’ dedicated, as evidenced by our persistence this year in both sticking to our commitment, despite the pandemic, to complete the 56th House of Design, to other creative ways to raise funds to support our mission to bring the joy of music to the community,” Rehman-Dittu said. “For example, just recently our Pasadena Strong online auction raised over $100,000 to dedicate to future gifts and grants. Watch for more unique and interesting news from Pasadena Showcase soon.” n
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Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts’ 2020 Gifts & Grant Program Pasadenashowcase.org
