Byline: Chelle LaFleur — Gearing up for Musical Hanukkah Celebration Year 3

It only took ole Chelle here two years to figure it out, but when there’s a message taped to her phone, waitin’ for her in the morning, and when that message don’t say nothin’ but “Be at your phone at seven, your time, Wednesday,” it means one thing and one thing only.

Time to talk up this year’s Musical Hanukkah Celebration over in Riverview.

Yeah, yeah. I know. We don’t live nowhere near Riverview. We be two time zones over and at least a thousand miles away. So what’s Chelle doin’ talkin’ this thing up?

You boys and girls who’re regulars know the answer to that. The Musical Hanukkah Celebration is the baby of the one and only ShapeShifter. And that means fat ole Chelle gets the skinny from the luscious Mitchell Voss himself. He’s probably the only man who could tell Chelle when to get herself by a telephone. He’s worth it every time.

Except, luscious Mitchell Voss… he ain’t the best with the hellos. Know what Chelle hears when she answers the phone? “We’ve got our best charity yet for this thing.”

No Hello? Where’s the How Ya Doing, Chelle?

“It’s the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation. Stable. Been around awhile. Famous ’cause of some movie I never saw. And we’re moving into the Rocket Theater this time, too,” Mr. Luscious said. “It’s bigger. The stage is bigger and it holds more people. The backstage area’s nicer, too, so we can have a few more guest stars. We’re pulling out the stops this year. And wait until you see the t-shirt. We’re making more of those, too. People want to buy ’em online and help support the cause. Since it’s such a good cause, we’re all for that.”

There you go, boys and girls. We get t-shirts this year if we ain’t gonna make the trek to Riverview. And why would we? We got us some great weather this time of year. Gettin’ on an airplane might cost so much, you gotta sell your favorite band t-shirt on eBay, and that’s before you get to the airport and they call for a cavity search. No, boys and girls. Let’s stay put. There’s a great local scene here y’all should be explorin’. Chelle’s got a rundown of who to go see later on this week.

That don’t mean you shouldn’t buy those t-shirts when word gets out that you can. Any donation’s sure to make those little kids happy and grateful. It’s all about bringin’ music to the kids, remember that. A kid who plays the flute now might turn out to be tomorrow’s Mitchell Voss. We ain’t gonna know until that kid gets the chance to make some precious music.

For now, you heard it here and you heard it first: ShapeShifter’s Musical Hanukkah Celebration. Gettin’ bigger, getting’ better and with t-shirts for all, not just the folk who make it inside. Gotta love that. Chelle sure does.

If you’re new around here, this whole Musical Hanukkah Celebration thing has got to seem as though it’s from left field. Click here to read the beginnings.

While the characters in this piece aren’t real, the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation is. Profits on the t-shirts and The Demo Tapes will go toward this great effort to keep our kids musical. There will be more details and hoopla to come, I promise. And a lot more fiction, too, building up to this fun event.

You may ask why I’m blurring the line between real life and fiction like this. The answer’s easy: Today’s clarinet player might be tomorrow’s million-selling lead singer. Every child all deserves that dream.