Skip to content

Tidesmen awash with festive tunes for Parksville performance

Male chorus bringing classics, and 21st century holiday love song to Knox
14689812_web1_181206-PQN-M-TidesmenPeformance-subWEB-181205
The Tidesmen are bringing their annual Christmas concert to Parksville on Dec. 15. — Submitted by Mike Patterson

“Text me Merry Christmas, let me know you care. Just a word or two of text from you will remind me you’re still there.”

Separated romance over the winter holidays may be a common theme in Christmas music, but communicating sweet nothings via emoji certainly is something new for the Tidesmen Chorus.

Their upcoming concert titled after the song Text me Merry Christmas, is coming to Knox United Church (345 Pym. St., Parksville) on Dec. 15, and features predominantly classic Christmas and winter holiday tunes, with that once exception.

Written by Adam Schlesinger and David Javerbaum and sung by Straight No Chaser and Kristen Bell, the song was released in 2014.

The tune makes use of text contractions like brb and lol, and croons that “I don’t care if you spell things right, I just want to hear from you tonight.”

“It’s just a little poke of fun, if you like, at the idea of communication at Christmas in the 21st Century way, although we’re doing a very traditional Christmas concert in every other way, we just happen to have this cute little piece of music,” said president of the Tidesmen, Mike Patterson.

The song has sparked a fair amount of conversation over how communication has changed, said Patterson. “You have to appreciate that our members, they are a pretty mature group,” he said.

Nonetheless, many members of the chorus (about 35 men expected for the performance) have cell phones and communicate via text, he noted.

The performance will include songs performed by the chorus as a whole, and others performed by quartets in a modern barbershop style, said Patterson.

Other songs on the setlist include Happy Holiday, I Saw Three Ships and Go Tell It On The Mountain, with the performance opening to It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year.

The performance takes place on Dec. 15 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Knox church. Tickets are $20 for adults and $5 for children under 16 years old who are accompanied by an adult.

Tickets can be purchased at Mulberry Bush bookstores, or online at www.tidesmen.com. There is also a performance taking place in Nanaimo at the Ecumenical Centre on Dec. 14.