Remembering Santa Joe & his Jolly Elves

#14 / Flood time capsule: 2004

Seventeen years ago this week, the band played a Christmas party at Our Lady of Fatima church. "We let them feed us," Charlie told his mom in an email later. "It was a big cover-dish spread, with plenty to eat. Good stuff!"

Then at 7:45," the email continued, "we launched into a hour of music that the group had paid for. We mixed in a couple of Christmas tunes we worked out, starting with 'Here Comes Santa Claus.' 'Course, being The Flood, we couldn't really 'play it straight.' They way we do it, we start without Joe, with Sam playing the melody on the harp, then on the second chorus, Joe arrives, complete with a Santa hat, finishing it up. It was a great start. After that, we launched into an instrumental version of "Walkin’ in a Winter Wonderland" before going into our regular non-Christmas stuff. The crowd reacted very well to everything we did, and had a ball when we handed out the kazoos and got them playing along."

At the end of the set, we came back to "Winter Wonderland," but this time rather more irreverently, turning to Dave Ball to take us out with with comic lyrics from a classic Bob Rivers parody of the day. Alas, we don’t have audio from the December 2004. However, a few year later, we reprised the tune on this 2010 Christmas Eve-eve podcast. Click the button below and enjoy!