Photo by Josette Chen
This past Monday the mercury hit the 80s, and it looks like this weekend we’re gonna get some weather befitting the month of December. As the old-tyme saying goes, “In Texas, if you don’t like the weather…wait.” There’s some truth to that, but there’s one thing that we all here in Central Texas can be pretty sure of: Probably ain’t none of us gonna make a good ol’ fashioned snowman this winter. We can get cold for sure, but as any Texan that’s bundled up in a parka when the temperature hits 50 can attest, we’re not exactly the North Pole. It’s unlikely to be a white Christmas, but one band can still hope against hope.
That band is The Grapes. It’s a supergroup that includes Chris Galis, Blaine McGaffigan, Barry Lacina, Ethan Galis, Adam Cook, Charlie Magnone, and Cullen Faulk, members of local Austin outfits The Gorgeous Hands, Genuine Leather, Dangeresque, and BGold. They’re coming together once again to put on their fifth annual Christmas Extravaganza at the Hole In The Wall this Saturday night (Dec. 7). Joining them on the bill are The Berkshire Hounds and Waldo & The Naturals.
The Grapes aren’t content to stick to the same old carols. They’re spreading some holiday cheer with a song that’s their very own. “I Wish That It Would Snow In Austin” expresses something that, I’m sure, a lot of us born and bred in the subtropical Lone Star State secretly hope for: a winter wonderland with not just a few flurries, but honest-to-goodness snow, the powdery kind. “I wish that it would snow in Austin, prayed for 20 feet, but it stays pretty warm here,” goes the song. It’s also a tale of yuletide love, and, as everybody knows, gently falling snow is the most romantic weather pattern (John Cusack-drenching rain is a distant second). So when you’re cruising by the Christmas lights on 37th (another little local nod in the song) hand-in-hand with your love, wishing against wish that you could have a white Christmas, just know you’re not alone. The Grapes are right there with you with plenty o’ holiday cheer.
