Want Your Heart To Grow Three Sizes This Weekend?
By Scott Smith in Arts & Entertainment on Dec 3, 2004 7:46PM
Chicagoist has already cracked on Christmas albums in this space so there’s no need to belabor the point here (except to say Mannheim Steamroller and their entire yuletide-themed catalog can go straight to hell and come to think of it their other albums can follow them down to Old Scratch’s hideaway too). But we are partial to live music that is “of the season” as it gets us in the mood in a way that recorded tunes just don’t. Why? Who knows? Call us fickle (just don’t call us late for dinner! HA! Grandpas tell the best jokes, don’t they?)
Having all those treacly tunes pour out of the loudspeakers of almost every business we patronize probably isn’t helping. Hearing it as 
accompaniment while looking at Marshall Fields’ windows is one thing while trying to shout over it as you order a sub from Quizno’s is another. If getting out there and hearing the sounds of the season helps crush your inner Grinch/Scrooge as well then allow us to recommend two options: one traditional and one not so much.
The DePaul Community Chorus’ annual holiday concert, Magnificent Glory, is this Sunday, December 5th at 7:30 PM in the DePaul Concert Hall at 800 West Belden. A part of the outreach program of the school’s Community Music Division, they are an all-volunteer group that performs three times a year. On Sunday, they’ll be breathing life into Finzi’s Magnificat and In Terra Pax as well as other selections including A Soulful Hallelujah. We can only hope this means Handel crossed with James Brown. Best of all? It’s free!
Though it’s not strictly a musical performance, there’ll be plenty of songs in the holiday sketches of Screw X-Mas at the Cornservatory at 4214 N. Lincoln. The show is tonight at 11 PM. (By the way, if you missed the Cornservatory’s transvestite-a-licious production of Tiff and Mom and the Meaning of the Magi Gift Mix-up then you’ve got another shot. It’s running again this year through December 17th on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays).