'Tis the Season for Second City's "Letters to Santa" Benefit
By Kim Bellware in Arts & Entertainment on Dec 6, 2010 8:40PM
We like to think of our fellow Chicagoans as big-hearted folks, and we fancy our comedians as some of the best in the business. For their 9th annual holiday benefit, "The Second City That Never Sleeps: Letters to Santa," Second City is corralling big-hearted comedians and other performers for a full 24 hours of music, improv and some sweet looking raffle prizes.
A single $15 ticket is good for all 24 hours (depending on seating availability), during which past and present Second City performers will perform songs, sketches and games in between a host of musical guests, including a few who call Chicago home: JC Brooks and The Uptown Sound, Jeff Tweedy, Robbie Fulks, and Steve Albini (full lineup below). Attendees can have a crack at the various auction and raffle items like Iggy Pop's original lyric book, SNL tickets with a personal tour from Second City alum Fred Armisen, a lifetime pass to live events at Lincoln Hall and a day in the studio with Albini.
The area families who penned the letters to Santa at the heart of the benefit were identified through The Jane Addams Hull House Association which, in the past, has selected roughly a dozen families to serve. While many holiday charity initiatives like Toys for Tots and Angel Tree aim to meet a small need for a large number of people, "Letters to Santa" keeps the pool of beneficiaries intentionally limited to make a larger impact on a small number of families; Last year's event raised more than $100,000, almost a quarter of which came from an auction for a private concert for 30 by Jeff Tweedy held in the winner's home.
Last year Albini, who is heavily involved with the event as a performer, donor and gift deliverer, reached out to Jon Yates of the Tribune's "Problem Solver" column when changes to the U.S. Postal Service’s "Letters to Santa" program threatened to throw a wrench in the annual benefit's process. Before 2009, Second City tapped the postal service's holiday program to find needy families until the USPS stopped providing the names and addresses of the letter writers. Albini expressed in Yates's column that that while working with Hull House was a positive experience, the families it identified were "already receiving assistance from other sources" as opposed to the families found through "Letters to Santa" who were "more off the grid of social services."
If you can't make the event in person, Second City will make the event available for live streaming with a $15 PayPal donation.
Confirmed musical guests:
JC Brooks and The Uptown Sound
Jeff Tweedy
Robbie Fulks
Bill Callahan
The Blisters
Steve Albini
Danielson Famile
The Second City That Never Sleeps: Letters to Santa 24 Hours of Improv and Music is Tuesday, December 14th at 7 p.m. to Wednesday, December 15 at 7 p.m. at The Second City e.t.c. Theater located at 1608 N. Wells, $15, All Ages