American Idol alumnus Josh Wright will be part of "A Christmas Evening With Josh Wright and Friends" Thursday at Howe Farms in Georgetown, Tenn. Wright was a Top 40 contestant in Season 12 on the show.BARRY COURTER: Lisa, looking at the calendar for this week, there are a lot of interesting musical events and not all of them are holiday-related. Not that there is anything wrong with a good chorale. Anyway.
The Chattanooga Songwriters Night at Heritage House will feature Noah Collins, Ben Durham, Daniel Nelson and host Jamion Williams, while St. Paul and the Broken Bones will be at Track 29. I'm a fan of St. Paul, and it has been fun following them as they've grown in popularity. They played Rhythm & Brews in 2013, were on Riverbend's Coke Stage in 2015, have gone on to kill on "Late Night With David Letterman," and they opened for the Rolling Stones. Kind of a big deal.
Lisa Denton and Barry Courter
LISA DENTON: All worthy events, to be sure, but I'm most intrigued by the "toy piano virtuoso" the Shaking Ray Levi Society is bringing to the Tenn Arts studio, where the Wayne-O-Rama art installation is housed. Robert Fleitz is a serious, Juilliard-trained pianist and composer who performs on various keyboard instruments, but he is best known for playing toy pianos.
He's on a double bill with the Jeff Crompton Trio, and he'll be performing the world premiere of Crompton's "Sonatina for Toy Piano." A sonatina, by the way, literally means "small sonata" (I looked it up). A small sonata on a toy piano - it makes perfect sense.
BARRY: The event sounds huge. I think this is the first Shaking Ray event in the Tenn Arts space since the grand opening of Wayne-O-Rama, so for people unfamiliar, there will be this concert inside a space also filled with giant puppets, a 30-foot model of Lookout Mountain with a working Incline, and a TV screen with former local kids' TV icon Bob Brandy's image. Like I said, it will be a big event and one to remember.
LISA: And doubling back to the Rolling Stones, we could go see a documentary tonight at the Majestic 12 about their concert tour through Latin America. It's one of Fathom Events' one-night, big-screen specials. It includes an introduction from the band and two full-length performances from the tour.
BARRY: Revelry Room is busy this week with Futurebirds there on Thursday and Neon Moon, the Ultimate '90s Country Tribute Band (who knew that was a thing?) on Friday, Rumours: A Fleetwood Mac Tribute act doing their thing on Saturday and Behold the Brave finishing out the week on Sunday.
LISA: And an "American Idol" alumnus will be at Howe Farms in Georgetown, Tenn., on Thursday for "A Christmas Evening with Josh Wright and Friends." Wright was a Top 40 contestant in Season 12 who's now building a career in Nashville.
In addition to Christmas music by the performers, Howe Farms will be decked out in thousands of lights, there's an authentic German sleigh for photos, and one child will win a 53-inch stuffed teddy bear in a drawing. Proceeds benefit the Momentum Network, which helps young mothers attend college. Tickets are $15, or you can get a family pack of four for $40.
Really, the only thing wrong with that evening is that adults aren't in the drawing for the bear.
BARRY: A person could lose himself cuddling up with that thing.
And Barking Legs is hosting a show with a title I can identify with: "Jiggy's 50 First Dates, Zero Second Dates." Jiggy is a comedian perhaps best known for his opening-act role on the North American Impractical Jokers Tour.
Get event details every Thursday in ChattanoogaNow or online anytime at www.ChattanoogaNow.com.
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354. Contact Lisa Denton at ldenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6281.