Sweetback Sisters bring Christmas cheer to Portsmouth

Common Fence Music sing-along features tunes, treats, even trivia

Posted 12/9/18

PORTSMOUTH — The Portsmouth High School auditorium stage Saturday night looked like a giant exploding Christmas present.

In the middle of all of it were The Sweetback Sisters leading …

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Sweetback Sisters bring Christmas cheer to Portsmouth

Common Fence Music sing-along features tunes, treats, even trivia

Posted

PORTSMOUTH — The Portsmouth High School auditorium stage Saturday night looked like a giant exploding Christmas present.

In the middle of all of it were The Sweetback Sisters leading their 10th annual Country Christmas Singalong Spectacular.

The popular audience participation show was hosted by Common Fence Music, which took its music series on the road this season due to the renovation of the Common Fence Point Community Hall.

This wasn’t your typical Christmas concert. 

Sure, there were old standbys like “Jingle Bells” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” featured. (The latter closed the show).

But mixed in were more obscure holiday chestnuts such as The Stanley Brothers’ “Beautiful Star of Bethlehem” and “Christmas Island,” first popularized by The Andrews Sisters in 1946. The crowd also sang along to the original German lyrics of “Silent Night” (“Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht”) on one verse.

Any if you haven’t heard the Sweetback Sisters’ frantic take on “The 12 Days of Christmas,” you’re missing out.

In addition to the atypical program of songs, the band also broke out an oddball mix of instruments at times, including hand bells and a melodica with blowpipe.

As with every Sweetback Sisters holiday show, there was also fun and reindeer games — literally. At one point Ms. Miller and Ms.  Bode played a round of “antler toss” between songs.

Audience members also tried their hand at Christmas trivia for prizes that ranged from a furry stocking to a pair of Frankenstein serving dishes.

In the lobby, raffles tickets, baked goods and other refreshments were sold to benefit the nonprofit Kate Grana Music & Art Association, which is raising money to transform the PHS auditorium into an improved center for music and the performing arts

Part of that effort includes replacing all of the original 50-plus-year-old wooden seats. (Cushions were rented for $3 a pop Saturday for those desiring a more comfortable evening.)

For more information about Common Fence Music and upcoming shows, visit www.commonfencemusic.org.

Common Fence Music, Kate Grana

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Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.