'Tis the season for benefit concerts

The holiday season is rich with giving and that means numerous benefit concerts are taking place this month. Tonight beachy Carolina Southern rock combo Jim Quick & the Coastline Band (pictured above) plays a benefit concert for Autism Speaks at Neighborhood Theatre. 7 p.m. $10-$12.

Across town Beards Because holds its annual fundraising finale party at Amos' Southend. The show, which features local artists Grown Up Avenger Stuff, Evelynn Rose, and the Spiveys, marks the end of the organization's growth period - men growing their facial hair to raise money for domestic violence awareness. Since 2007 its raised over $150,000 for women's shelters across four states. Admission is $15. Doors open at 7:30 p.m.

Sunday Snug Harbor will be collecting "keep warm" items for Occupy Charlotte during its Keep Occupy Warm fundraiser. The lineup includes Dallas, Trixie Zenyon, and Beth Ann Phetamine, as well as Miami/Dice, Hungry Girl, and One Another. 8:30 p.m. $5.

There are more benefit concerts to come next weekend with a Punk Rock Holiday Canned Food Drive at Tremont Friday, December 16. Admission is $6 but you get $2 off if you bring five or more canned items. 8 p.m.

The Aqualads also headline a benefit for local musician Rodney Lanier (Jolene, Sea of Cortez) who is being treated for cancer. That takes place Saturday the 17th at Evening Muse. The local instrumental surf group also recorded a holiday album with local guest vocalists. They'll celebrate its release as well. Proceeds from the sale of that album will also go to Lanier's trust. 10:30 p.m. $15.

This week's hot concerts

Jazz Funk Xmas Jam

8 p.m. Friday, December 9, Chop Shop, 399 E. 35^th St. $10. www.chopshopnoda.com

Charlotte fusion ensemble Groove 8 heads up a unique holiday concert featuring rap, soul, funk, and jazz from hip-hop artists Yogo Pelli and Phive, saxophonist Adrian Crutchfield (of Anthony Hamilton’s band), and soul rockers Lucky Five.

Nora Jane Struthers

8 p.m., Friday, December 9, Evening Muse, 3227 N. Davidson St. $10-$12. 704-376-3737.

There’s something sinister and bookish under the sweet vocals, crisp, restrained instrumentation, and literary lyrics of this up and coming new grass-tinged folk singer who's a former high school English teacher (check out the twisted murder ballad in the above video).

The Fray

8 p.m. Friday, December 9, Fillmore, 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd. $37.50. www.ticketmaster.com

The piano-pop hit makers who opened the Fillmore’s neighboring amphitheater two summers ago returns for the WKNX Kissmas concert (interestingly tickets are also nearly half what some seats were at the outdoor show).

Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion

7:30 p.m. Sunday, December 11, Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E. 36^th St. $10-$12. 704-358-9298.

She’s folk music royalty (her grandpa was Woody and dad is Arlo) and he was part of `90s Chapel Hill alt-rock outfit Queen Sarah Saturday. Today, they’re a dreamy folk-rock duo returning to his Carolina roots for the holidays.

Rachael Yamagata

7:30 p.m. Tuesday, December 13, Visulite, 1615 Elizabeth Ave. $17-$20. 704-358-9200.

A favorite of TV music directors who place her adult contemporary songs on shows like “Grey’s Anatomy,” she divides her hushed, breathy alto between innocent and sultry over intimate piano pop or, at one point, a wicked channeling of the Eurythmics and Concrete Blonde (listen above).

Mr. Gnome

9 p.m. Wednesday, December 14, Snug Harbor, 1228 Gordon St. $7. www.etix.com

This married Cleveland duo create dynamics-driven, experimental art rock that recently caught the attention of “Rolling Stone” who called its third album, “Madness in Miniature,” “Rust Belt scrappy and dreamily explosive.”

Chatham County Line

7 p.m. Thursday, December 15, Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E. 36^th St. $15/$30 VIP. 704-358-9298.

The Chapel Hill act delivers two sets – one of its traditional acoustic bluegrass and a second electric set that’ll serve as a reunion for guest drummer Zeke Hutchins who also reunites with the aforementioned fellow Queen Sarah Saturday alumni Johnny Irion who opens the show.

More 2012 concert announcements this week

The 2012 Charlotte concert schedule is shaping up. It was announced earlier this week that Grammy winning duo the Black Keys (pictured above) will headline Bojangles Coliseum on March 24. The group released its latest album, "El Camino," Tuesday. British rockers the Arctic Monkeys will open the show. Tickets go on sale Saturday, December 10, at 10 a.m.

LiveNation also announced this week that Childish Gambino (aka actor Donald Glover of "Community") will spend St. Patrick's Day at The Fillmore. Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m.

Tickets for both shows are available at www.livenation.com and www.ticketmaster.com or by calling 1-800-745-3000.

Tickets for 11-year-old classical music sensation Jackie Evancho's concert with the symphony at Time Warner Cable Arena June 6 go on sale Monday.

Elsewhere Amos' announced Rehab's return to the Southend venue February 3. Rising rock quartet Hot Chelle Rae makes its Amos' debut April 10. Tickets for those shows are available at www.etix.com.

Blumenthal Performing Arts Center's recent concert announcements include George Benson at Knight Theater March 25, the Moody Blues back at Belk Theater March 26, Mavis Staples at McGlohon Theatre March 30, and the Darrell Scott Band at McGlohon April 1. Tickets for Benson's show are already on sale. Tickets for the other concerts go on sale to the public Saturday, December 16.

Tremont Music Hall also announced recently that metal monsters Children of Bodom's 15th Anniversary Tour will stop there January 28. Tickets available at www.etix.com

Charlotte Music Awards holds its 5th annual awards ceremony Thursday

The 5th Annual Charlotte Music Awards' Red Carpet Affair takes place Thursday, December 8, at Halton Arena on the campus of Central Piedmont Community College (1206 Elizabeth Ave). The awards show not only represents the Charlotte area, but includes musical acts from throughout the Carolinas.

Winners from a series of genre-specific showcases that took place throughout 2011 will perform. Those include Asheville's Yo Mama's Big Fat Booty Band (pictured left), bluegrass/Americana showcase winner the Toneblazers, country showcase winner Jeff Luckadoo & Southern Wave, From a Seed (winner of the "Women in Rock" showcase), Lifegiver (winner of the Christian music showcase), Charlotte-based R&B singer J. Chozen (pictured below), urban hip hop showcase winner Carlimo Da Don, All My Rowdy Friends, the Mary Selvidge Band (winner of the "Women in Country Showcase"), and Winston-Salem's Stephen Freeman, winner of the tribute artist showcase who performs as the King of Rock n' Roll.

Harriet Coffey and Dwight Moody will receive Lifetime Achievement Awards. Presenters include several local and regional radio and TV personalities.

The ceremony starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20 or $50 for the ceremony and VIP reception. For more information go to www.charlottemusicawards.org

Review: Trans-Siberian Orchestra at TWC Arena

Trans-Siberian Orchestra rang in the holiday season with its merry marriage of hair metal guitar licks, over-the-top arena rock, classical bombast, and holiday cheer Thursday at Time Warner Cable Arena. Musically it might be described as Queen making a fantasy-themed holiday album for “The Highlander” series with a string section and chorus, but the elaborate, sophisticated production is so much more than that on stage.

The first hour-plus portion was threaded with a Christmas narrative from TSO’S 1996 album “Christmas Eve and Other Stories” about a lonely soul whose perspective on the holiday changes after meeting a wise old man in a bar on Christmas Eve. The arrangements interspersed originals with traditional carols such as “Silent Night” and “O’ Come All Ye Faithful” as well as music from Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker,” which served as a highlight. An original R&B ballad belted by Erica Jerry morphed into “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.” While the gentle violins from “The Nutcracker Suite” later tiptoed into a heavy, bounding version which featured quick guitar licks that could’ve been lifted from a number of hard rock classics.

While the classical bent of the show made it more of a quiet sit-down affair without a steady stream of people heading for the bar, there was plenty arena rock grandeur. The crowd wooed and whistled at guitarist Joel Hoekstra, a lanky Sebastian Bach-looking player with long blonde waves, as he shredded on his Les Paul at the foot of the stage.

For many Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s concerts are a holiday tradition. The audience certainly had its favorite performers in band leader/guitarist Chris Caffery (who wore a Bobcats’ jersey with his name on it during the break) and vocalist James Lewis whose lead on songs like “Ornament” added a touch of gruff biker-cool. The crowd also seemed familiar with vocalist Ronny Munroe who appeared as a costumed homeless man with the voice of a European Neil Diamond during “Old City Bar.”

While the diverse cast of lead vocalists, animated violinist Roddy Chong (who led a 7-piece violin section made up of local musicians), and narration from Bryan Hicks made for plenty going on, the production was actually the real star. At one point tiny bubbles fell slowly creating realistic falling snow that evaporated as it landed on the crowd.

The light rig and drum kit were massive. Part of the light rig extended halfway into the audience, featured screens that hovered over the floor seats, and lowered to form a catwalk over the crowd where the musicians and dancer/singers could perform from platforms.

The production only escalated after the holiday portion of the show when the band performed songs from its 2009 double album “Night Castle” and 2000’s “Beethoven’s Last Night.”

“You want to see this stage come alive?” asked Caffery between sets. Alive meant transforming the backdrop, screens, and light rig into a mechanical fire breathing dragon. While that sounds preposterous, it was actually very cool and well done, with eyes and teeth appearing on screens as the three light rigs opened and closed while fire shot from the dragon’s “mouth.” If Grammy’s were given for production this seems like a clear winner.

The female singers from the choir formed a dance team for the second half as well. The women used their hair as another limb, swinging it back and forth in whiplash-inducing sync. Considering the hair-dancing and headbanging a more fitting name might be Tran-Sibhairian Orchestra.

Although there wasn’t anything as impressive as the dragon, the onslaught or pyro and fireworks continued through “Beethoven’s 5^th” and a finale that wound its way back to the holiday theme with the mashup of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” and “Carol of the Bells" - signature TSO.

The concert is over-the-top from beginning to end, cheesy and sort of delightfully self-aware of that factor. But I found at some point even those who are apprehensive (like myself) to the general ridiculousness of combining such equally grand yet seemingly disparate elements in a non-traditional holiday show eventually succumb. Within the context of the show (at least by the third or fourth song), it no longer seems so ridiculous.

This week's hot concerts

Cake

8 p.m. Friday, December 2, Amos' Southend, 1423 S. Tryon St. Sold Out. www.amossouthend.com

For WEND 106.5's annual Not So Acoustic Xmas, the station presents "an evening with" the quirky alt-rock band who will perform two sets (no openers).

The Chelsea Daggers

10 p.m. Friday, December 2, Snug Harbor, 1228 Gordon St. $5. 704-333-9799.

This stirringly original local trio melds heavy, bluesy stoner rock with haunting Yeah Yeah Yeahs-like vocal invention, but the eclectic outfit can burst into a poppy `80s-inspired chorus, sixties rockabilly throwback or experimental cabaret. With the Malamondos and Foe Hammer.

Carolina Chocolate Drops

7 p.m. Saturday, December 3, Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E. 36^th St. $20-$23. 704-358-9298.

Having gone from a youthful string band born out of the Black Banjo Gathering at Appalachian State University to Grammy winners, the trio returns for its semi-annual winter performance - its first in Charlotte with its new lineup.

Eddie Money

8 p.m. Tuesday, December 6, Fillmore, 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd. $39.50. www.livenation.com

After his performance during Speedstreet last Spring, the man of many hits is back to ring in the holiday season with fellow classic `70s and `80s rock vocalists Mickey Thomas from Starship and Lou Gramm from Foreigner.

George Porter, Jr. & Runnin’ Pardners

9 p.m. Thursday, December 8, Double Door Inn, 1218 Charlottetown Ave. $12. 704-376-1446.

At 63, the influential veteran Meters’ and Funky Meters’ bassist leads this New Orleans’ outfit with a loose improvisational feel that seamlessly fuses his roots in funk, R&B, jazz, and rock. With Donna Hopkins.

American Babies

10:30 p.m. Thursday, December 8, Evening Muse, 3227 N. Davidson St. $10. 704-376-3737.

Philadelphia-based singer-songwriter Tom Hamilton (formerly of Brother’s Past) makes inspired Americana that’s anchored in sparse folk but flirts with pop charm on songs like the sing-songy, whimsical “Swimming at Night” and the bluesy road song “Dance All Night.”

From MMMBop to MMMHop, Hanson brewing up its own beer?

According to Entertainment Weekly's Pop Watch Column, Hanson is turning its best known 1997 hit "MMMBop" into a liquid. The group announced at a concert at Oxford University this week that it was launching a signature brand of India Pale Ale in 2012.

Hanson may seem like an unlikely group to launch an alcoholic beverage. With all three brothers married with children (eight between them), the rather wholesome group isn't known for its partying ways or for throwing back brews on stage. But youngest brother Zac Hanson confirms the news through the band's publicist.

"Yes a branded Hanson IPA beer concept is in the works under the moniker 'MmmHops.' We're glad to see a bit of buzz around the idea, which has been brewing for some time," he says.

You can read more about "MMMHops" here. Hanson, who played Amos' Southend in October, embarks on a Canadian tour in late January.