Dwelling for the Holidays – San Francisco Bay Occasions
From Dr. Tim Seelig–
At home for the holidays, these four words conjure up a variety of thoughts that are different for everyone. Maybe they will conjure up a film, a TV show, a song or a concert for you. More about the latter in a moment.
Last Christmas season, these four words certainly gave a new meaning to the holiday table. Why? Because that’s exactly what we were all: At home for last season’s holidays. I’m not talking about our pre-pandemic “BP” houses. No. Our SIP (Shelter in Place) home.
Most of the time we were also at home alone! We made the best of it. We are a resourceful people, after all. Everything was completely different in “December”. Family celebrations and holidays via Zoom are actually not celebrations at all. Who has had a party with family and friends where only one person could speak at a time? At least half the fun is sharing food and drink together. Zoom tipsy is just cheesy. We had to rely on the meme “Home is Where the Heart Is”. It was everywhere. Yes, it was nice to have my heart at home, but I wanted people!
Back to AP times – after the pandemic. The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus is back, live, singing on stage. We have been rehearsing every week since the beginning of September – vaccinated, masked and distanced. It’s very different to rehearse for three hours in masks, but when it comes down to it, that’s what we’re here for!
We will perform ten times over the holidays. Our three “big shows” take place at the Sydney Goldstein Theater in the arts district. You are starting our 44th season! As you may know, this is my tenth and final season of conducting SFGMC. It is estimated that I have done 100 vacation shows. And we’re not even going to estimate how many there have been in my 35 years with LGBTQ choirs since I conducted two or three at the same time. There is a lot of holiday mood.
We’re also celebrating our 32nd annual Home for the Holidays concert at the Castro Theater on Christmas Eve! These three shows at 5, 7 and 9 p.m. are almost as iconic as the theater itself.
Not only the Castro Theater is celebrating its 32nd birthday. It’s also the same anniversary of the choir’s trek north benefiting Face 2 Face and ending AIDS in Sonoma County. This year, too, this concert will take place in the breathtaking Green Music Center of Sonoma State University.
Each of these events has been held annually since 1990, with only one exception: 2020. We’re excited to bring Home for The Holidays back to the stage with live performances.
How did the concerts at Castro start, you ask? The year is 1990. It was the height of the AIDS pandemic – the first we have now survived. The Castro looked very different back then. The number suffering from the ravages of AIDS was staggering. Many could not go home. Many were not welcome at home. The choir decided to rent the Castro Theater as a gift to the community on Christmas Eve and open the doors to those who did not have a home. They had no idea what the reaction would be. It was packed. Those who attended describe it as one of the most moving experiences of their lives. Not long after that, they were forced to add a second show and then a third. This is where it stopped even though they all sell out every year.
This season you can gather as many people as you can in your house. You can gather around the fireplace, table, tree, menorah or cat and sing along to this famous song (you may just know the chorus!):
Verse:
“I met a man who lives in Tennessee
He was on his way to
Pennsylvania and some homemade pumpkin pie.
People travel from Pennsylvania
Down to Dixie’s sunny bank
From the Atlantic to the Pacific
Gee, the traffic is great.
Choir:
Oh there’s nowhere like home for the holidays
Because no matter how far you go
If you want to be happy in a million ways
Home can’t be beat on the holidays, sweet home. “
Since our Castro concerts are called Home for the Holidays, we sing a version of the song every year. This year one of our star arrangers, Paul Saccone, and a group of would-be copywriters changed the words a little! Here’s just a taste of what you’ll hear:
“I met a man who lives in San Jose
And he was on the way to
San Francisco and the Gay Men Choir Show.
From Napa Valley people drive down the Castro to get the toys,
From the East Bay to the city, the traffic isn’t nice.
Still, there is no place like home for the holidays. “
Writing about it got me to do a little research on the song (There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays. It was composed by Robert Allen. Register my shocked face (not); he was a jew. Who wrote the lyrics, I asked myself? The text is by Albert Irving Silverman. Jewish too.
I’d heard people giggle a little at the irony that “the best Christmas carols were written by Jewish composers.” Of course we all know that Irving Berlin wrote “White Christmas”. But the list is overwhelming. The following Christmas carols were also composed by Jewish composers: “Christmas Song” (chestnuts roasted on an open fire), “Let It Snow”, “Santa Baby”, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”, “Silver Bells,” White Christmas “,” Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer “,” Rockin ‘Around the Christmas Tree “,” A Holly Jolly Christmas “and (Walkin’ in a)” Winter Wonderland “.
What would we do without these Christmas carols? We also do a Hanukkah song. I wondered if it was perhaps composed by a gentile? Nope. Tom Lehrer is also a Jew! And if you know his work, you won’t be surprised that the title is “I’m spending Hanukkah in Santa Monica”!
The little man on my shoulder just said, “Okay, Tim, time to take it home.” Which then made me wonder what that saying really means. Of course I checked. It means:
- A positive motivational phrase to get to the point.
- Encourage one to say the point.
- “Please come to the climax.”
Okay, that was fun. It hurt a little too. I have no doubt that the Bay Times editors often had this feeling when reading my posts! There is a well-known Seelig quality: we can talk until we think of something we can say.
However, I feel positive, motivated, and encouraged to bring it home at this point.
If I bring it home, it has to be home. Life in San Francisco is an absolute dream. Creating a home on the bay with Bobby Jo and Tater Tot is wonderful. I also have two homes with my children and granddaughters, as well as countless homes for selected families that are open to me. I also have to say that with every drive or walk through our beautiful city, my gratitude grows deeper as the number of people who have no homes for the holidays is growing every day, it seems.
Most of all, I am blessed with this city, this choir, and my biological and logical families far and wide. My vacation actually starts on December 25th, after our concerts are over. I will spend this day and those that follow counting my blessings. May your home be bright and cheerful for the holidays and hopefully your heart will be with you! Happy Holidays.
Dr. Tim Seelig is the Artistic Director of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus.
Published on October 18, 2021
