In order to be more environmentally friendly I cut and pasted all the comments into a word processor and deleted those that did not actually contain guesses and numbered them. There were 25, so I am giving away three patterns today. I then used the Random Sequence generator and chose the first two numbers. I used the same process to assign numbers to those who had the right answer and chose just the first number.
Before I announce the lucky winners I suspect there are at least a few of you wondering what the right answer was…
The correct answer was Tonic Sol-fa. They are a pop a capella quartet who mostly tour in the Midwest. See, the lack of instruments in the photos was a *huge* clue! They’ve been together for 12 years now and I first got their holiday album, Carol, in the mid 1990’s when a local department store sold them. My mom had been turned onto them by the now musical director of one of the local radio stations.
Tonic Sol-fa is probably most known for their fun holiday concerts that are part concert and part comedy show all rolled into one. They put out one year’s show on DVD last year and now that show is getting broadcast on many PBS stations. It appears that many stations across the country will be playing it on Friday evening some time if you are interested. It is called “Tonic Sol-fa Christmas” if you wish to program a DVR/TiVo. They have also been picked up in Australia and Norway this year. This year they also released a new holiday album which includes some of the previously unreleased tracks from the video. You can get one of the tracks from that album free from Blue Bunny.
I have to say that my parents and sister wove a *very* elaborate lie to keep me in the dark about going to the concert. I recalled hearing on the radio on the drive from Ikea to the farm that the two concerts in Willmar were taking place while I was home, but were sold out. I was sad we weren’t going as I had only seen them perform once and it was not one of the holiday concerts. But, I did recall mom and dad not enjoying going to the holiday ones two years in a row because things were a bit too similar. I figured they just didn’t want to go this year. But, after getting dressed up to eat at Applebee’s and driving around town looking at the lights while freezing by eating a pumpkin pie blizzard we arrived at the main concert hall for what I thought was going to be a presentation of my Jr. High art teacher’s paintings of the stations of the cross. I have to admit to being completely in the dark and only having a flicker of doubt when I saw people lined up outside. It seemed odd that people would do that in single digits to see paintings of the stations of the cross, but you know, it is a small town. But, once we got up to the door I saw the radio station’s music director and a sign on the door that read “Tonic Sol-fa.” It was a great show and I am so glad I finally got to see one of their holiday shows in person.
Now, the winners -
From the pool of all guessers, numbers 10 and 6 won - Jenn and Nicole who both actually got it right. I swear I didn’t cheat either! Then from the pool of just the correct answers was 1 - Amanda the librarian. The three of you may choose one of my patterns. Send me an e-mail with your choice and I’ll send out the file to you.
