Buoyed by optimism and feeling the holiday spirit ahead of the season this year — top of November, to be exact — the Evergreenpoint Carolers thought of changing up the lyrics in “Deck the Halls.”
“We thought singing Kamalalala-lalalala would be fun to, you know, celebrate Kamala,” first soprano Sharon Goldstone said. “Then, well…that just wasn’t going to work.”
A month since Election Day has felt like an eternity, and while doom and gloom reign, the singers know that audiences depend on their festive cheer.
“There’s been a lot of sulking, and I won’t have it,” music director Nico Auer is heard saying, in audio leaked by an anonymous caroler, during a particularly fraught rehearsal. “Not only is sulking bad for your posture, it also restricts airflow and worsens your singing,” Auer goes on to say. “Your mood may be flat but the notes better not be.”
Despite the agita, a new day dawns: the Evergreenpoint Carolers have been a neighborhood fixture since 2019, and “we can’t back down now,” Goldstone said. “What’s that Brecht quote? ‘Will there be singing in the dark times?’ You bet your experimental German ass there will be.”
The roving choir is aiming to start its set in McCarren Park this Sunday, December 15 at 2 PM. (“The park entrance near Five Leaves,” Auer clarified, “where a bass got robbed blind one year.”)
That star time may fluctuate due to the possibility of rain, which has plagued the singers two years in a row. “I swear to Jesus on the cross,” second soprano Maddie Perdergerst said.
If they aren’t waylaid by audiences asking for rides to JFK — “It’s happened once, it can happen again,” Perdergerst said — the Evergreenpoint Carolers will then head up Manhattan Avenue, singing down Kent Street and finally outside American Playground, around 3:30 PM.
Each year, the singers fundraise for a local nonprofit, and this yuletide they are sourcing donations for North Brooklyn Angels, a neighbor-helping-neighbor organization that delivers hot meals to locals. Cash contributions, or those via Venmo @EvergreenpointCarolers, are accepted.
The group is also excited about introducing some new songs, though conflicting reports have emerged about whether the songs, like Santa’s gifts, are under wraps.
“We want to keep it a secret and have our roaring audiences on their toes,” Auer said. “Why? Did Samantha Myers tell you what we’re adding?”
“We’re adding ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas,'” Samantha Myers said.
I suggest you guys to sing this one please: “The Little Drummer Boy” TRUMPumpumpum
TRUMPumpumpum
TRUMPumpumpum
Phillip – what an absolute loser you must be to force politics into a post that has nothing to do with it. We get it, you wanna change Donnie’s diapers.