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| Inside the carriage - 2023 |
Well it's Christmas time;
that's why we're here,
Please be good enough to give us an ear,
For we'll sing and we'll dance if you'll give us a chance,
And we won't be comin' back for another whole year!
~~~ ~~~
You read the title of this posting correctly: The Last Hurrah for Simply Dickens.
We'd been together in one form or another since 2001, and, after 22 years, my son Tommy & I decided to call it a day. Oh, it had been a splendid run, and there are no regrets, aside from missing performing for our many fans.
So I'm dedicating this blog post to:
~The Simply Dickens story~
First...a little background...
In December of 1983 I treated my girlfriend to an old-fashioned Christmas, so I purchased tickets to a special evening dinner at Greenfield Village's Eagle Tavern where we would be able to partake in traditional holiday fare of the mid-19th century.
I was very excited about this, for I'd not done anything like it before, and we arrived much earlier than the 6 pm start time; we were there at 5:00! So we made ourselves at home inside the lobby of the entrance building and sat next to a roaring fire in the fireplace. There was a beautiful Christmas-style tree that I would guess was at least 12 to 15 feet tall, and if I remember correctly, the tree was created artistically by way of hundreds of potted poinsettia plants encircling each other on risers. There was also cedar garland roped throughout the large room, giving one that old-time Christmas feeling even before the event itself began. I have strong memories of that night in those days before cell phone cameras. Or even cell phones! And we didn't know if we could bring a camera or not (turned out they prefered us not to).
Above all, however, were the sounds of Christmas music being piped in through a hidden sound system. Now, I had grown up with Christmas music being played continually in our house by my mother, beginning a few days before Thanksgiving all the way through New Year's Day. And she played mostly what we'll call "The standards" such as the Ray Conniff Singers, Andy Williams, Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, Johnny Mathis, Gene Autry, Mitch Miller, and Rosemary Clooney-----always on the console stereo - my mother wore the grooves out of those records!
That was the sound of the Christmas music of my youth, which I still play to this day. Even as a blase' teen and young adult when one is supposed to be too cool to like anything like that, I still loved it. Christmas was coming! 'Tis the season indeed!
But on this special evening at Greenfield Village, waiting with my girlfriend in the lobby for the horse and carriage to pick us up and take us to the Eagle Tavern, there was something a little different coming from the speakers; it was the sound of the hammered dulcimer, fiddle, guitar, harp, and other musical instruments of the traditional acoustic stringed variety playing Christmas music, much of which was unfamiliar to me. However, even though I didn't recognize many of the tunes, each carol sounded like Christmas. But not like the Christmas carols I grew up with...rather, these unfamiliar melodies gave me the feeling of Christmas long long ago.
It was an engulfing and mesmerizing experience.
I went to the front desk and asked for the name of the artist being played. Unfortunately, the woman did not know, and neither did anyone else working there.
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| The Eagle Tavern festively decorated for Christmas! |
But those sounds stuck with me the rest of the evening. Even after listening to a live quartet of vocalists entertaining us while we dined on a splendid repast of Cornish hens (of which I had never tried before that night), squash, stuffing, cranberries, and other traditional fare inside the candlelit 1831 tavern, in my mind the beautiful strains of the dulcimer, et al, I heard in the entrance building continued to haunt me.
I remember on the way home the two of us speaking about what a fine time we had, and how we both felt like we had stepped right into another era from a time long past and experienced first-hand a 19th century Christmas; the kind of Christmas I dreamed of having. We were on a high that I can still intently recall after all these years since. Yet, it was the Christmas music I heard in the lobby that continued to ring in my ears.
Working in a record store, I was able to do a seek and find, and, over time, located these old world carols, and eventually amassed a very large collection, which included such tunes as
The Boar's Head Carol
The Gloucestershire Wassail
Masters In This Hall
All You That Are Good Fellows
Bring A Torch Jeanette Isabella
Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day
The Wexford Carol
What Child Is This
and, seriously, hundreds more.
And each holiday season, these ancient carols of Christmas past and the artists that play them (Robin Petrie, Anne Hills, Barry Phillips, Katie McMahon, Neil Woodward, Bonnie Rideout, Chieftains, Black House Ceilidh, Magpie Lane, and so many more) are all mixed in with Bing Crosby, Ray Conniff, Nat King Cole, and all the other greats I grew up with, creating an exciting collection of traditional sounds, old and older.
And my collection grew, and continues to grow, each year.
As of this writing, I have been collecting these old world traditional Christmas carols for over forty years. And every-so-often I will find something I may not have that perks up my ears, then do a search, and, more often than not, purchase it.
The best part?
My four kids - all adults now - consider this music as much a part of the sounds of Christmas as the popular carols heard annually on the radio!
My four kids - all adults now - consider this music as much a part of the sounds of Christmas as the popular carols heard annually on the radio!
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| There I am in the play with Scrooge! |
So, as it happened, in the 1990s I became involved with the Holly Dickens Festival, which was (and is still) held on the streets of Holly, Michigan, every weekend between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's here that one can enjoy the sights, sounds, and characters...the era of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" novel come to life.
It was my involvement at the Dickens Festival, first selling chestnuts and raffle tickets, then playing a part in the play itself, that started the whole thing off for me and, eventually, Simply Dickens.
Simply Dickens was formed back in the fall of 2001 when my eldest son, Tommy, who was just 13 years old at the time, and a young lady named Kourtney, who was only 14, got together to rehearse Christmas music to sing at said Holly Dickens Festival.
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| From that first year - 2001 - taken at Holly. Just a couple of teens...Kourtney & Tommy |
And due to the fact that every vocal group that performed there did the same Christmas songs one hears way too often: Santa Coming To Town, Holly Jolly Christmas, Rudolph, Chestnuts Roasting, Frosty, etc., it was at my behest, then, that Tommy and Kourtney would do something different than everyone else. Their set list consisted of the 'old world' type Christmas music, in the same vein I heard that evening nearly twenty years earlier at Greenfield Village, such as "The Gloucestershire Wassail," a more traditional version of "God Rest You Merry Gentlemen," and "Bring A Torch Jeannette Isabella" (among a few others).
They were quite the hit among the festival go-ers from the get-go, and were asked to return the following year, so, in 2002, they did return to Holly, with a new member in tow - a school friend of Tommy and Kourtney named Heather.
That was the year Kourtney came up with the name Simply Dickens - they were a full-fledged group!
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| Our logo~ |
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| 2002 - with Heather, they were now Simply Dickens! |
The following year, Heather dropped out of the group.
The name Simply Dickens stuck even though the members went back to two. We decided we would try other things during the off-season...the warmer weather seasons of spring and summer.
So, by May of 2003, with my help, Tommy & Kourtney had expanded their repertoire to include non-Christmas music and delve into the popular tunes and folk music of the 19th century. The group was asked to play at a historical marker dedication ceremony for Eastpointe, Michigan's 1872 schoolhouse - the two of them sounded wonderful as they sang such songs as "The Moustache Song," "Beautiful Dreamer," and "Bobby Shafto." Hits of the period.
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| 2003 - Halfway School House marker dedication. |
That fall, another singer was added to replace Heather. Her name was Kat. Kat, who was a year older than Kourtney, enjoyed theater as a performer, so she added a different feel to Simply Dickens. And she had a beautiful voice as well.
I really wanted the group to be known beyond the small circle we were in, so I spent an awful lot of time promoting them outside of the festival in hopes that our name would get out there and other places may show an interest. In fact, the local newspaper did an article about us!
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| 2003 - still a trio but now with Kat. |
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| Back at Holly - 2003. We have always loved playing at Holly. The mood is so festive and the audience response is amazing. These were the days when these youngsters played for tips, and sometimes would walk away with a goodly amount! Me? I received volunteer wages. |
In 2004, some major - but not necessarily permanent - changes occurred. We added a fourth vocalist - another male (Max) - and worked on Madrigals and Old English tunes for the off season.
We turned into a historical musical group, for this is around the time that I began to step up and give a quick history lesson for each song introduction. Even though I didn't sing, I was a stage presence now as well.
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| 2004 Simply Dickens worked out Medieval and Renaissance folk tunes for a bit in an attempt to branch out and give the group more opportunities to sing outside of the Christmas Season, including very old oldies like "Barbara Allen," "Weep O Mine Eyes," "Fair Phyllis," and even Led Zeppelin's "The Battle of Evermore." |
This gave the group a continued expansion in the sound and repertoire, giving them the opportunity to sing at festivals, including Erin-Halfway Days in Eastpointe, a world music festival, and a Labor Day festival in Lexington, Michigan.
By Christmas of 2004, Simply Dickens' Christmas music selection had grown to include a German version of "Silent Night," the colonial "All You That Are Good Fellows," and even the Spanish madrigal of "Riu Riu Chiu."
Kat and Max left the group and we took on another female singer.
Sadly, after many evenings of fall rehearsals, she dropped out the night before the Holly Festival.
The actual night before---she said her goodbye, ahhh the night before...!
So it was back to just Tommy and Kourtney...for Christmas 2004...but...things were about to change again...
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| Summer 2005 - two more member additions, Kayla and Andrew, and continuing to sing music of the Civil War era: "Goober Peas," "Lorena," "Wayfaring Stranger" for summer gigs... |
And through it all, Simply Dickens continued to be a mainstay at the Holly Dickens festival, no matter how many were in the group.
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| 2005 - Holly Dickens Festival. Each year we increased the repertoire by a number of additional carols. And we stuck to the old world carols rather than add "Frosty" or anything of that sort. In fact, we added a beautiful version of O Little Town of Bethlehem that blew everyone away! |
On the evening of Saturday, December 3, after the Holly Dickens Festival had ended for the day, (as I wrote in my journal that I kept at the time): "Simply Dickens was commissioned to sing at a private party out in Grand Blanc. This 8500 square foot house is truly a mansion in every sense of the word, and the owners spared no expense in furnishing the home with all the richness one would expect from the wealthy. We were early so we were invited inside to warm up in the family room that had a fully stocked bar and bar tender. There was also a hired classical duetists (sp?) performing background music inside.
For their Christmas party, they pulled out all the stops. After around 40 minutes Simply Dickens was asked to sing outside the front entrance as the very elegantly dressed guests arrived. They had valet parking (with room for over 200 cars!), a horse and buggy ride available, and who knows what else. Quite the party! It snowed the whole time the group performed, so after the hour was up we left to go home."
Pretty interesting for us - a very unusual performance for sure.
But then, there was more newspaper coverage for Christmas!
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| 2005 Holly Dickens Festival~ |
The four members stuck together that year and into the next.
Then in 2006:
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| 2006 - Picture for this article was taken at the Lexington Great Lakes Beach Festival. That's Lake Huron in the background. |
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| 2006 Same members for two years in a row! The quality was growing, and so was our repertoire. And this was the first year we performed a non-Holly Christmas concert---it took place at a Crocker House Museum Christmas tea. |
But as we headed into Christmas 2007, two members left the group, so it was time to, once again, audition for replacements.
I knew for the group to really grow and to get anywhere, we would need to expand the membership and perhaps get someone a little older in the group - someone who was out of school, out of college, and who might help lead us into other areas to perform. But, more importantly, someone who would remain a member and help to give the sound a deeper more solid quality. I mean, it had been Tommy and Kourtney as the mainstays - but with new members changing way too often, it was getting a bit tiring to constantly teach those new members the same songs we've been doing over and over. We wanted to add other songs.
Finally!
After many requests, we recorded ourselves and put out a Christmas CD!
So we got my friend Kim into the group...and a couple others as well, including Kourtney's boyfriend, Lee, and Tommy's then girlfriend, Ashley.
Beckie, a good friend of mine who I reenacted the Civil War era with, joined Simply Dickens, and what a voice she had/has!
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| 2007 was the year the group grew to the extent to where the music and the quality could expand, though Tommy & Kourtney were still the mainstays. And Kim, there in the center, joined - our first bonafide adult singing member! Note the "tip" hat! |
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Kim weaved her magic to get the 2007 incarnation of Simply Dickens interviewed by Fanchon Stinger from FOX 2 News Detroit live on local television. |
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| 2008 - Holly Again, there were a few member changes. I forget the young lady's name on the left, but the young man back and center's name was Alex. As I said, the constant coming and going of members was a bit of a thorn, for each time we had to teach the new members our standard repertoire, which did not allow us to grow to include other carols as we'd have liked it to. |
It is unfortunate I have no photographs from 2009. We did perform that year. - you'll have to take my word on that.
However, 2010 was when the biggest (and some say best) changes were made: this was the year Simply Dickens went all adult! That was the best part - hopefully we'd have a solid group without the constant changing of the guard. All of the other members except Tommy and Kim had left the group, and we had Diana and Tom (TC) join up. And then Heidi, presenter at Greenfield Village, joined!
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| 2010 - rehearsal at my house: Heidi, Diana, Tommy, Tom/TC, and Kim. These members really pushed each other to raise the bar. |
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| 2010 (from left): Tommy, Heidi, Tom (TC), Diana, Me, and Kim And it was with this lineup that we remained for years to come. And because the group was made up of all adults, our schedule and performances increased, for it seems audiences responded much better to this adult group more than when it was a sort of "cutesy" teen group. Simply Dickens was taken more seriously now---and sounded more professional. |
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| Our first year at the Plymouth Historical Museum was in 2010. Our very last public performance was there in 2023. |
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| Here we are Christmas 2010 playing at schools... |
In fact, as I wrote in my journal dated
Thursday December 23, 2010:
Heidi had a great story to tell: she was working inside the Ford Home for Holiday Nights last night at Greenfield Village and a young boy said to her, “You were at my school! You sang at Forest Park!” Heidi practically fell over! Then the little boy’s mother said, “That’s all he’s been talking about was your group singing at his school!”
What a great review!
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| In 2010 we also performed at Greenmead Historic Village in Livonia. |
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| 2010 And we never forgot, Holly was always our "home,"... our mainstay. |
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| ...where we continued to be a good draw! |
And now, we head into 2011:
All of these places were wonderful, and we loved performing at each and every one, but I suppose our "big time" was when we were contracted to perform at internationally known Greenfield Village for the special evening Christmas "Holiday Nights" event. We sang to literally thousands of guests every night. Holiday Nights was not a thing when Patty and I first went there for dinner at the Eagle Tavern back in 1983.
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| 2011 Our first couple years we sang on the gazebo. This was the coldest spot for us for "the wind goes right through you, it's no place for the old..." Or the young, for that matter. |
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| Yes! There we are---printed in the program for Holiday Nights at Greenfield Village! |
And now to 2012:
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| In 2012 we hosted our first solo headline performance. It sold out! |
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| And our repertoire continued to expand... My daughter-in-law, Samm, joined on and blended her beautiful vocal talent to the mix. She remained a member off and on throughout the rest of the group's existence. And she would also add an ocarina instrumental break to the "Huron Indian Carol." |
We also added - or should I say revised - an old skit from the old days at the Holly Dickens festival: "The 12 Days of Christmas," showing the reaction the young lady as she receives each of the twelve gifts her true love sends her (from the song).
It's not pretty.
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| Believe me when I say life was added to Simply Dickens when actress and singer, Diana, became a member a couple years back. Here you see Diana's reaction to receiving her gifts from the "12 Days of Christmas" of 11 piper's piping, 10 lords a-leaping, 9 ladies dancing ("judging by the way they dance, they certainly are not ladies!"), 8 maids a-milking...she really liked the 5 golden rings, though! |
We suddenly found there were not enough days in December for us to perform. We continued to receive calls from all over. Aside from the Holly Dickens Festival, our longest annual run was at the Plymouth Historical Museum. Beginning in 2010, we performed there every Christmas season. In fact, our actual last live public performance took place at Plymouth (more on that coming up).
And through it all, the list of carols grew:
Masters In This Hall, The Wexford Carol, The Boar's Head Carol, Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day, and even the original 1857 4-verse lyrics to One Horse Open Sleigh (Jingle Bells)...and plenty more along these lines.
It was during this time that we also had a series of annual performances for the Ste. Claire Voyageurs living history group:
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| Wow---an actual poster advertising our show in Harrison Township for the Ste. Claire Voyageurs! Of which I still have! |
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| 2012 - Harrison Township - for the Voyageurs |
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| And still we continued to play at Holly, as you see in this photo here from 2013 |
Still in Holly in 2013, the following are, perhaps, some of my favorite photos in the Simply Dickens collection, showing a grungier part of Holly - the back alleys - standing in for old London, with us posing as Dickensian as we could:
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| Holly has back alleyways, which are perfect for the type of photographs I was looking to produce. |
And, oh! the personalities!
On our way to this house, it began to snow...and while we were performing, the snow began coming down harder. So, as it was, our next stop was across town to Mill Race Village in Northville, and it was a very slow go to get there:
I remember receiving the email about performing there. I thought it was a joke initially but it was legit. We did this for two years, and at one point saw Tigers' owner Mike Illitch (who gave us two thumbs up), and one of my favorite players from my youth, Willie Horton.
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| Samm and Beckie~ "A poor man's rich girl" |
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| I loosely based this picture on an old photo showing the early gritty Liverpool/London music scene during The early Beatles era. |
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| The men of Simply Dickens. |
Then there was December 14, 2013
I do not believe we'd ever had a day quite like this one.
First off, we signed on to do three performances at three separate locations, all on that one day, beginning with:
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| ...a home party in the city of Birmingham. |
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| As you can see, the snowfall increased in intensity and had no intention on letting up! |
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| A group shot in the snow. Yeah...it was a blustery day, as you can tell by our faces. I believe our mouths were frozen~ |
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| So off we trudged through the white and drifting snow to the old historical church for our next performance: |
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| The acoustics were great. And the snow continued falling at a steady pace. |
But wait---we weren't done yet!
We still had to drive from Northville to Dearborn - Greenfield Village - for we had our performances there for Holiday Nights!
And then, when Holiday Nights ended at 10:00 pm, off we all drove, back to our homes.
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| And guess what it did pretty much the entire time we were there performing outside? Yep---it continued to snow! In fact, this was the night when we met some folks from India who had never seen snow before. It was hilarious watching these grown men playing in the snow there at the Village. And they requested "Jingle Bells!" |
And the snow continued coming down, though at a much lighter pace.
Whew---what a day---seriously! We ended up with around eight inches of Christmas snow. That was probably the craziest day in Simply Dickens history!
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| And another Greenfield Village performance the next evening~ We always seemed to attract decent crowds - more, dare I say, than the other carolers there. And they stayed to listen to us---even in the cold. |
What I was most proud of when we sang informally on city sidewalks at Holly or a designated spot here at Greenfield Village is that we would hold the crowds. I mean, they didn't just stay for one or two songs, but in many cases they would stay the entire set---out there, in the cold!
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| Instead of being background, we were an actual part of Holiday Nights, and often included the audience either by enticing them to sing along or, as you see in this photo, have the young ones join us by jingling the bells to a certain popular carol. We were more than just ambience. We were something to remember. We put on more of a show. |
Holding onto the crowd as bonafide entertainers may have been part of our downfall at Greenfield Village, for I was told they wanted "background" performers rather than an actual show.
We just did what we did best.
That's okay, for opportunities continued to lay out before us:
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| We also performed at Comerica Park (where the Detroit Tigers baseball team play) in 2013 for their Christmas In July games. It was great fun - we played on the concourse, near where the "bigwigs" go in and out, and even in the suites! |
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| No matter where we were, we always had fun, and I believe our jovial time could be felt and seen by our audience. We weren't cookie cutter - we were different than anyone else. |
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| Crocker House Museum |
So, here we are in 2014:
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| 2014 Grosse Pointe DAR: Daughters of the American Revolution |
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| 2014 Grosse Pointe DAR: Daughters of the American Revolution. |
My daughter-in-law, Samm, also joined up - between she, Beckie, and Diana, plus the two Toms, we had an amazing group.
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| 2014 Grosse Pointe DAR: Just the guys! (okay, so my son, Tommy, has since become a member of the SAR! lol) |
Here we are having fun at the Plymouth Historical Museum in 2015:
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In what may be my favorite group photo, taken by Karen DeCoster Campbell in 2015, shows Simply Dickens asking the 1860s Santa Claus (Dave Tennies) what we wanted for Christmas... What do you suppose we are asking him to bring us? Dear Santa, I'd like "a new saddle for my horse" "a new oil lamp" "a copy of 'A Christmas Carol' " "a new top hat" "a new bonnet"
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History group indeed!
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| This was when we were performing inside an old barn in rural Fostoria, Michigan in 2015. It just may have been one of the more unusual places, for the barn was around a hundred years old...and it did not have any heat!
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If you copy and past the following link into your browser, we were part of a TV news report at Greenfield Village - you can see a clip of us---AND hear us doing Jingle Bells!
https://nbc24.com/features/lifes-better-here/life-is-better-here-at-greenfield-village?fbclid=IwY2xjawHNWsdleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHaPmN3SmuszSHMNSwAwA2SRpFPOqo9qwMhr0vzsuwEPFF8Tl6WI9LAF3Fw_aem_ur67Wui5jHmi-W9qr8xzcg
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| Having fun at Greenfield Village~ Lee Cagle took this picture - 2015 |
There I am, looking like a character out of one of Dickens' novels while Beckie does her best to move away from me. Heidi seems to be trying to figure out just what the heck Diana is doing, which we still have not figured out, while Tommy is imitating Paul McCartney on the back cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Tom C? Yeah, well, I'm guessing he's thinking about his lovely lady who he will see after the performance.
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| As you can see, aside from Beckie joining us, and Samm bouncing in and out, there was little change in our group for a number of years. That was a relief. |
However, a change had occurred in Beckie's life and she had to leave, so Lainey and Heather came into the group.
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| 2016 - Holiday Nights at Greenfield Village: Look around Leaves are brown There's a patch of snow on the ground |
What a wonderful decision it was to have both Lainey and Heather!
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| Holiday Nights at Greenfield Village~ A winter's day...in a deep and dark December... Though it wasn't so dark with the snowfalling. |
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| 2016 - Playing at the 1872 Halfway Schoolhouse was always a great time, for it was our own show, and a percentage of the money we made was donated to the school house preservation. |
Finally!
After many requests, we recorded ourselves and put out a Christmas CD!
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| Our CD cover designed by Diana! This is what I wrote to help advertise it: By the way - - we have a CD available! Yes we do! 11 great "old world" carols including The Gloucestershire Wassail, The Boar's Head Carol, Riu Riu Chiu, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Silent Night (in German & English), The Wexford Carol, All You That Are Good Fellows, and other wonderful music our ancestors enjoyed. |
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| 2017 Here we are once again, performing for the Lac Ste. Claire Voyageurs historical reenactors at Metro-Beach in Harrison Township. This is the only gig out of all we did in which I would wear my colonial clothes as a sort of homage, since that was the period the Voyageurs reenacted. You will notice by this time we added Lainey's significant other, Isaac, to the group. Another wonderful new edition! |
The following few photos were taken at the Holly Dickens festival in 2018.
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| 2018 We always like to pose with the horses and carriage! |
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| 2018 Back to singing on the streets. In fact, I believe that's where we have the most fun. |
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| But, even at Holly, we performed indoors every-so-often. It was pretty cool to sing inside the 1891 Historic Holly Hotel in 2018 |
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| One of the Holly restaurants we sang inside gave us cookies! 2018 |
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| 2018 - Holly Dickens Festival~ End of the afternoon and the beginning of the evening. |
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| 2018 At the Historic (1871) Halfway School House in Eastpointe again~ |
The 2019 Harrison Township Show may just have been the most trying performance we'd ever done.
Tommy and I showed up on time...but sadly, Heather ended up at a different location, and Lainey ended up being taken to the hospital by Isaac, so we were down pretty much everyone. Diana showed up (thank God!) and had such a look of shock on her face when she heard it would only be her and Tommy singing.
And the audience were already filling up the chairs at the sold-out show.
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| Luckily, my daughter-in-law, Samm, was available last minute, and my wife zipped over to babysit. Samm showed up dressed and ready to perform - the show went off swimmingly well, with Tommy, Diana, and Samm putting their all into it! My gosh! I still get chest pains thinking about it! |
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| 2019 - Holly Dickens Festival: While singing on the street, passersby filled with the Christmas spirit, always stopped and listened. |
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| Whups! Lainey musta hit a bum note! |
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| 2019 One of the things we enjoyed the most was having audience members stand with us during "One Horse Open Sleigh" (aka "Jingle Bells"), jingling the bells to add to that most American of carols. Notice there were only four singing members of Simply Dickens - that's what happens when one may be ill - we covered for whoever could not make it. But...by the following year--- |
2020 - And then there were four...Diana felt it was time to take her leave from the group.
Her beautiful voice and exhuberance was sorely missed.
And Tom - TC - also left, though his reason was due to continuing ill health issues.
Simply Dickens cannot be separated from this wonderful Dickensian England comes to life Holly Dickens Festival.
When we announced our last public stage performance would take place at the Plymouth (Michigan) Historical Museum on December 16, 2023, we were in the local magazine!
Another sold out Plymouth show for us!
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| 2020 - Plymouth Historical Museum: With Diana gone, Lainey took over as the young lady who received all of those "wonderful" 12 Days of Christmas gifts...and she, Like Diana, put her all into it. Yes, that's Lainey lying on the ground! Almost like slapstick comedy! |
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| Having fun in Plymouth~2020~posing with statues~ |
Then there was the time in 2021 when, again due to illness, only three members were able to perform at a location we'd not been at before - an old historic church in Garden City, Michigan.
It was also the first time out for our newest addition, Jessica. But Heather, Jessixa, and Isaac carried on like the professionals they were/are, and Jessica proved herself to be a stellar member.
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| Only three in an old historic Garden City Church in 2021. But their voices filled the room and we were well received. We must've been, for we returned the following year. |
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| 2021 and we performed for a Roseville tea hosted by former Simply Dickens member, Kim Parr! |
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| 2021 - Holly---gotta love Holly! |
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| 2021 - Holly Always looking for more unique poses
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| Poor Jessica - she was just plum wore out! |
We started performing in the Blackthorn pub more and more - at least once a day.
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| With the look and feel of an old English pub, performing at the Blackthorn Pub may just have become my favorite spot to perform in Holly! 2021 |
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| 2021 - at Troy Motor City Church---yes, that's a real reindeer there! |
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| 2021 - the year we sang to one of Santa's reindeer. Sorry, Dancer, we don't do any Santa or reindeer carols... |
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| Tom TC Campbell 1961 - 2022 |
On a sad note, it was in the evening of August 31, 2022, that our Simply Dickens bass singer, Tom (TC) Campbell passed away of a heart ailment. Tom was a wonderful and very talented guy.
And a friend.
He played guitar as well as sang, and he is one of the very few people I know who loved the Beatles more than me. He is sorely missed---not just in the group, but as a friend.
Simply Dickens spent the Christmas of 2022 honoring and remembering Tom at each performance we gave. In fact, his hat was at each show, and any money people gave us as a pass the hat donation was donated back to the Holly Dickens Festival in Tom's name.
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| 2022 - Off the beaten Holly path... |
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| 2022 - I thought this was kind of a neat image - - |
It was in late summer 2023 that Tommy and I announced that this was going to be the final year for Simply Dickens. He and I had spoken about it earlier in the year and agreed.
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| 2023 - our last street performance in Holly. Yes, and some visitors joined right in! |
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| We all enjoyed a horse and carriage ride - and Simply Dickens sang "A One Horse Open Sleigh" as the horse clip-clopped around town. The video of this is linked toward the bottom of this post with a few other videos. Thanks for the ride Michelle!!
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| Our final Holly stage performance - December 10, 2023. I'll always have nothing but fond and wonderful memories of performing at the Holly Dickens Festival. We drew a wonderfully large crowd for our farewell~~ |
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| 2023 - Yes, I took this during the Final Holly Performance of Simply Dickens |
Then, with a tear in the eye, it was time to bid Holly goodbye...
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| 2023 - walking to our horseless carriages after our final Dickens Festival performance - - Goodbye, Holly... |
When we announced our last public stage performance would take place at the Plymouth (Michigan) Historical Museum on December 16, 2023, we were in the local magazine!
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| So long...farewell... - 2023 |
Another sold out Plymouth show for us!
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| 2023 - Our final public performance at the Plymouth Historical Museum |
For our very last ever performance, it was decided it would take place at my house, in the room where it all began and where nearly all the rehearsals had taken place, including the very first one all those years ago. Tommy came up with the idea that for the end of it all our show would be live streamed. We invited any former members to join us - sadly, only one, Kim, took us up on that offer. Also sadly, Lainey was not able to make it for most of the show, though she did show up for the final few songs. We had a small in-person audience there, consisting of a few of our biggest fans.
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| The livestream began as I lit the candles on our Christmas Tree - Old World Music meets Old World traditions. Of course, I only kept them lit for a few minutes. |
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| Simply Dickens sounded wonderful. I only wish the full group could have been there. |
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| Kim sang along and she remembered not only the lyrics, but all of her parts. She was awesome! |
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| As always, I enjoyed hearing the group sing. As many times as I've listened to them - through rehearsals and all of the performances - I never tire of them. Never. |
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| Lainey did join us toward the end. |
Here are a few of my favorite videos of the group.
This first clip shows the singers performing the wonderful carol from the 1860s, Masters In This Hall, in 2014 at the Crocker House Museum:
Next up we have the singers singing one of my all-time favorites, God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen at the 2023 Holly Dickens Festival - our last street performance there.
We had so much fun bursting into the Blackthorn Pub and having a rousing Christmas Carol sing in 2023 up in Holly:
2023 - Deck the Hall, again inside the Blackthorn Pub up at the Holly Dickens Festival:
Another favorite video - Simply Dickens singing One Horse Open Sleigh aka as Jingle Bells while inside a carriage being pulled by...one horse. Jessica's boyfriend, Garrett, is the hero here, for he trotted alongside the horse & carriage, filming the entire time!
Do I miss Simply Dickens?
Oh, you bet! Greatly!
Simply Dickens has been a big part of my life and a major part of my Christmas for over two decades---how could I not miss it?
Oh, you bet! Greatly!
Simply Dickens has been a big part of my life and a major part of my Christmas for over two decades---how could I not miss it?
However, in the same way I miss the classroom after retiring from my job, I also miss our performances. But, though I may miss it, I don't regret ending it. I am filling the void in other ways, like keeping busy and taking part in historical Christmas events due to open weekends, to do more Christmas activities, including actually visiting the Holly Dickens Festival, and attending Holiday Nights at Greenfield Village. Oh! Then there's Christmas at the Farm/Cabin at Waterloo.
And I do have the old CDs there to listen to---remember, I collect the ancient sounds of Christmas past.
So, yes, I do miss it.
But the memories...oh! The memories...
The following list is where we have performed at, usually multiple times:
Holly Dickens Festival in Holly - where it all began, and probably our very favorite place to perform
Clarkston Church in Clarkston
Various Eastpointe schools
FOX 2 News in Southfield
Greenfield Village in Dearborn
Comerica Park in Detroit - we got two thumbs up from Detroit Tigers owner Mike Ilitch and a wave from the great Willie Horton
Mount Clemens Christmas Parade
Greenmead Historic Village in Livonia
Crocker House Museum in Mt. Clemens
Halfway 1872 School House in Eastpointe
Harrison Township - Ste. Claire Voyageurs
Grosse Pointe for the DAR
Clinton Township Historical Society
Mill Race Village in Northville
Chesterfield Township
Private Home in Birmingham
Tommy's House (stream and rehearsals) in Warren
My house (stream and rehearsals---Eastpointe) - Our last ever performance
Garden City Straight Farm Museum
Plymouth Historical Museum in Plymouth, Michigan
Inside of an old barn in Fostoria, Michigan
Grand Blanc
It is unfortunate that I cannot locate pictures from each and every location Simply Dickens performed at.
Many many thanks to the myriad of photographers, including Karen DeCoster-Campbell, wife of Tom/TC, and probably our biggest fan. She was there at our first performance, and our last. Also photos from myself as well as from other Simply Dickens members.
HERE is a collection of CDs where one can hear many of these old carols.
HERE are stories behind a few of the carols Simply Dickens performed
Until next time, see you in time.
Simply Dickens
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