Christmas music sucks. Silence is cheap. Be economical and quit whining. Chip Davis knows what were talking about. The man behind American Gramaphone, one of the most successful independent record labels ever, first learned the value of popular song through the radio biz. He and an executive at a Nebraska advertising agency dreamed up the singing American truck-driver, C.W. McCall. The stupid audience loved him so much that millions of records worth of songs were produced and sold. There was even a feature film (Convoy) released on the strength of the concept. Chip Davis then made an album of Christmas songs with big arrangements, a mix of synthesizers, acoustic instruments, and bold vocals. He shopped it to major labels and they laughed him out of their offices. He released it himself, became director of the musical group Mannheim Steamroller, and 25 years later, the world famous Mannheim Steamroller Christmas Tour is rolling into town to crush the Arsht Centers Ziff Ballet Opera House in an incredible spectacle of sound and light.
Sun., Dec. 26, 7 p.m., 2010