Brian Henneman's Christmas Show

Tapes circulate from nine years of Brian Henneman's Christmas shows, and they do partial justice to the revelry. From his long-gone, hard-drinking days, the lead Bottle Rocket raises Cuervo after Cuervo toast; from his beret and Ovation acoustic days, he previews unreleased albums; and year after year, he honors requests for Chicken Truck anthems such as "Party Man" and "I Drink Stag." One year his band joined him, and they nearly made it through "Free Bird." But what you mostly hear on these bootlegs is the joy of Hi-Pointe (R.I.P.) crowds, liberated from the anxiety of familial obligations and the soul-numbing drone of yule-zak. Henneman is as likely to strum AC/DC as "Blue Christmas." "Anything can happen," he says of this year's tenth-anniversary show. And anything usually does.