PREVIEW
What: Holly Cole and the Victoria Symphony
When: Saturday, 8 p.m.
Where: Royal Theatre
Tickets: $35 to $55 (tel. 250-386-6121)
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For Christmas, Holly Cole wants a sable coat.
Plus a '54 convertible. And a yacht.
At least, that's according to Santa Baby. It was an enormous hit for Eartha Kitt back in 1953, and Cole recorded it in 2001 for her album, Baby, It's Cold Outside. Fans of Cole's Christmas shows love her rendition (she promises to sing it in Victoria Saturday) because it's torchy, cheeky and ... well, sexier than all get-out.
"I think a lot of people feel, as I do, that's it's sort of fun to poke a stick at Christmas a bit," Cole says from her Toronto home. "Santa Baby's great. Talk about poking at Christmas."
The jazz-pop singer -- who describes her Christmas concerts as "spiritual but secular" -- will also sing Patti Larkin's bittersweet Winter Wind, and Come Come, a song of acceptance and forgiveness based on an ancient poem.
If you're keen on Cole, you'd better get your skates on. Her Saturday night concert with the Victoria Symphony is approaching sell-out. As well as the orchestra, Cole is joined by her own combo, featuring longtime pianist Aaron Davis.
The 45-year-old vocalist is renowned for her artistically adventuresome approach to jazz, pop, show-tunes and beyond.
Yet few things in Cole's 25-year career have topped the popularity of her annual Christmas tours. It might be that, in contrast to the sentimentality and commercialism typically offered by yuletide entertainers, her mix of smart irony and cabaret theatrics offers a pleasantly astringent palate-cleanse.
Cole says she hates the contrived aspects of the music business. She cites, for example, the pre-fabricated pop boy bands and girl groups assembled not from a love for music, but the Machiavellian ambitions of producers. By contrast, the Holly Cole Christmas phenomenon was "so unplanned. It was nobody's idea. It just took off."
Her name does seem tailor-made for the season. Yet it's no show-biz contrivance. Cole's parents, both classical piano players and singers from Halifax, named her after her grandmother -- and yes, because she was born exactly one month before Christmas.
"I don't think they were thinking, 'We want her to be a jazz singer that goes around the country doing Christmas,' " Cole says.
Her last album, a self-titled effort, was released in 2007. Cole plans a new disc, possibly a live recording, in 2009. The singer is reluctant to comment on it, in case her plans change.
What Cole is most keen to talk about is her drumming. About seven years ago she started playing drums, just for fun.
She's got a kit in her living room and another in her workspace. When she has a rare spare hour, she plays drums instead of watching TV.
Cole enjoys it for two reasons -- both therapeutic. In contrast to singing, drumming requires what she calls "independence of limbs." She says wielding a pair of drumsticks while simultaneously operating a kick drum and high-hat with her feet is a welcome challenge.
Drumming also appeals because, unlike singing, it is not her job. This rekindles a childlike spirit when it comes to making music -- something that transfers to her singing, as well.
"I never have to play the drums when I don't feel like it ... No one gives a damn whether I play them well. Except me."
The secret is out, however. Some of Cole's fans know she's a closet drummer. They'll occasionally ask her to play at concerts -- yelling out from the audience. Cole once played drums for a Christmas show in Victoria, switching places with regular stickman Davide Direnzo.
Another of her passions is animals. Cole had horses growing up in Halifax.
As a teen, she'd rise at 6 a.m., then ride her moped 11 kilometres to the barn to feed and water her horse and other livestock. Then she'd take the bus to school with the "rural kids." After school, Cole would return to the barn, finally coming home at 9 p.m. to do her homework.
Her love of animals later transferred to her dog Rhoda, a black Belgian shepherd.
When Rhoda finally died after a long life, Cole was so heartbroken she vowed never to get another.
"It was huge when he died. If I got another dog, it wouldn't match up," she says.
Cole's Christmas tour wraps up with dates at Seattle's Jazz Alley dinner/dance club on Dec. 22 and 23. She gets home Christmas Eve.
"It's going to be difficult to Christmas-shop," she says. "Everyone's gonna get a pen set from the corner store. Or an Elvis bust."
