Five or six Christmases ago, John Osebold—the bandleader of
“Awesome”—realized he was cash-poor but rich in songs, and
recorded an album in his bedroom as his present to people. He’s
maintained the tradition, festooning his “December” albums with audio
samples from the previous year (Osebold gets weirder phone messages
than most folks) and cameo appearances by friends playing banjo,
drums, trumpet, etc. The December songs are mostly happy and bouncy and
show off Osebold’s complicated, geometric guitar phrasing.
Tonight, Osebold and Kirk Anderson—the drummer of
“Awesome”—will show some old stock footage and play from past
December albums because “the new album,” Osebold says, “has become
unplayable. Oopsie.” (Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave, www.nwfilmforum.org. 11 pm,
$9.)

Brend an Kiley has worked as a child actor in New Orleans, as a member of the junior press corps at the 1988 Republican National Convention, and, for one happy April, as a bootlegger’s assistant in Nicaragua....