With Christmas approaching, the calendar shows interesting seasonal shows as well as good rocking. If you want to catch some of the best singers around, the next few days are for you. Dallas-bred, Austin-based singer, songwriter and band leader Patrice Pike did not win the TV reality show Rock Star: Supernova.

But facts are facts and anyone who saw the show, or anyone who didn't see the show but has seen Pike work during a 20-year music career that started when she was 16, knows Pike is a rock star. She does not need to be anointed by TV. That's a fact.

I usually approach everything with the perspective there's something to learn, Pike said from a tour stop in Wichita Falls, after 45 hours of driving through blizzards in Colorado and New Mexico. I was in a comfortable bubble I'd created. I have my own record label.

I was touring comfortable places. A talent agent called and asked if I was interested in auditioning for the show. I didn't think I was interested, but my gut said I should audition.

Pike auditioned and landed a spot on the show. I learned how to be totally alone without my community around me, she said. I was surprised I was there for two months.

They knew about my politics and they knew I write positive songs.
Tonight at Sam's Burger Joint Pike will showcase those songs, from the new CD, Unraveling, just out on Tape Slap Records. San Antonio-bred Ginger Leigh, Pike's blizzard-driving co-pilot, and her band, and the Ashlee Rose Band will open.

Doors open at 8 p.m. Tickets for the all-ages show cost $12 at the door.

Pike will be accompanied by a hot band, longtime collaborator Wayne Sutton (guitar), Rachel Loy (bass), Brian Keane (keyboards, guitar) and Jeff Botta (drums).
Everybody in the band sings, Pike said, laughing. When it comes to describing my music, it all has to do with my voice.

I'm a singer first and rock and soul have influenced me most. My voice is what ties it all together.
Pike has been putting that voice to good use for many years.

She started young, was surrounded by varied music at home, played French horn and piano, went to an arts magnet high school and fell under the spell of Dallas area performers including blues/rock guitar wizard Bugs Henderson and the rocking band Nitzinger. She hit the road with the band Sister Sister, which evolved into Sister 7. When Sister 7 disbanded, Pike undertook a variety of projects, including the band Black Box Rebellion.

The new CD is somewhat of a departure, Pike said. I worked on it for 21/2 years and used different musicians for different tracks. I wanted to approach each song from what the song called for instead of creating a certain sound for the entire CD.

Pike does not regret her stint on TV.
You can't help but pick up some new fans when you're playing for 10 million people every week, she added. It's cool to go to La Guardia airport in New York and have someone say, 'Hey, I saw you on TV.

' I definitely have a wider fan base now.
Just as a first-class 17-piece big band in full cry is an aural treat, a sharp 36-voice choir in full voice is a wonder. When that 36-voice choir is Austin-based Conspirare, under the direction of Craig Hella Johnson, the wonder is multiplied.

And when, for Christmas, the voice of storied New Orleans vocalist John Boutte is added to the mix, Conspirare's Christmas at the Carillon concert falls into the don't miss category.
There will be one San Antonio performance of Conspirare's Christmas at the Carillon concert, at 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday in Coates Chapel at the Southwest School of Art Craft, 300 Augusta St. Tickets, $30-$60, are available by calling (512) 476-5775 or via the Web at info@ conspirare.org.

Tickets are not being sold at the school.
Conspirare is known for mixing sacred music, some ancient, some not, with popular songs.
As director Johnson writes: We will again be crossing the perceived separation between sacred and secular, pop and classical, structured and abstract and all with a single thread of lyrical intent.

Boutte has a repertoire that dovetails with Conspirare's goal. Part of a music-making family that includes sister Lillian, Boutte was raised in New Orleans' Seventh Ward, a hotbed of music.
Boutte sings everything from Sam Cooke to country, from New Orleans standards to gospel classics.

On the New Orleans Social Club CD, recorded in Austin by New Orleans musicians to raise money to help New Orleans denizens post-Katrina, Boutte turned in a stunning rendition of Annie Lennox's Why.
Conspirare and Boutte in the Coates Chapel should kick your Christmas spirit into overdrive.
There won't be 37 voices doing Christmas tunes Wednesday at the Boardwalk Bistro, but the several that do will do so with power, panache and their own New Orleans accent, when jazz stalwarts Small World bring their annual Christmas concert to the restaurant.

Show time is 7-10 p.m. There's no cover charge.

Reservations are suggested. Call (210) 824-0100.
Small World co-founders Polly Harrison (guitar, vocals) and Kyle Keener (drums, vocals) will be joined by former Crescent City reed ace Pierre Pore (clarinet, vocals) and, from San Antonio and New Orleans, Tim Paco (bass).

The concert will feature nothing but Christmas tunes, many standards and some surprises. Deck those halls.

1 FM. San Antonio Express-News publish date Dec. 8, 2006

-- courtesy photo -->

-- Vocalist John Boutte takes the stage with Conspirare Tuesday. -->