Rosie Thomas and Sheila Saputo spread some holiday cheer in San Francisco

December 10, 2008, at Bottom of the Hill

By Camille Ikalina Robles
Published: December 13th, 2008 | 5:20pm

I’ve seen singer-songwriter Rosie Thomas in concert before, but Wednesday night’s show at the Bottom of the Hill was the first time I’d ever met Sheila Saputo. To some, Saputo has become her own entity, earning her own collection of fans across the country through hair-brained stunts at Thomas’ shows and numerous YouTube videos, and now she is even the proud owner of her own MySpace page. In reality she is Thomas’ alter-ego: a socially inept, accident prone, neck brace–wearing character who has the power to bring even the most unimpressed concertgoers into states of uncontrollable laughter.

Saputo opened Thomas’ set dressed as Santa Claus and in her signature neck brace from “an accident” she suffered four years ago. Though her doctors said she only needed to wear it for two weeks, Saputo explained, “I just didn’t want to take any chances.” Dispensing advice and thoughts about the holiday season, Saputo talked about allergies, aiming high for the New Year, and still being single, all the while scratching her crotch and tossing food into her mouth. After warming up the crowd, she excused herself, as it was time for her to hang in the van and guard the equipment.

When Rosie Thomas took the stage, she donned a black shift dress, a red-and-white-striped turtleneck, red tights, and black tap shoes. The band, dressed in plaid pajamas, surrounded Thomas on a stage covered in gold tinsel, stockings, and holiday lights. The theme of the night and the aptly titled new Rosie Thomas album, A Very Rosie Christmas (Sing-A-Long), is a collection of new pop arrangements of classic covers and originals celebrating the holiday season. Opening with classic songs like “Winter Wonderland,” “Christmastime Is Here,” and “Silent Night,” Thomas assured the audience that it wouldn’t all be about Christmas tonight. Included in the set was a sweet rendition of Joni Mitchell’s “River” and the original tune “Why Can’t It Be Christmastime All Year?” which was penned by Thomas and her brother and pianist for the show, Brian Thomas.

“I’m going to tug on your heart strings for a bit,” explained Thomas. “Don’t worry, it’s under three minutes!” Grabbing her guitar and sitting down, Thomas moved into somber and sweet versions of some of her previous work, including “Time Goes Away” and “Much Farther To Go.” Although apologizing for her strained voice from night after night of shows, Thomas’ childlike talking voice transitioned into her sweetly melodic and classic singing voice easily, making it hard to believe that she was the owner of both.

Closing with the holiday classics “Let It Snow” and “O Come O Come Emmanuel,” Thomas stringed along the entire set with her humor and goofiness, and kept the show sweet and aptly true to its theme, but not overwhelmingly sappy. Sincerely thanking the crowd over and over again, it was clear she was happy to be there, sore throat and all.

For more photos from this show visit Venus Zine's Flickr page.

Review of Rosie Thomas' If Songs Could be Held

Review of Rosie Thomas' These Friends of Mine