Tracker Pixel for Entry

ADVANCE BASE with WALDEMAR, ORNAMENTAL HORTICULTURE (NEW!), and HOPECHEST

Music | December 5th, 2023

The Aquarium, 226 Broadway North upstairs, Downtown Fargo

Friday, December 8, 7:30-11pm

Doors 7:30 pm // Music 8 pm
21+ // $10 advance // $12 DOS

Over two decades, Christmas songs have appeared throughout Owen Ashworth’s recorded output, from Casiotone for the Painfully Alone’s 2016 fan favorite “Cold White Christmas” to Advance Base’s latest Christmas single, “Christmas Steve.” There have been enough Advance Base and Casiotone for the Painfully Alone Christmas songs to necessitate a Christmas Mixtape (available as a free download from Advance Base’s Bandcamp). The album’s worth of songs that make up Christmas Mixtape don’t celebrate Christmas but merely acknowledge the emotional weight of the holiday season & its sometimes dreary realities. Over sparkling electric piano & warm electronic drones, Ashworth sings of lonely Midwesterners negotiating complicated family dynamics while trudging past storefront Christmas displays on their way to dead-end jobs. The songs are funny as often as they’re sad, but always full of the rich humanity that fans have come to expect from Ashworth’s bruised balladry.

Every December, Owen Ashworth tours the Advance Base & Casiotone for the Painfully Alone Christmas Mixtape songs through different corners of the US and Canada. He performs his melancholic acknowledgements of Christmas to holiday lovers and haters alike.

“As both Advance Base and Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, Ashworth has traversed America, carefully detailing the coldest Christmases imaginable ... It's all strangely comforting." - Alex Robert Ross, Vice

"Listeners won’t find reindeer, glad tidings, or piping cups of hot cocoa in Ashworth’s lyrics. Rather, his songs follow aimless twentysomethings, lonely housewives, and troubled siblings as they trudge through the slush, undone by the weight of expectation and the hope for a better year ahead. Anchoring it all is Ashworth’s instrument of choice: a Rhodes electric piano that often rings with the cold, clanging sound of church bells on Christmas eve, a sound that, like the holiday itself, carries certain connotations." - Randall Colburn, AV Club

IF YOU GO

Tickets: holdmyticket.com/event/422161

PublicAnyone on or off Facebook

Recently in:

By Alicia Underlee Nelsonalicia@hpr1.comDairy Queen restaurants across the country will raise funds for Children’s Miracle Network hospitals during Miracle Treat Day on Thursday, July 31. At least one dollar from every Blizzard…

By Alicia Underlee Nelsonalicia@hpr1.comFM Pride Week returns to the Fargo-Moorhead metro August 3-10. A snapshot of events are listed below. Discover event descriptions and locations as well as volunteer opportunities online at…

Monday, August 11Fargo Theatre, 314 N. Broadway, Fargo “Saw The Musical” premiered Off-Broadway in the Fall of 2023, parodying the events of the first “Saw” film. It has been described as “a love story with fluidity (and…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com On July fourth, Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest took place at Coney Island. The winners, Joey Chestnut and Miki Sudo, reigned victorious. Chestnut earned his 17th title by…

By Ed Raymondfargogadly@gmail.comNotes about terror, tyranny, torture, freedom, laws, lies, and truthWhen Vice President Mike Pence needed an answer to a question about the 2020 presidential election that might end American…

By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com Holiday wine shopping shouldn’t have to be complicated. But unfortunately it can cause unneeded anxiety due to an overabundance of choices. Don’t fret my friends, we once again have you covered…

By Rick Gion and Simone Wairickgion@gmail.com The Red River Market returned to downtown Fargo on Saturday, July 12. The event will take place every Saturday except July 19. (That date will be moved to Sunday, July 20, due to the…

By Alicia Underlee Nelsonalicia@hpr1.comThe Moorhead Public Library will offer three free, all-ages outdoor concerts featuring regional bands this summer. The series begins on June 12 with the Meat Rabbits, a group that blends…

By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.com Cinephiles and fans of classic midcentury Hollywood biography will find much to appreciate in Mariska Hargitay’s insightful documentary “My Mom Jayne.” As protagonist Olivia Benson on…

Press ReleaseTouchmark at Harwood Groves will host a special artist reception featuring renowned glass artist Jon Offutt on Tuesday, July 29, at 2:00 p.m. in the community’s auditorium. The event celebrates Offutt’s temporary…

By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.comPhoto by Yvonne Denault There is something intimate and personal about plays. Even in our age of multimillion dollar Hollywood productions and droves of streaming services, watching actors…

By Annie Prafckeannieprafcke@gmail.com AUSTIN, Texas – As a Chinese-American, connecting to my culture through food is essential, and no dish brings me back to my mother’s kitchen quite like hotdish. Yes, you heard me right –…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comNew Jamestown Brewery Serves up Local FlavorThere’s something delicious brewing out here on the prairie and it just so happens to be the newest brewery west of the Red River and east of the…

By Alicia Underlee Nelsonalicia@hpr1.comCaregivers for school-aged children and teenagers are encouraged to bring them to back-to-school immunization clinics scheduled for every Tuesday in August. Fargo Cass Public Health (FCPH)…

By Alicia Underlee NelsonProtests against President Trump’s policies and the cuts made by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are planned across North Dakota and western Minnesota Friday, April 4 and…

By Vern Thompsonvern.thompson@rocketmail.com Working in the Bakken oil fields of the Williston Basin is so different from my home in Fargo. I'm not judging, because the people working and living in western North Dakota are very…