Couple helps move Christmas Groove’s annual holiday benefit concert online
by Erica Peterson
What started 15 years ago with Hinckley residents Robb and Joni Colbrunn and some of their friends wanting to perform a non-traditional holiday concert has blossomed into Christmas Groove, a 30-plus member group that has become a holiday staple for many in the community.
When his friend came to him with the idea for a Christmas concert featuring more modern styles of rock and blues and less typical choir music, Robb was skeptical.
“I told him, ‘Nobody is going to come to that,’” he said, laughing.
But his friend persisted, so Robb agreed to play the drums at the first show, held at Polaris Christian Church in Brunswick.
Happily, Robb was wrong, as the show was packed. Christmas Groove played two shows the next year at larger Brunswick High School then moved to Highland High School.
The crowds kept growing until Christmas Groove landed at Grace Church in Middleburg Heights, which Joni said is one of the larger facilities in the area.
“And now we’re up to five shows at Grace,” she said. “It keeps growing for us.”
Last year, Christmas Groove’s shows drew 5,000 people, Robb said.
In 2010, they decided to put their success to good use and turn the show into a benefit concert.
“The first couple of years, we chose a charity; somebody from the charity came the night of the show, we passed a basket, and then they took the donations,” Joni said.
Since then, Christmas Groove incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Because of that, it can get corporate sponsors to cover marketing, facility rental fees, equipment and other costs of every show.
“What that means is, for anyone who shows up, every single penny you put in the basket goes directly to the beneficiary,” Joni said. “We don’t take any of it the night of the show.”
The group chooses a different Northeast Ohio beneficiary each year. Last year, it collected $50,000. Over the years, Christmas Groove has raised about $250,000.
Growing membership
Christmas Groove includes musicians from Medina, Cuyahoga, Summit, Stark and Erie counties. Singers include James Fruits, Stacey Collier, Pat Robbins, David Trainer, Joy and Naomi Rambo, Eric Luciano, Grace Dodson and Robb and Joni’s daughter Lilia.
Musicians include Robb Colbrunn on drums, Joni Colbrunn on percussion, Eric VanHorn on bass guitar, Brian Bianchi and Alex Pylypiv on electric guitar, David Trainer and David Dodson on acoustic guitar, Jim Garber and Ray Dangelo on keyboards and Lisa Stronsick and Heidi Cake on strings.
The Groove horns include Kevin Roach, Mark Pinzone, Gary Allen, Zach Dayton, David Toerek and Sam Sandman. Drummers include Joe and Luca Violo, Joe Styfurak and James Gunther.
Five original Christmas Groove members are still with the group: the Colbrunns, VanHorn, Robbins and Dodson.
Christmas Groove is truly a community event, as members of the Highland High School band drumline help each year. This year, those students include Lilia and Gabe Colbrunn, Cody Dryer, Charlie Wilkes, Jimmy DeJongh, Alex Ambro, Jacob Ulatowski, Maria Davis, JD Tramonte, Jordyn Barr, Evan Miceli, Maddy Schreiner and Max Weber.
Over the years, all of the Colbrunn children have taken part in the shows: Boyd, 21; Lilia, 19; Gabe, 16; and twins Troy and Adalai, 13.
Most audience members assume Christmas Groove employs professional musicians, but all of them are amateurs who volunteer their time and talent. No one is paid.
“They all have day jobs,” Joni said. “They’re all very, very talented, but they’re all volunteers.”
Online show
Because of the pandemic, Christmas Groove decided to perform online this year. Members have been working on the pre-recorded show for months.
“We have been recording the audio since August at various home recording studios, including our house,” Joni said. “We then started recording videos in October, to go with the songs, at locations around Medina and Cuyahoga counties. We have some videos at the gazebo in Medina, downtown Cleveland, The Foundry and even Lake Erie.”
The free show will premiere on Friday, Dec. 4, at 7 p.m. on its YouTube channel, youtube.com/christmasgroove, and will also be streamed on facebook.com/ChristmasGroove.
“We wanted to create something like a one-hour concert special you would watch on TV,” he said.
Robb said it was important to keep concertgoers and band members safe, so this year’s format is essentially music videos recorded by different band members in different places. Some were shot outside, and some were done like the “quarantine-style” videos that have become popular, where individual blocks are put together.
“And at the end of the day, very few people were together in a room at the same time,” he said.
Fans of Robb’s annual parody song will not be disappointed, as he has a special one planned for the very unusual year of 2020.
“As we were planning, one of the board members said, ‘If there’s ever a year that needs a good, light-hearted parody, it’s this year,’” he said. “Joni had this idea of taking the REM song, ‘It’s The End of the World As We Know It,’ and changing it to, ‘It’s Not the End of the World As We Know It.’”
Robb said the point of Christmas Groove is to create a fun, entertaining evening.
“We want to be able to provide a gift to the audience, and then they can provide a gift to the beneficiary,” he said. This year’s beneficiary is Habitat for Humanity. Donations will be split between the Medina and Cleveland chapters. For information on how to donate, and for more information about the organization and this year’s show, visit christmasgroove.org.
Feature image photo caption: Stacey Collier and Eric Luciano perform at last year’s Christmas Groove benefit concert. This year, the group, co-founded by Hinckley residents Robb and Joni Colbrunn, is moving its popular holiday show online. Photo by Julie Hahn, Sugarbrush Design
