Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Rockin' Cranberries?

It's the Full Measure Carolers' favorite time of year

Full Measure Carolers owner Ryan (second from left) may sing 20 gigs on Christams Eve: “You’re exhausted.” - Image by Cosmic Frogs Photography
Full Measure Carolers owner Ryan (second from left) may sing 20 gigs on Christams Eve: “You’re exhausted.”

“I joined the group about 13 years ago and bought the company 9 years later. We have between 45 and 50 singers, depending on the season,” says Angelica Eclar Ryan, speaking with me on a windswept weekend morning. We’re talking about the Full Measure Carolers, along with singer Molly Whittaker. The group takes the Christmas season very seriously.

Video:

"Jingle Bell Rock"

...by Rockin' Cranberries/Full Measure Carolers

...by Rockin' Cranberries/Full Measure Carolers

“We go out in groups of four or five,” Ryan explains, “either as Dickens carolers doing traditional material or as the Rockin’ Cranberries, which is a nod to 1950s doo-wop. Frostbite is a modern, Pentatonix-style group, and the Holly Bells combine bell ringing with either a traditional or doo-wop style.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

“We have everything organized by range,” says Whittaker. “We have a list of sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses. We’re all independent contractors, so we let Angelica know our availability, then she starts scheduling the hundreds of gigs over the month of December.”

What kind of gigs are these? “Of course we do the malls,” says Ryan. “We do everything from the Ritz-Carlton to SeaWorld and Legoland, country clubs, retirement homes, casinos, and private parties.”

The gigs can range from the big spectacle to the intimate, according to Whittaker. “We did a military-base party where Santa and his elves jumped out of a Black Hawk helicopter and parachuted down to the tarmac while we were caroling. On the other end of the spectrum, we sang in a room where a woman was dying. Her daughter hired us to come and sing for an hour every day and we would gather around her bed at the old-folks’ home for almost a month before she passed. That was hard to do but really rewarding because she loved the music....

Place

San Diego Civic Theatre

1100 Third Avenue, San Diego

“The best part of this job is getting to interact with people with very little distance between the performers and the audience,” says Ryan, who, like Whittaker, has years of experience in more formal settings like churches and opera houses. “The worst part,” says Whittaker, “is on Christmas Eve when you’ve done 20 gigs. There’s a lot of running around and changing costumes out of the trunk of your car. You’re exhausted and you realize you haven’t done anything to celebrate the holidays for yourself.”

The Full Measure Carolers appear at the Las Americas Premium Outlets on December 17 at 2 p.m. and the California Ballet Nutcracker at San Diego Civic Theatre at 6 p.m.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Gonzo Report: Three nights of Mission Bayfest bring bliss

“This is a top-notch production.”
Full Measure Carolers owner Ryan (second from left) may sing 20 gigs on Christams Eve: “You’re exhausted.” - Image by Cosmic Frogs Photography
Full Measure Carolers owner Ryan (second from left) may sing 20 gigs on Christams Eve: “You’re exhausted.”

“I joined the group about 13 years ago and bought the company 9 years later. We have between 45 and 50 singers, depending on the season,” says Angelica Eclar Ryan, speaking with me on a windswept weekend morning. We’re talking about the Full Measure Carolers, along with singer Molly Whittaker. The group takes the Christmas season very seriously.

Video:

"Jingle Bell Rock"

...by Rockin' Cranberries/Full Measure Carolers

...by Rockin' Cranberries/Full Measure Carolers

“We go out in groups of four or five,” Ryan explains, “either as Dickens carolers doing traditional material or as the Rockin’ Cranberries, which is a nod to 1950s doo-wop. Frostbite is a modern, Pentatonix-style group, and the Holly Bells combine bell ringing with either a traditional or doo-wop style.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

“We have everything organized by range,” says Whittaker. “We have a list of sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses. We’re all independent contractors, so we let Angelica know our availability, then she starts scheduling the hundreds of gigs over the month of December.”

What kind of gigs are these? “Of course we do the malls,” says Ryan. “We do everything from the Ritz-Carlton to SeaWorld and Legoland, country clubs, retirement homes, casinos, and private parties.”

The gigs can range from the big spectacle to the intimate, according to Whittaker. “We did a military-base party where Santa and his elves jumped out of a Black Hawk helicopter and parachuted down to the tarmac while we were caroling. On the other end of the spectrum, we sang in a room where a woman was dying. Her daughter hired us to come and sing for an hour every day and we would gather around her bed at the old-folks’ home for almost a month before she passed. That was hard to do but really rewarding because she loved the music....

Place

San Diego Civic Theatre

1100 Third Avenue, San Diego

“The best part of this job is getting to interact with people with very little distance between the performers and the audience,” says Ryan, who, like Whittaker, has years of experience in more formal settings like churches and opera houses. “The worst part,” says Whittaker, “is on Christmas Eve when you’ve done 20 gigs. There’s a lot of running around and changing costumes out of the trunk of your car. You’re exhausted and you realize you haven’t done anything to celebrate the holidays for yourself.”

The Full Measure Carolers appear at the Las Americas Premium Outlets on December 17 at 2 p.m. and the California Ballet Nutcracker at San Diego Civic Theatre at 6 p.m.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

At 4pm, this Farmer's Table restaurant in Chula Vista becomes Acqua e Farina

Brunch restaurant by day, Roman style trattoria by night
Next Article

Tijuana sewage infects air in South Bay

By September, Imperial Beach’s beach closure broke 1000 consecutive days
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader