One of my favorite Christmas traditions is to go see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s final concert every year. This year, TSO’s last show is in Baltimore, Maryland and I will be there to celebrate the end of another great tour with them. My good friend Alex Skolnick is one of the lead musicians with TSO, so I get special backstage privileges. Lucky me!

Alex stays busy year-round, between touring with his Alex Skolnick Trio; reunion tours with Testament, his original heavy metal band from the 80s through early 90s, and the phenomenal Christmas tour with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Alex is considered one of the best “shredders” in the world. In this Good Morning America video, you can see him playing guitar on the right. He’s the guy with the silver streak in his hair. The orchestra is performing one of their most popular pieces, “Wizards in Winter.”

Take a peek at what it’s like to be at a TSO concert. The light show is absolutely out of this world. This is “Wizards in Winter” again, but the concert version. As I’m sure you can imagine, it’s even better in person.

And see what TSO has inspired! This is just one of many examples of homes decorated with Christmas lights synchronized to TSO music. You can find a lot more on YouTube. The video of the original TSO-inspired home went online in 2004. The genius behind it was electrical engineer Carson Williams in Ohio, whose display was so popular it has been featured in Miller Light commercials during the holidays. If only it could inspire people to eat more greens, rather than drink more beer. Williams has improved upon his original design and here’s his show from last year, using 80,000 lights. Not exactly energy-efficient, but it provides great entertainment and there’s value in that. Williams used another popular TSO piece, “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo” for this one:

I would like to take this opportunity to send a giant “thank you” to my rock star friend Alex who generously contributed his Alex Skolnick Trio music to “Supercharge Me!” You can hear one of his heavy metal jazz pieces in the early part of the film’s sneak preview; the section with the weightlifters.

See what happens when you go raw? You get to hang out with rock stars! Yeah, we rawk!

Thank you to the YouTubers who shared their TSO videos so I could bring some of the excitement to you this holiday season!

Wishing you radiant health, love, joy & peace this holiday season and always!

Jenna