Jackson Free Press

After half a year of promoting alternative music in downtown Jackson, all-ages venue Big Sleepy's will host its inaugural Christmas party on Saturday, Dec. 19, to ring out the year and celebrate some of the bands that made the venue's first year a success.

Co-owners Caleb Rowe and P.J. Pankey, along with business partner Jesse Moore, launched Big Sleepy's on May 15 of this year and have since brought in touring artists from across the U.S., such as Virginia rock groups Turnover of Run for Cover Records and Broadside of Victory Records. The crew is expecting its holiday event, "Big Sleepy's X-mas Show," to be one of the venue's largest for the year.

While the staff did sit down to brainstorm ideas for a final blowout to end 2015 and made the decision in a democratic fashion, Moore says this particular event wasn't hard to settle on.

"Everyone suggested we throw a Christmas party. We agreed," he says. "We wanted to give everyone a reason to go out, get dressed up and hit the town."

The concert will feature performances from eight local punk-rock bands, including Baghead, the Limbos, Soft Toys, Big Bleach, the Overnight Lows and Criminal Slang, for which Moore is the vocalist, with more bands to be announced. He says he hopes the variety of these bands will produce a larger, mixed crowd for the event, but it was also about building up an audience for Big Sleepy's usual suspects.

"We wanted to bring in bands that play here the most often, not the ones that are necessarily a draw," Moore says.

While attendees will hear plenty of the line-up's original material, they should also expect to find funked-up versions of some of their favorite old-school Christmas jams. Moore says Big Sleepy's enjoys getting the crowd involved at their events to highlight the venue's do-it-yourself mantra, and this show will be no different in that aspect. Show-goers can take part in a music-themed "secret Santa" gift exchange during the event, where they'll be able to swap old and new records, CDs and tapes.

"We want everyone to be able to participate in our shows," Moore says. "That's the difference in rock-music events versus other genres of music. Punk has always had that DIY ethic, encouraging things that aren't these grand productions but are sometimes better than all the flashing lights."

In the spirit of the season, the Big Sleepy's crew wanted to offer more than just live music. They are encouraging anyone who would like to donate clothing items to bring them by the venue from now up until the date of the show. A donation box will be placed outside of the building where they will also be accepting non-perishable canned foods.

"We may not be able to cover the entire city of Jackson, but hopefully, we can at least reach the immediate surrounding community," Moore says.

For Moore, a big reason for the event is also the opportunity to show appreciation to the people who have supported their business endeavors thus far.

"We have a tight-knit group of people here," Moore says. "It's kind of a way for us to show them that we appreciate what they've done for us."

"Big Sleepy's X-mas Show" is at 7 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 19, at Big Sleepy's (208 W. Capitol St., 601-863-9516). For more information, find the event on Facebook.