jazz guitarist and composer
I’m super sorry to report that our annual Christmas eve Del Mar concert will be cancelled on the account of rain. The app Weather Underground forcasts a 100% chance of precipitation and in layman’s terminology, it’ll be bucketing cats and dogs.
Urghhhhh!
We’ll miss the music and we’ll miss hanging with you all. Let’s try for it next year…
And just in case you need a sonic fix of the music magic from SpragueLand, earlier in the week we played the same program for a livestream show on YouTube and it went really well. Tripp was on fire, Pam was pure as the snow, Danny was fluid, Justin was downright funky, Lisa finessed Paul Simon’s quirky “You Can Call Me Al” lyrics and made them her own, Duncan was three dimensional polyrhythmic, Kate was the queen, The Benedetti’s emanated holiday joy, Steve was shredding on the video cutting, Brian was an information dynamo, and Stef was all of the above plus and big heaping dollop of loving help with the band dinner and the “look” of the show.
We had a great time and I think you might enjoy it too. To take it all in, follow the link below.
That’s the story and our wish is for good times for all, be with family and friends, stay healthy, do good things, think positive and test covid negative…..love, Peter and the crew
Back in December of 1942, Emery Gilbert of Toledo, Ohio figured the best way to celebrate the holidays was to bring the whole hurricane to the ice rink and skate off happily into the new year. Great concept and thus Holiday On Ice was born.
I figured for us out here in Cali, we need a west coast version of Emery’s sub zero grand vision. So folks, I bring you Holiday On Saltwater.
The idea is we gather our muso friends, put on a livestream show plus a live concert, touch down on a few holiday classics mixed in with songs by Joni Mitchell; Miles Davis; Chick Corea; The Beatles; Cole Porter; Alison Krauss; Paul Simon; and Peter Sprague originals, and finally rally with you, good people both far and wide, in the lofty life of a California Christmas with zero snow but tons of good vibes and buckets full of saltwater.
It’s a long lasting tradition of ours to present these shows (it all started in 1978, over 40 years ago!) If you’re so inclined, click here to read a story about the early days in Del Mar when we played our first holiday concert. This article is from the Del Mar Sandpiper Newspaper.
Here’s the muso lineup for the concert:
Peter Sprague – guitar
Pamela Pendrell – vocals
Lisa Hightower – vocals
Nina Francis – vocals
Kate Sprague – vocals
Tripp Sprague – sax, flute, and harmonica
Danny Green – piano
Fred Benedetti – guitar
Duncan Moore -drums
Justin Grinnell – bass
Johnny Minchin – harmonica
The Benedetti’s -vocals
You can bring the whole gang, bring the relatives, meet strangers that are friendly and meet musicians that are strange. This is how we do Christmas in Cali! Holiday On Saltwater! See you there!
Price of admission? Actually the concert is free but we will have a “virtual tip jar” complete with PayPal, Zelle and Venmo info for you to donate whatever you feel good about. Also, old reliable snail mailing checks works too. You folks have been super generous with this and it makes us happy.
Paypal: petersprague@sbcglobal.net
(It’ll show up as Satyam Music, that’s my music company)
Be sure when asked “Paying for an item or service” to hit the Change button and select the “family or friends” option to bypass the fees.
Venmo: @PeterSprague
Zelle: Peter Sprague peter@petersprague.com
mail checks via snail mail to: Peter Sprague
311 East Glaucus St.
Encinitas, CA 92024