Dear Friends, batten down the hatches, the holiday hurricane is in full force! I’m juggling studio projects that are on a mad dash to be completed for Christmas mixed in with holiday parties that are slated for the outdoors in December—freezing fingers, holiday fruitcake, mysterious cheese dip and party goers that are looking for that perfect song that will solve all of their worldy problems. All aboard for the twirl!

And here’s a cool alt version of what might happen if you hang out with us on this Sunday night. We’re bringing the gang together to make some music at the Tango del Rey in PB. We’re working with a young gifted singer/guitarist named Nina Francis. I first met her when she was attending The Bishops School in La Jolla. The high school band came to SpragueLand to lay down some tracks and she really stood out. Her grasp of singing jazz combined with a beautiful singing voice really made an impression. From there we’ve collaborated on a few shows and more recording and right now she’s schooling it at USC studying music.

We decided to put this concert on and we’ve got Tripp and Gunnar in the loop supplying the backup and the wisdom of age. Me too, I’m an old guy and hopefully have a little wisdom hovering somewhere plus a few guitar chords. Nina’s super young and she brings to the equation a wonderful enthusiasm and a new angle on the sound. It’ll be a fun night of music highlighting some of Nina’s songs plus Joni Mitchell, Cole Porter, The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Peter Sprague, Judee Sill and Mel Torme’s classic “The Christmas Song”.

Hope to see you all there and please bring some of that mysto cheese dip if you can remember!