The state of FLOW
UCLAN
Hola Good People, it's great to be home! I just got back from a wild
ride all the way to Anguilla in the Caribbean playing with Dianne
Reeves and the group. Try and relive this marathon airplane stint with
me -- board a tiny plane in Carlsbad to L.A., sit around for a while,
then take a red eye to Miami arriving at 5 in the morning. Check into
the airport hotel and finally be granted some sleep in the horizontal
position versus the inhumanly vertical attempt in the airplane. You
know that vibe of trying to catch z's while sitting straight up with
your knees plowing into your chest? Whack! Then board a 12PM flight to
St. Maarten and from there, a small boat to Anguilla. This only took 20
hours! But Anguilla folks, well, it actually was worth that horrific
ride. What a magical place complete with perfect clean air, the trade
winds doing their hypnotic thing, the warm water the color of blue that
you only get in a few places in the world and the gentle people that
have mastered the state of FLOW. All of this mixed in with a great jazz
festival featuring Ahmad Jamal, Brian Lynch and on the last night, us!
Dianne on vocals, John Beasley on piano, Terry Lynn Carrington on
drums, Josh Hari on bass and me on the guitar. Super fun band and we
had a great show culminating with an ending vamp on Dianne's "Testify"
that went on into the late hours of the night. Endless!
OK, so the fun is over and I've taken my last swim in the wild blue.
It's up at 5AM and time to start the reverse cycle of boats, airplanes,
airports, layovers, vertical devil sleep, hunger and the search for
something real to eat. Take off your shoes and put the laptop in a
separate plastic container, oh bless you TSA gurus, long lines, show
your passport, customs and finally, 20 hours later, cozy Carlsbad
airport and lovely Stef there to pick me up. But alas, one last glitch
enters my the story --upon examining my electric guitar after it came
out of the baggage claim I discover, can you believe it, a BROKEN NECK?
This is unfathomable! This is a different guitar from 2 weeks ago. That
one is still in negotiation as to whether or not it'll get replaced or
repaired. This week's guitar is a Michael Stevens Fender Custom Shop
axe that I had made for me 20 years ago. I love it and it's sort of a
rare instrument. Anyway, it was in a good strong case but somehow
through the long day of travel from St. Maarten to Carlsbad either some
prankster got a hold of it and once again paid his physical respects to
Pete Townsend or perhaps Mister Murphy elbowed his way into the mix and
created that perfect storm of freezing temperatures, brittle guitar, a
big bang here and there and then presto--Peter has another decapitated
axe to deal with. Unhappiness in Leucadia! Oh well, I'll work it out.
So far United has said they won't pay for it but the good news is that
I've connected with a friend of mine who not only plays wonderful
bluegrass music and has recorded in my studio but who also is an
attorney that's done a lot of legal work with musical instruments
intersecting with the airlines. His name is Dwight Worden and he's
graciously offered to help with my 2 broken guitar neck saga and feels
pretty good about me getting some bucks to get them repaired or
replaced. He said there will be a bunch of details and steps to deal
with but if we follow through, the law has a little mercy built into it
to help the roaming troubadour to continue to spread the good news of
music. Details switch, turned on...
In 1978 we had a group called The Dance Of The Universe Orchestra. The
band featured Kevyn Lettau singing, John Leftwich on bass, Tripp
Sprague playing the saxophone, Kelly Jocoy, Tom Aros and Duncan Moore
all on drums at various times, and myself on guitar. Most of us grew up
in the creative world of Del Mar. The word got out that this young gal
(sixteen years old then) from Berlin was singing jazz. After hearing
her play on a friend's gig I immediately knew she was just the right
person for our new group. She had a long history with jazz (her dad
loved Marlene Deitrich and Dizzy Gillespie) and she wasn't afraid to
take chances and jump right off the cliff into the scat singing
freefall. Kevyn was into yoga, ballet, and lived a semi-wild hippie
existence and these were all the right elements for the lead singer of
our band. Our name came from a phrase that Ram Dass always used to
describe being in the FLOW, in the dance of the universe. Our first
gigs were playing on the street corner of Camino Del Mar and 15th
Street in Del Mar and we'd open up the guitar case for tips. We'd use
the 20 bucks that we collected after the concert for some falafels at
the Roxy. We recorded two landmark records, played a bunch of shows,
and were able to remain friends through it all. Oh yeah, there was some
drama in the mix too but time does do that forgiving smoothing factor
if you let it work it's stuff. It was a superb life then and I'm happy
to report that the FLOW is still working.
We're bringing the band back together to play a show this Friday night
at the Tango del Rey in Pacific Beach. It'll be Kevyn, Tripp, John and
myself rediscovering the Dance of the Universe. Were you in the
audience way back then? Do remember the cool bridge section on "You
Make Me Want to Sing"? This one is on the setlist. John also had the
idea of doing a short medley of a few of our corniest tunes that
highlight the "struggle for rhymes" thing that I had going on with my
lyrics back then. I'm game and I'm laughing already! I think it'll be a
hoot and the other good thing is that the vibe and the setup for
experiencing music at the Tango is first rate. The place is wild-- the
way it's decorated inside -- the sound is first rate and there is -- yay
-- free parking. Hallelujah! Look below for details and I sure hope you
can make the concert. Big fun in the works!
There has been some cool press brewing for my Wild Blue recording and
also for the concert we played last week with Holly Hofmann and
friends. Follow the above links if your want a take spin through the
reviews.
That's it for now. Let's all give praise to United Airlines and
American Airlines for their fine skill at safely transporting humans
and also successfully decapitating the SpragueMan's entire guitar
collection.
Onwards and upwards!
Peter
Friday, November 20, 2009 Dance of the Universe Reunites! Tango del Rey
3567 Del Rey Street San Diego, CA details Peter Sprague -- guitar Kevyn
Lettau -- vocals Tripp Sprague -- sax and flute John Leftwich -- bass 7:30
PM We had a mini SD revolution going on back in the 80's and we're
getting Lefty down from L.A. to stir it up again. I'm laughing, it'll
be a hoot!
Saturday, November 21, 2009 Bob Magnusson Trio Harry's Bar and
American Grill 4370 La Jolla Village Dr San Diego, CA 92122-1250 (858)
373-1252 Bob Magnusson -- bass Peter Sprague -- guitar Tripp Sprague --
sax and flute 7 PM A little gig with the one and only Bob Magnusson.
Friday, December 4, 2009 Peter Sprague String Consort
FREE CONCERT! Encinitas Community and Senior Center 1140 Oakcrest Drive
Encinitas, CA 92024 (760) 943-2260 Peter Sprague -- guitar Bridget
Dolkas -- violin Jeanne Skrocki -- violin Pam Jacobsen -- viola Carter
Dewberry -- cello Duncan Moore -- drums Bob Magnusson -- bass 7:30 PM
We've got a new recording called "The Wild Blue" and I've written a new
piece for the group. We're all fired up!
Funded, in part, by the City of Encinitas and Mizel Family Foundation
Community Grant program.