Every August, Mike Renwick’s annual obsession begins: Mike Renwick’s Holiday Deluxe.
For the past 17 years, he’s gathering his musician friends to play a local holiday concert. It started at Boulder Creek’s Coffeetopia and has migrated to various venues over the years. This year, it’ll be at Felton Music Hall. Regardless of where he’s going to perform, once the calendar says August, he starts preparing for the show.
“I start thinking about material in August,” Renwick says. “I usually get the tickets in September. Then all of my friends run when they see me. They know I’m going to want them to buy a ticket.”
Even though it’s a holiday show, he usually only plays a couple Christmas tunes. This year, he plans on “Winter Wonderland” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” Mostly, he’s cherry-picking his favorite old-school soul, R&B and rock songs.
“It’s essentially my taste in music, and I just want to fill the place up and have a holiday party with my friends,” he says.
Renwick has been part of the Bay Area music scene since the early ’70s, and many of his friends join him for these shows. This year, he’s got former Santana players Tony Lindsay and Andy Morales, as well as Tower of Power lead saxophonist Tom Politzer. His core rhythm section David Perper (drums) and John Rooff (bass) have played with him since he was in his 20s. They can practically read each others’ minds.
“We have a whole nest of old soul music,” Renwick says. “We can pull those tunes out and do them in our sleep.”
7:30pm. Wednesday, Dec. 18. Felton Music Hall, 6275 Hwy. 9, Felton. $20. 704-7113.
