The member of a legendary band has found a novel way to provide Christmas cheer to the community beginning next week.
Downtown Michael Brown, saxophonist for Sha Na Na, is calling his idea “Michael Brown’s 12 days of Christmas,” where he performs Christmas songs at the selected recipient’s home.
The Pahrump resident likened the idea to a musical telegram.
“A lot of people sometimes don’t know what kind of gift to get a friend or loved one,” he said. “What I would like to do is perform a musical telegram and do it in a holiday fashion of course. Being with Sha Na Na certainly helps with name recognition.”
Providing the gift is simple. Brown said all the sender has to do is give him a call.
“I will then drive to that residence or business and perform a few Christmas songs on the saxophone,” he said. “I will even set up a speaker which will play music behind me and I will perform three or four songs and go to the next address and perform for someone else. This is a first for me and I know there are a lot of homebound residents in town.”
Additionally, Brown said the musical telegram is strictly donation-generated.
“I’m not asking for a certain amount of money to perform the musical telegrams,” he said. “I am just asking for any kind of donation. I will get the information like the address and the name of the person, or persons or business. Anyone in town who is interested in providing this unique kind of gift may do so by calling me.”
Brown also said if his gift draws enough interest, it may become an annual event.
“I just wanted to be able to do something really cool for Christmas this year and I can’t think of a cooler thing than to have the saxophone player for Sha Na Na go to your home and play Christmas songs,” he said. “I have a lot of songs in my repertoire. All they have to do is request me to play a song. They can tell me what their favorite Christmas songs are and I will play them.”
Brown said he expects to begin the neighborhood tour on Wednesday, Dec. 14, marking the start of the 12 days of Christmas theme.
He’s also prepared to perform on Christmas Day.
“I do have family in Las Vegas, but I would like to do is many as I possibly can to accommodate Christmas morning for some people,” he said. “They can send me to any business and I will do business challenges. If they don’t have power, I will do it acapella.
Brown said he needs just basic information about the recipient of his musical telegram.
“The name and the address are the most important information I will need to go about this,” he said. “If some people like their Christmas music a little spicy or bluesy, or a little rock and roll, I can do it.”
Brown can be reached at 702-743-1346.
“You can call and leave a message and I will get back to you ASAP,” he said. “I usually answer the phone right away. I am hoping to get a lot of phone calls and bookings to play the musical telegram this year. It’ll be really awesome just to make people smile.”
Though a small percentage of donations will provide for fuel and other expenses, Brown said a majority of the funds will go directly to an organization he founded several years ago in the name of his deceased wife, known as Amandasmessage.com.
Brown lost his wife to skin cancer.
Meanwhile, Sha Na Na is scheduled to perform in Niagara Falls in January. The band will also perform at the Suncoast Casino in Las Vegas in February.