Turnage hosts The Embers’ Christmas concert

Published 9:06 pm Thursday, December 22, 2016

Beach music legends The Embers will light up the Turnage stage tonight with their last Christmas concert of the year.

“The good news is for the people of Washington, we will know all the songs the best we have known them out of any of the shows we’ve done,” laughed Embers frontman Craig Woolard.

The band that gave shaggers the beach music hit “I Love Beach Music” has done plenty of Christmas concerts this season, according to Woolard.  He said the group has performed approximately 25 Christmas shows since late November and wrapped up 10 consecutive nights of performances on Wednesday. They, and special guests including Santa Claus, Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, will do their final holiday performance of 2016 at Arts of the Pamlico’s Turnage Theatre in Woolard’s hometown of Washington.

While The Embers’ regular performance features beach, Top 40, rock and roll and soul music, the Christmas show is 90 to 100 minutes of holiday hits, Woolard said. Decked out in red suits, with a stage filled with festive props, The Embers will play a lineup of traditional carols mixed with contemporary holiday songs such as the Eagles’ “Please Come Home for Christmas” and “Mary, Did You Know?,” ending the concert with a medley of “Birthday of a King” and “O, Holy Night.”

“I like to think of our show as a regional Andy Williams Christmas special,” Woolard said, comparing The Embers holiday concert to the TV-show Christmas specials of the past.

Woolard said the Turnage Theatre holds a special place in his memories: when he was a junior in high school, he was contracted to put together a band that played on Saturday mornings for children’s shows and cartoons. He said he’d welcome seeing old friends at tonight’s show.

“I’ve never been able to come to a high school reunion because I was always working, so I ask that anyone I grew up with in town, even if you don’t come to the show, just come by and say hey,” Woolard said.

Doors open at 7 p.m., the concert starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 for general seating. To purchase tickets, call 252-946-2504 or buy them at the Turnage box office, 150 W. Main St., Washington.