All the Nutcrackers have been danced, Charlie Brown has decorated his tree once more and the holiday bazaar merchants have packed up and gone home. It’s going to be a quiet holiday weekend in Kitsap County, as families settle in or travel out to be with family and friends for Christmas.

But the lights will burn brightly in one small coffeehouse on Bainbridge Island, just down from busy Winslow Way, thanks to Norm Johnson and the Island Music Guild.

While Johnson normally runs the live music shows Friday and Saturday nights, plus the open mic on Sundays at the Pegasus Coffee House, this week there are three concerts planned.

Dec. 21 (that’s tonight) it’s island jazz violinist Ranger Sciacca; Dec. 23 is the Lurie Brothers Holiday Spectacular; and Dec. 24 the husband and wife acoustic duo Amber Tide perform. All shows begin at 7:30 p.m. and admission to each is the usual $4 donation. Pegasus is located at 131 Parfitt Way, Bainbridge Island.

Here’s a look at each of the shows.

Ranger Sciacca, jazz violinist

Ranger Sciacca, 19, began Suzuki method violin lessons at age 5, but classical aspirations were derailed when, as a young teen, he discovered the early jazz tune, “Lady Be Good.”

“That was it. He went off the deep end with it,” Ranger’s father Mike Sciacca said.

Jazz violin became his passion, and his repertoire now includes about half early jazz tunes and half his own compositions, in the gypsy jazz style.

Ranger and his father are familiar faces around Bainbridge, playing at many arts and craft shows, nursing homes and other public events.

The Pegasus show will be a homecoming for Ranger, who is in his freshman year at Whitman College in Spokane. He’s not focusing on a music major, but Mike said he has been really excited about a jazz history class this quarter, and may minor in music.

The father and son duo have recorded a CD, “Gypsy Moon,” which will be out in January.

Fifth Annual Lurie Brothers Holiday Spectacular

It began as a small gathering of family, friends and lost souls wandering in off the street. Five years later, it just wouldn’t seem like Christmas without the Lurie Brothers Holiday Spectacular at Pegasus.

Dan and Robert Lurie will be joined this year by Dominic Aulisio, fellow band member of the “rock collective” Solyoni. All three play guitar.

Dominic recently moved to Seattle, where Dan lives, but Robert will be flying in from North Carolina, where he just completed a master’s degree in creative writing at University of North Carolina, Wilmington.

Dan Lurie said by phone this week that the Bainbridge show seems to be getting more popular every year. Last year, they took a risk and played on Christmas day, and it was the most successful holiday show yet, with a standing room only crowd and lots of CD sales.

They expect another good turnout this year, with the concert on Dec. 23.

In the last year Solyoni played in venues around Seattle, generating a solid fan base and shows in clubs such as The Tractor Tavern and The Crocodile Cafe.

The band also attracted the attention of booking agents from the Web site www.nadamucho.com, who helped them book more shows.

Dan said it was a real turning point when the venues started calling them to do shows.

In the last six months the band has turned its attention to recording another album, following “Prairie Monsters,” which is billed as a “freaky Americana masterpiece.” The new album is due for release in the spring, but it is not yet named.

“We have a list of about 100 different titles, but we haven’t found one that sticks,” Dan said.

The Dec. 23 concert will feature tunes from the new album as well as old favorites, in a style Dan describes as “stripped down, off-kilter folk/pop acoustic.”

Amber Tide

The husband and wife duo of Thaddeus and Sandabeth Spae have been married and performing together for 28 years. As Thaddeus explained by phone from his Seattle home, “We were both street performers in Portland and kept bouncing off each other until we finally figured we were each a force to be reckoned with by the other, and decided to join forces. We were both wild, woolly rambling types — we saw a similar point of view in each other.”

The duo didn’t hesitate to take the Dec. 24 date, even though it is Christmas Eve and Sandabeth’s birthday. In fact that made it all the better.

“We think of every performance as a ‘date.’ It’s such an important part of our lives,” Thaddeus said.

With Thaddeus on 12-string guitar, trombone and a variety of other instruments, and Sandabeth on harmonica, vocals and percussion, he described their music as blues, jazz, popular and “our own ‘woo woo’ music.”

“Our emphasis is on music that makes people feel better. If you’ve got the holiday blues come down and we’ll cheer you up,” he said. wu