A Product of the Pandemic, Local Resident Releases An East End Christmas Song

East Hampton resident Frank Vespe began writing his local holiday carol, “Another East End Christmas,” two years ago, but never quite got it over the finish line. But, new paths forged during the pandemic moved the project forward. A silver lining, perhaps, in a very rough year for the East End, and world.

On an ordinary day at the beginning of November — if that’s even possible in 2020 — Mr. Vespe watched as Christine Cadarette performed his holiday song at the Most Holy Trinity Church in East Hampton. “I thought she was singing the wrong song,” Mr. Vespe said. “She was like on Broadway.”

The event had been years in the making, but it took a chance encounter in the midst of a pandemic for all the necessary pieces to come together. “It was divine intervention,” Mr. Vespe concluded.

Mr. Vespe and his daughter Elizabeth, now 25, were on an evening walk around the pond in the Village of East Hampton in December 2018 when inspiration for the song arose. “Two big swans were floating on top of the water,” he said, “and behind it is the blue Christmas tree in the water, and behind that is the big tree in the Maidstone hotel.”

Normally, he would take little notice and “just keep driving,” Mr. Vespe said, but on this specific evening, he closely observed the decorations and glistening lights juxtaposed against the village’s historical architecture. He began to make comparisons between his surroundings and Bedford Falls, a fictional town from the classic holiday film “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

As the pair approached the shops, Mr. Vespe said he turned to his daughter and said, “Wow, look at that, Christmas trees on Main Street, straight out of a Hallmark card.” His daughter exclaimed, “those two lines you just said, that should be an opening for a song!”

The songwriting continued as they turned the corner toward the car, when Mr. Vespe said, “Wreaths hang on Newtown Lane.” His daughter replied, “Dad, that’s the third line!”

Mr. Vespe visited different hamlets and villages on the East End over the next year in search of inspiration for his lyrics. While he has written hundreds of short stories, this was his first song, he said. Once the lyrics were completed, Mr. Vespe recruited his friend of 40 years, John Psomiades, to write the score. A truly full-circle moment for the friends, as Mr. Psomiades taught Mr. Vespe how to play the guitar.

Then came the problem … who would sing the song? Mr. Vespe wanted a local person, because he felt it would make the experience more authentic, he said. As the owner of a videography business, he reached out to several musicians he had met through work. He has covered local performances at the Guild Hall and The Stephen Talkhouse, according to his YouTube channel.

Mr. Vespe received minimal responses after reaching out to several contacts and inferred there was a lack of interest in the project. “Frank the camera guy’s got a song,” he said, “Who are you kidding?”

He was still searching for a singer when the world shut down in March due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was meant to be a “booming year” for his business, Mr. Vespe said. He was booked to film a big stage production in Levittown on March 16, but the performance was postponed at the last minute. His plan to shoot the Hampton Ballot Theater School’s four-day event at the Guild Hall was also canceled.

“I lost everything. My video business came to a stop,” he said.

With Easter approaching and a dining room filled with expensive camera equipment, Mr. Vespe decided he wanted to use his expertise to help share the upcoming religious holiday with the parishioners at the Most Holy Trinity Church. He filmed a staged version of the Mass in the church the evening before Palm Sunday, and released an edited video with titles and transitions to the parish’s website the following morning. The video received overwhelmingly positive feedback, so Mr. Vespe continued making them for 15 weeks straight, he said.

But he was still faced with the challenge of finding a singer for his song. “I was going to try and maybe change my voice,” he said, “and just throw it out there.”

The solution became obvious while he was editing a video for the church at 3 a.m. on a Sunday when he noticed Ms. Cadarette’s singing in the background. “It was like a bolt of lightning hit me,” Mr. Vespe said. “Like, wow, this woman can sing your song.”

He apprehensively approached Ms. Cadarette about the song after Mass on a Sunday in September. He sent her the lyrics, and she replied, “I’d love to be part of the song,” he said.

The two worked together remotely, with Ms. Cadarette singing through the telephone, until they were able to record the song in November.

New paths were formed in this year of uncertainty, which finally made the completion of the song possible.

“Maybe some weird way,” Mr. Vespe said, “this was written.”

The music video for “Another East End Christmas” can be found on YouTube.