Young band of La Jolla musicians gives back to the community ahead of the holidays

Amidst a season of giving, a quartet of young musicians are using their talents to benefit the community.

Elemental Sparks consists of three fourth graders from La Jolla Elementary and one seventh grader from Muirlands Middle School.

While they each play multiple instruments, the typical setup is middle-schooler Luca Giaconi playing bass; and fourth graders Julian Lindsey on the drums; Olivia Lindsey on vocals and playing guitar; and Leo Giaconi playing guitar and trumpet.

The band formed in January with the trio of La Jolla Elementary students to perform in their school’s talent show. Luca joined in late June, cementing their current lineup.

Since then, they’ve performed at several community events such as BirdStock Music Festival, supporting the Bird Rock Foundation; Loma Palooza in Ocean Beach, benefiting Dana and Correia middle schools; and PB Palooza in Mission Bay, raising funds for Pacific Beach Middle School’s music program.

Busking for a cause

Nearly every weekend over the summer, played in public places for voluntary donations as buskers. Most recently, the band did a pair of performances at La Jolla’s Children’s Pool on Nov. 23 and 28, with proceeds going to Feeding San Diego.

Donned in Santa hats and ornament pajamas, they ran through a collection cover songs that range from Bruno Mars and Rosé’s 2024 hit “APT” to The Beatles’ classic “A Hard Day’s Night.”

Through these performances, the band raised roughly $770 in donations, which they matched with their own earnings from other busking appearances. With Feeding San Diego’s board of directors matching these donations, the final figure was brought up to over $3,000. A typical conversion rate of two meals for every dollar raised meant their donation could secure roughly 6,000 meals.

Feeding San Diego provides over 31 million meals annually to children, seniors, military families, veterans, college students, homeless people and other underserved populations across the county.

“We got the idea for fundraising because no one deserves to go hungry — like literally no one,” Olivia said. “Especially this month … no one should be starving. If you were … put in their shoes, you’d want help, right?”

Julian added, “We were like, ‘we don’t need all this money. Some people need this more than us.’ We just want to have fun being in a band. We don’t care about any money.”

Connecting to music and community service

Each band member has their own connection to music. For Olivia, it’s feeling what’s happening in a song and putting it in context of her own life. And for Julian, it’s a form of escapism. Leo says music is the ultimate cure to boredom, while Luca says it’s a great way to build friendships.

Performing with a cause, the kids agreed, makes being in a band even more fulfilling.

“I love calculating and seeing how many meals and [how much] money that we’ve given,” Luca said. “I love helping in general, and helping the community especially.”

Leo added, “someone has to help people who are hungry, and we decided to be people who were going to help.”

Elemental Sparks isn’t done for the season yet. Their next scheduled event they’ll participate in is Anvil of Hope’s Giving Tree & Ugly Sweater Holiday Party Thursday, Dec. 11 at the AleSmith Tasting Room on 9990 AleSmith Court in San Diego.

They’ll perform from 4:30 to 5:15 p.m., supporting the nonprofit organization that provides mentoring, training and youth enrichment programs to at-risk children.

The many aspects of Elemental Sparks

A typical Elemental Sparks performance spans several decades and genres. Their setlists lean heavier on pop rock, Julian said, but other styles include jazz, soul, rock and rhythm and blues. Holiday tunes just added to their song list include John Lennon’s “War is Over” and Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock.” Most of their covers, band members said, are popular cuts to get the crowd going.

This range, Olivia says, ties into their name. Rather than sticking to one type of song, their show has elements of different genres and styles.

The kids meet once a week during the school year and twice a week over the summer to practice new songs and work on originals. One of their latest songs added to a list of future covers was Teddy Swims’ chart-climbing hit “Lose Control” — which Luca says came together in just 30 minutes.

Jennifer Giaconi, Leo and Luca’s mother, and Pinar Lindsey, Julian and Olivia’s mother, work behind the scenes, coordinating their performances and even making T-shirts and stickers for the band.

Visit instagram.com/elemental_sparks for updates on the band’s upcoming performances.