Hometeam New Year’s Rally Artists at Large and Year in Revue
In addition to all of the outstanding bands performing at this year’s Hometeam New Year’s Rally, there are six great artists at large ready to hop on stage at a moment’s notice and “take it to the next stage,” to quote the Isleys. Hometeam starts Thursday, December 29th, through Sunday, January 1st, at Maddox Ranch in Lakeland. Let’s check out this down-and-dirty half dozen!
Joe Marcinek loves visiting Florida from his Indiana home (and he’s going to love the Hometeam weather!). There is simply nobody on the national scene who can attract incredible talent for short tours than Marcinek, whose recent bands have included Tony Hall, Joey Porter, Freekbass, Steve Molitz and the late Dr. Bernie Worrell. He is an great singer and dynamite guitarist.
This time, he comes without a band, but he’s played with a number of the Hometeam artists and will become very familiar to you. Check out our reviews from his Oktobeerfest shows at the Dunedin Brewery and our review of his superb new album Slink.
Sara Phillips is a trombone player best known for her great work with Green Sunshine, the band currently on maternity leave. Sara has performed with so many bands, including Holey Miss Moley, Row Jonah, The Bath Salt Zombies, Opposite Box, Funk Shui, Ajeva, Serotonic, Ancient Sun, Future Vintage, Happy Campers, Come Back Alice, Displace, and Roosevelt Collier. That’s a resume! And who doesn’t need a trombone at some point during the set?!
Full disclosure: Sara’s dad is MusicFestNews photographer John Phillips from Virginia. Which has zero affect on our remarks about Sara’s great contributions to the local music scene.
Isaac Corbitt will be performing with brother Newsome as the Corbitt Brothers Jam. He is, by our estimation, the premier harmonica player on the scene today. And he can fit into any setting. He loves performing selections from Grieg and Beethoven in addition to deep blues, bluegrass and jazz. He has been playing killer sets with the Corbitt-Clampitt Experience. Expect to see him everywhere (and we hope to see more of Newsome as well!).
The addition of Mark Mayea to Ajeva’s lineup, along with guitarist Styler Golden, has help that band skyrocket to real prominence. Mayea is one of the premier keyboard players in the Tampa Bay area along with Matt Giancola (Future Vintage). In addition to his tenure with Ajeva, he filled in for a month when Holey Miss Moley needed a substitute.
He will play sets with Ajeva (12/29, 8-9:30, and their Santana cover set 12/31, 5-6) and with Joose (12/31, 11:30 AM – 12:30, and 1/1, 12:30-1:30). Latch onto this rising star!
The national superstar on the list is Roosevelt Collier, king of the steel guitar. He rose to prominence with The Lee Boys, and he still performs with them when his schedule permits. He has played with all of jam royalty and has headlined numerous Suwannee Getdowns and related festivals at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park. Like Marcinek, he can put together superstar bands wherever he goes across the country, but none is better than his trio with Matt Lapham, bass, and Anthony Cole, drums. Roosevelt will close down the electric music Thursday with his set (12/29, 12:30-2).
And that leaves Florida’s superstar, the hardest-working man in show business. That would be Christian Ryan, the multi-instrumentalist who performs with a dozen bands and is on call with many more. If he didn’t get to 250 gigs this year (his total each of the past two years), blame a brief illness recently. Christian will play those two Joose sets with Mayea, with Holey Miss Moley (12/29, 1-2 AM), with Leisure Chief (1/1, 3-4), and with Ism (12/31, 1-2). Oh, an one more set…
Perhaps you caught Christian’s Soulquarian Revue at Little Econ Love Fest 2015 or his 2016 Little Econ tribute to Frank Zappa (which he reprised last August, along with the Holey Miss Moley P-Funk Set). This year, certainly the most devastating in terms of losses to the musical community, Christian has prepared his Year in Revue. We’ll let him explain and introduce his bandmates:
Revue #3: A funk-filled and soulful reflection to the icons of music we’ve lost in 2016, featuring the music of: Prince, David Bowie, Maurice White (Earth, Wind & Fire), Phife Dawg (A Tribe Called Quest), Bernie Worrell (Funkadelic/Bernie Worrell Orchestra/Talking Heads), Keith Emerson (Emerson, Lake & Palmer).
First the neo-soul/hip-hop collective known as the Soulquarians, then the ingenius mind of Frank Zappa & The Mothers, now we bring the groove in tribute to the ones we’ve lost in 2016. An all-star collective celebrating legends of music. With quite the array of catalogs to choose from, this set will be focused into a high-energy dance party featuring several vocal collaborations and additional horn arrangements. Time to bring the funk this go-’round!
Videos courtesy of CHeeSeHeaDPRoDuCTionS, rudetom 71, isaac corbitt, Ajeva Myoozik, mk devo and The Sober Goat, respectively.
YEAR IN REVUE ROSTER:
Jordan Garno – Leisure Chief/Serotonic (Guitar)
Trevor McDannel – Future Vintage/Juanjamon Band (Bass)
Matt Giancola – Future Vintage/Juanjamon Band (Keys/Synth)
Mark Mayea – Ajeva/Joose (Keys/Synth)
Yral Morris – Come Back Alice/Holey Miss Moley/Joose (Drums)
Christian Ryan – TOO MANY BANDS (Saxophones & Flute)
Jimmy Rector – Joose/Come Back Alice (Percussion)
Tony Morales – Holey Miss Moley (Percussion)
VOCALS/EMCEES:
Robyn Alleman – Holey Miss Moley
Danny Clemmons – Holey Miss Moley
Reed Skahill – Ajeva
Joe Roma – Row Jomah
Loe Sanz
Caitlin Monita
Jon Ditty
Many more special guest appearances to be announced! [Ed. – How about Tony Tyler, Travis Young, Isaac Corbitt, Sara Phillips, and Tony Morales?]
Stay tuned, for, just like the prior revues, there will be many documents, links, and stories shared on these icons as well as those involved in my project.
Read bios on each of the artists on the Year in Revue Facebook page!
Christian: you’re going to need a bigger stage!