Mainstay Mondays with Joe Holt and Featured Guests Begins Monday, May 30

The Mainstay in Rock Hall, Maryland announces a new Monday evening music series called appropriately enough, “Mainstay Mondays” to begin on Monday May 30 and run every Monday through the summer and maybe beyond. Each evening will be hosted by Chestertown’s Joe Holt at the piano and will feature casual seating, a cash bar and a special guest invited by Holt. The evenings begin at 7:00 p.m and run until about 8:30. Admission is $10. For information and reservations call 410-639-9133. Information is also available at the Mainstay’s website http://www.mainstayrockhall.org and each week’s special guest will be posted there and on The Mainstay’s Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/mainstayrockhall

Joe Holt

For the first Mainstay Monday. Holt has invited his collaborators in The Mike McShane Trio: Mike McShane on drums and Paul Midiri on vibes. The piano, drums and vibes trio plays regularly at The Cultured Pearl in Rehoboth, Delaware.

In describing the series Holt said, “The Mainstay has provided a unique opportunity to share a different slice of my “world” each week from the stage, as I accompany and partner with a variety of instrumentalists and vocalists. Each week a show of substance. Each week its own thing.”

Mainstay Mondays is the first new performance series created by Rory Trainor who became the Mainstay’s Executive Director following the retirement of Tom McHugh. Trainor said, “I knew I wanted to work with Kent County musicians in an expanded way, and wanted to do a series that would fall outside of the standard program The Mainstay has been doing.

“Joe and I were having conversations about what Joe was interested in and the idea of artists both throughout the Mid-Atlantic and specifically in Kent County doing new or expanded work sounded interesting.

“We agreed that this should be a regular thing, on the same day each week, so people know they can go and do this. Monday had a few major benefits, it was not competing with any major county programming, it seemed like an untapped day where people may be interested in going out but options were limited, and of course alliteration.”

Trainor added, “It also posed an opportunity for musicians to do a show on a Monday, which is often a dark night, and not compete with their weekend touring. This has all allowed us to get a very strong and varied line up for the whole of the summer.

“There was a huge amount of trust that I was putting into Joe and his work and the knowledge that he can and does work with many different artists in many genres. I did not want this to be a monolithic Jazz Series, or Rock Series. I wanted people to be delighted at the idea that every week on Monday they can come to the Mainstay, see a familiar face and then watch something completely different from the previous week and in the coming week.”

For now, Mainstay Mondays is planned to run from Memorial Day to Labor Day. The schedule of featured guest artists includes Peggy Raley and Eddie Sherman 6/6, Vince Lardear 6/13, Dan Tobias 6/20, Rhonda Apple 6/27, Melissa McGlynn and John Schratweiser 7/4, Pam and Bob Ortiz 7/11, Roo Brown 7/18, Donato Soverio 7/25, Max Murray 8/1, The Midiri Brothers 8/8, Sue Matthews 8/15, Dick Durham 8/22, Geoff Gallante, 8-29, Nevin Dawson 9/5.

The Mainstay (Home of Musical Magic) is the friendly informal storefront performing arts center on Rock Hall’s old time Main Street. For information and reservations call the Mainstay at 410-639-9133. More information is also available at the Mainstay’s website http://www.mainstayrockhall.org.