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The Mainstay
5753 Main St
Rock Hall, MD 21661
Uber
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Tickets
Community Outreach
Performances
Tickets
How to Reserve Your Ticket
Call The Mainstay: 410 639 9133.
Listen to the menu options, and reserve your tickets by giving your name, telephone number, and the number of seats you want.
All reservations are on the honor system. Pay at the door on the night of the concert, by cash or personal check… no credit cards.
All seats are general admission. If there is a large crowd, we will hold seats for those with reservations until showtime.
We will call you if the show is sold out or there is a problem with your reservation. Otherwise, assume you have your seats.
If you have already made reservations for a show and will not be able to attend please call to cancel your reservation before the day of the show.
Community Outreach
Since opening, The Mainstay has been a center for a variety of community activity… Need a place to gather? Call The Mainstay!
We have hosted Weight Watchers, Yoga classes, AA, Music rehearsals, Music instruction, Book Club, Friends of Eastern Neck Refuge, Local artist shows, and so much more.
In addition, The Mainstay has a program called Kids Are First, which sponsors a variety of activity aimed at kids. We have a mural painting fund for decorating our outside walls;
we bring entertainment for families, we take music to local schools, we support bands made up of high school students by giving them a venue in which to present their music.
In short, we are open, free and interested in developing community. Come join us.
Subsidiary Operations
The Mainstay has three on-going “subsidiary operations” that are part of its Mission and portfolio of activities:
Since 1998 - Rock Hall Fall Fest
Since 2000 - The Tolchester Beach Revisited Museum
Since 2004 - The “Kids Are First” grant program
Each of these was entirely conceived and created by the volunteer group associated with The Mainstay.
Performances
Joe Holt
$15.00
Piano. So Many Ways to Get in the Groove. Saturday, June 21, 2014 at 8:00 p.m. The always surprising pianist Joe Holt demonstrates his eclecticism as he plays solo improvisations on the classics, then develops amazing rhythms in an unusual keyboard/percussion duo with percussionist Mike McShane, plays jazz as a duo with bassist Jeff Davis and then as trio with both musicians. This will be an evening of dazzling improvisation, swing, straight-ahead jazz, Latin jazz and, of course, surprises. Joe Holt is a pianist best known for his very imaginative improvisations. A Board Certified Music Therapist, he performs for the connections that music makes and the shared experience with his audiences. He has studied with Yoheved Kaplinsky, classical piano, and Don Glanden, jazz piano. His performances reflect the influence of both worlds and the sheer joy of playing in the moment. Joe performs extensively in the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. as a soloist, with local jazz groups including the Mike McShane Trio, and as accompanist for singer/songwriter Beth McDonald. He has appeared throughout the US in concerts and festivals, and continues to tour, on occasion, as a soloist. Joe is active in recording, having appeared on more than 30 albums, (10 on his own label), including his new release; "All Nature Sings". He lives locally, in Queen Anne’s County.
Gary Rue
Singer and Songwriter. Free Outdoor Concert. Saturday, June 28, 2014 at 7 p.m. Singer and Songwriter Free Outdoor Concert Gary Rue is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist from St. Mary’s County, Maryland whose most recent recording “Wake the Sleeping Giant” was released a few months ago. His music is mostly originals, memorable melodies and stories from the American experience past and present, music filled with elements of folk, jazz, bluegrass, Americana. He’ll share some great stories and some classics like “Ghost Riders in the Sky,” “Tennessee Waltz,” or a Ventures medley. His own songs are inspired by everyday things and people and the stories they could tell. He will be playing vintage Martins in various tunings. This free outdoor concert is on the back deck and is sponsored by the Kent County Arts Council, People’s Bank, the Rock Hall Business Association and the Mainstay. Bring a comfortable chair. If the weather doesn't cooperate, the concert will move indoors to the Mainstay.
Tommy Cecil & Bill Mays
$15.00
Dedicated to Stephen Sondhem, Jazz for Piano & Bass Saturday, July 5, 2014 at 8:00 p.m. Following their success with “Side By Side Sondheim Duos,” noted jazz pianist Bill Mays and our good friend bassist Tommy Cecil have revisited Sondheim with a new CD “Our Time: Sondheim Duos, Vol. 2.” All About Jazz reviewer Dr. Judith Schelsinger says the recording is “laced with superb technique, imaginative arrangements, feeling and wit" and that “it all swings like crazy. All told, Our Time provides the ideal musical combination: it's food for the brain, joy to the ears, and a boost to the spirit.” Expect this concert to be the same. Cecil and Mays are working in the tradition of piano/bass duos which starts with Duke Ellington and Jimmy Blanton, and continues with the likes of Oscar Peterson and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Tommy Flanagan and George Mraz, and Bill Evans and Eddie Gomez. The freedom and intimacy in such a pairing shines on every tune and the opportunities for sly interplay and sudden wit are exploited to the fullest whether it’s trading melodies or phrases, or nudging the dynamics during a solo. Sondheim has rarely been recorded and performed in an instrumental jazz setting and Cecil and Mays continue to shed new light on his works with creative and appealing arrangements that reveal fresh nuances to these masterful compositions. This concert, which will also include some classics from the Great American Songbook, is dedicated to Stephen Sondheim who is 84 and still working.
Christine Lavin & Don White
$20.00
Singers and songwriters and Very (very!) Funny Folk Thursday, July 10, 2014 at 7:30 p.m. Christine Lavin and Don White are smart, topical and extremely funny songwriters. A concert with either one of them would be a treat. Both write songs that can be poignant, humorous, uproarious topical commentary, and/or fall-off-your-chair, side-splittingly funny. A concert with both is an amazing unforgettable experience. Christine Lavin is from New York and started her songwriting career as part of the Greenwich Village scene that included Jack Hardy, Suzanne Vega, John Gorka and Dave Van Ronk. She was later a founding member of The Four Bitchin’ Babes. She has made more than 20 recordings with titles like “Good Thing He Can't Read My Mind,” “Please Don't Make Me Too Happy”and “I Don't Make This Stuff Up, I Just Make It Rhyme” and is the author of the book “Cold Pizza for Breakfast: A Mem-Wha??” Don White grew up outside of Boston where he first became a songwriter, then spent a lot of time in comedy clubs and then combined the two, returning to the folk and festival circuit where he could be serious as well as funny. He describes himself as “storyteller-comedian-author-troubadour-folk singer-songwriter.” He has 10 recordings including a digital-only live recording with Christine, and is the author of “Memoirs of a C Student.” Each performer will do a solo set, then White and Lavin take the stage together in a rollicking, laugh-out-loud free for all displaying the kind of chemistry you get from old friends and seasoned performers who are two of the funniest entertainers anywhere!
The Philadelphia Jug Band
Free Outdoor Concert, Roots Americana Saturday, July 26, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. The Philadelphia Jug Band makes a welcome return visit to our free outdoor concert series on the back deck. Their slogan is,“If this music doesn’t make you smile, nothing will!” They trace their roots to the Second Philadelphia Folk Festival in 1963 where two of the then high school student band members heard Jim Kweskin and the Jug Band. Since then they have performed throughout the Delaware Valley and further afield always returning to the Philadelphia Folk Festival in both official and unofficial capacities for more than 50 years. The core band is Frank Zemlan on guitar and vocals, Jim Klingler on guitar and vocals, Bob Beach on harmonica, flute and vocals, Dave Gauck on washtub bass and jug and Steve Miller, on washboard, blues kazoo and vocals. They play a wide ranging mix of country blues, folk, rags and stomps. This free outdoor concert is sponsored by the Kent County Arts Council, People’s Bank, the Rock Hall Business Association and the Mainstay. Bring a comfortable chair. If the weather doesn’t cooperate, the concert will move indoors to the Mainstay.
The Redd Brothers featuring Houson Person
$20.00
Jazz, Legendary Saxophone Player Friday, August 1, 2014 at 8:00 p.m. Now in his seventh decade of performing, the legendary jazz man Houston Person carves a hard groove with his tenor sax, a growling blues and soul style all his own. A veteran of more than 75 albums as a player and bandleader, he is one of the greats--“an eloquent messenger from a jazz era rooted in traditional blues, black church music, Broadway love songs and the impersonation, by sax, of a singer's tone palette” (The Guardian) He has more than 75 albums under his own name on Prestige, Westbound, Mercury, Savoy, Muse, and is currently with High Note Records. His most recent recording “Nice ‘n’ Easy”, released last year, features Chuck Redd on vibes. He has recorded with Charles Brown, Charles Earland, Lena Horne, Etta Jones, Lou Rawls, Horace Silver, Dakota Staton, Billy Butler, and more. This evening he performs with the Redd Brothers Quartet featuring Chuck on vibes and drums and Robert on piano and a bass player to be named later.
New Directions: Tom McHugh & Dick Durham
Jazz from the Great American Songbook, For Piano and Chromatic Harmonica, Sunday, August 3, 2014 at 4:00 p.m. FREE! We all know Mainstay founder Tom McHugh for his folksy banjo, driving blues harp, and “The Chester River Song.” And we know jazz pianist Dick Durham for his amazing technique, brilliant arrangements and compositions. The new Mainstay series "New Directions" encourages established musicians to explore new areas and journeymen to expand their skills,their repertoire and generally to take it to the next level. For this concert Dick has been working with Tom on a concert of jazz from the 20th Century American Songbook for piano and chromatic harmonica. Come out and see what they have cooked up. It’s free and promises to be a lively afternoon.
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General Info
Payment Types
Cash Only
About Us
The Mainstay opened its doors in a 100 year old Rock Hall building on Nov 13, 1997. Outfitted with 120 mismatched chairs, Tom McHugh’s sound system, a few cast off theatre lights, the building came to life. Now, some 750 concerts later, and celebrating fifteen years of success, The Mainstay is a fixture on Rock Hall’s old time Main Street.
The Mainstay (Home of Musical Magic) is a 501(c)3, nonprofit dedicated to the arts, serving Rock Hall and the surrounding region. We are dedicated to presenting local, regional, national and international talent, at a reasonable price, in an almost perfect acoustic setting. You really can’t have a bad seat in this room.
The Mainstay creates performances, art shows, children’s activities, and other community events to serve the artistic and cultural needs of Rock Hall, Kent County, and the Upper Eastern Shore. By working closely with the business community and local government, The Mainstay uses the arts as an engine to enhance quality of life, quicken business growth, and enrich education. The Mainstay is a gathering place for clubs and other organizations reflecting the diverse interests of Rock Hall and the surrounding community.