By Wayne Laepple
RIVERSIDE — Got a holiday party coming up this Christmas season? How about a happy hour, an open house or an office party?
If you’re looking for entertainment, Mark Tomeo just might be your guy.
He’ll come to your event, whatever it is, and play an hour or so of jazz Christmas music on his guitar, and he’ll do it gratis.
“I’d like to play somewhere every day in December until Christmas,” he said. “I thought it would be an interesting challenge to play every day.”
Tomeo got the idea for the Christmas gig and began working on it right after Christmas last year. An accomplished guitarist, he’s been playing for over 30 years. He’s been taking lessons on the jazz guitar from Bucknell’s Jay Umbel, learning to play melody and rhythm at the same time.
“I’ve been working on jazz arrangements of Christmas music,” he said. “I’d like to play my set in a lot of places, just to spread it around.”
Tomeo has a vision of playing at shops while people are shopping, in restaurants as they enjoy a break from shopping, at house parties.
“I thought it would be a lot of fun to just go to a lot of places, set up, play for an hour, and then move on,” he said. “It would be guerilla music.”
Tomeo makes use of an amplifier that allows him to plug in an iPod device on which he’s pre-recorded bass and drum tracks and also mix his lead guitar and vocals performed live.
“I use the technology to boost things along,” he notes. “People hardly recognize that I’m using backup tracks. They provide support and timing when I play.”
His first gig, he said, is at Brews n’ Bytes in Danville on Tuesday, and he has a few other events lined up at shops in Danville and Lewisburg.
“I’m accepting all offers,” he said. “This isn’t about making money. I’m just doing it because I think live music adds something to the Christmas season.”
In the 1980s, Tomeo played pedal steel guitar, including a stint with the well-regarded Rubber Rodeo, a New England new wave country band that was nominated for a Grammy in 1985. The band held a recording contract with Mercury Polygram and toured the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom.
“I’m probably one of 10 or 12 pedal steel players who actually made a living at it,” he chuckles.
He’s been in central Pennsylvania for about 25 years now and played with Neon Cactus in Williamsport and with another band in Harrisburg.
“The trouble with alt-country music is that only other alt-country musicians come out to hear it,” he lamented.
He’s branched out into jazz, rock and blues guitar now, and his Christmas jazz guitar adventure is the result.
“If you want me, just call me,” he concluded. “Have guitar, will travel.”
You can reach Tomeo at 271-6359 during the day and at 275-6751 evenings.
