They will rock you!
A gang of old-school Sheepshead Bay rock ’n’ rollers will reunite this weekend for a blow-out celebration of local music. The Bay Rockers 25th Annual Music Reunion Party, happening at the Sheepshead Bay Yacht Club on Jan. 13, will bring together more than a dozen local musicians and their fans for a rocking reunion, according to one of the night’s organizers.
“It brings together people we sometimes haven’t seen in 30 years,” said Peter Frank Santovito, a Sheepshead Bay native who will schlep all the way from Miami to play the annual event. Santovito, a musician and producer who has played with some of the biggest names in music, got his start playing in Sheepshead Bay, which had a vibrant rock scene back in the day.
“We always had groups growing up,” he said.
The Bay Rockers includes more than a dozen musicians who hail from the Bay, playing in a number of different bands, including the Resstock Review; John Whimple and Friends, and Santovito and His Cast of Characters, among others.
The group has been putting on this concert for 25 years, but their roots stretch back further than that — Santovito has played with some of them, including his cousin, bassist Angello Olivieri, since they were kids, at dances and churches. What started as informal performances eventually turned into a yearly event at the Sheepshead Bay Yacht Club.
“We started with jam sessions in the late ’70s. We noticed people were coming out, and needed a place to pack everyone in,” said Santovito.
The groups will play a mix of original and classic songs, according to Santovito.
“It’s mostly up-tempo classic rock so people can dance and rock out,” he said.
Santovito, who released an album of original songs, “Beat of My Heart,” just last month, said he is most excited to play tunes from the Beatles and other songs of the British Invasion, which first turned him onto music.
The annual concert is also a testament to the friendship between the Sheepshead Bay musicians, which has stood the test of time, said Santovito.
“Most people split up from their grammar and high school buddies,” he said. “It’s a friendship thing.”
Bay Rocker’s 25th Annual Music Reunion Party at the Sheepshead Bay Yacht Club [3076 Emmons Ave. between Brown and Batchelder streets, (718) 891–0991, www.sheep
