It’s hard to forget a band name like the Hollapenos. Not
because it’s the world’s best band name (that’s a whole other blog post), but
because it’s funny and an odd spelling. It just sounds like a high school band - and it was.
Charlotte native and New York-based mastering
engineer Dan Millice mentioned his old Myers Park high school band when I
interviewed him in February about his Grammy nomination for his work on Trey
Songz “Heart Attack.” So when the name popped up on the Visulite’s calendar as
an opening act for fellow locals Bubonik Funk and Richmond’s the Shack Band, I
wondered if it could possibly be the same band.
Yes, the stars have aligned and the original
Hollapenos lineup will regroup for a special show to honor an old friend Friday, July 12, at Visulite.
The show marks the defunct band’s tenth anniversary. The group's members include Millice, who is in town celebrating the new album release by fellow Myers Park
grads Junior Astronomers (which he mastered), and Andrew Gillespie, who now
plays with the Shack Band.
Funds from the reunion show will be donated to the Zach
Ramsey Children’s Cancer Fund. Ramsey was a classmate and friend of the band
during its Myers Park days. Before his death three months shy of his eighteenth
birthday, he started the Zach Ramsey Children’s Cancer Fund with a few thousand
dollars from his savings and asked that friends and family continue to raise
money to fight pediatric cancer in his name.
If you attended Myers Park High a decade or so ago, this week sounds like a partial high school reunion with Junior Astronomers’
listening party and acoustic set at NoDa Brewery tonight, the reunion show
featuring both the Hollapenos and the Shack Band, and JA's cd release show
Saturday. Junior Astronomers’ singer Terrence Richard will also join the
Hollapenos on stage for a song Friday.
Tickets for Friday’s concert are $8 to $10. Additional donations
will also be accepted. Doors at 9 p.m.
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