If Stax great Carla Thomas shows up at your birthday party, you know you’ve made it.
Mario Monterosso, a guitarist-singer-songwriter and Memphis transplant, probably said, “Gee whiz,” several times at his 50th birthday party, which was held October 10th at B-SIDE Bar in Minglewood Hall. Actually, he did say that — in so many words. “‘Wow, That’s Carla,’ I said to myself,” Monterosso recalls.
And if having Thomas as one of your party guests wasn’t enough, performing on stage with the legendary Tav Falco was the icing on the birthday cake.
Falco was why Monterosso ended up in Memphis in the first place. Monterosso, who is from Catania, Italy, met Falco in Rome in 2014. Falco was looking for a guitarist for his new album, Command Performance and Monterosso became that guitarist. Falco then asked him to produce the album. And Monterosso also co-wrote two songs — “Master of Chaos” and “Memphis Ramble” — with Falco.
Memphis was part of the Command Performance album tour. “When I put my foot in Memphis, immediately I decided, ‘Hey, this is the place,’ says Monterosso. “Sometimes you feel the things on your skin. And immediately I thought that I wanted to live, at least for a little while, in Memphis.” He quit his job in Sicily and moved to Memphis on July 29th, 2016, and he’s become the lead guitarist in Falco’s band, Panther Burns.
The birthday party at B-SIDE, with its collection of Monterosso’s old and new friends, was something special. “Well, that was huge,” he says. “My best friends ever, that I’ve been knowing ever since I was a kid. Then I had my bandmates that are Italians from Rome. So, they are connected to my Roman life. And then I had Tav, of course, who represented the change of my life.
“Then I had all those people, new friends, from Scott Bomar to John Paul Keith to Will Sexton to Jonathan Finder to Dabney Coors to Carla Thomas. So, I had my entire life over there the day of my 50th birthday.”
Recalling when he first moved to Memphis, Monterosso says, “I started out from zero again. So, I went to jam sessions just like when you are a teenager.”
He began meeting and working with Memphis music folks, including Keith, Sexton, Amy LaVere, Dale Watson, and Jason D. Williams.
Monterosso, along with Falco and the Panther Burns, jammed about 75 minutes on stage at B-SIDE.
Jana Finder took care of the birthday cake portion of the party. “Jana asked me if I had a preference. I’m not a great eater of sweets or candy, but I love chocolate cakes and lemon cakes.” Jana baked one of each. “So, I got both,” says Monterosso.
Memphis is now home for Monterosso. “Fifty is a moment in which you walk through your entire life. You look behind and see what you built and what you have. And everything was connected, was perfectly blended, that night — my past and my present. So, this is why I was so happy.
“I had people that I love and people that love me. And many times that night I said each one of the people at the party represents a little piece of my music puzzle.”
