The holidays are all about the traditions, and this one has been bringing people out on Boxing Day for about 25 years. It began as a birthday celebration and fundraiser that took over Pub Flamingo every year, but when the birthday parties stopped the music kept going. The Boxing Day bash has since moved to The Seahorse’s stage and into the hands of Bruce Vickery, of local R&B band Rasta Gumbo, who’s been attending or playing at the event since the beginning. Vickery promises a lively post-holiday party fusing funk, reggae and R&B, “We’ll probably end up with about 15 people up on stage at one time.” And the birthday boy who started it all? “He still comes,” says Vickery, “but I make him pay to get in.” –Allison Saunders
Sunday December 26, The Seahorse Tavern, 1665 Argyle Street, 9pm, $10/$7 with a donation to the food bank
This article appears in Dec 23-29, 2010.