Gary Hoey

It’s been two decades since Boston-born guitarist Gary Hoey left his hometown for Los Angeles in a U-Haul truck to pursue a full-time musical career — a move, strangely enough, motivated by an unsuccessful audition for Ozzy Osbourne. (Zakk Wylde got the part.) After embracing the surf-rock genre, Hoey scored a hit in 1993 with a cover of Focus’ “Hocus Pocus” and later gained wider recognition for his work on the soundtrack of Bruce Brown’s 1994 film The Endless Summer 2. He is currently on the road with this year’s edition of his annual Ho Ho Hoey Holiday celebration show, which features personal renditions of Christmas classics blended with his original material. Expect lots of mean guitar licks amid the yuletide foolery.