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(Enlarge) Michael Angelo Batio plays a right-handed and a left-handed guitar that have been welded together as he performed during an Aug. 1 clinic that also featured legendary rock drummer Carmine Appice. The Saturday event was hosted by BeatStreet Music, a Catonsville online musical instrument store looking to expand its name locally.(Photo by Nate Pesce)

Larry Sacchetti describes his Catonsville company, BeatStreet Music, as an "international Mom and Pop shop."

He sells guitars, drums and other music accessories online to people around the world, under the motto that BeatStreet is "right around the corner" -- a play on the online sales pitch that products are "just a click away," Sacchetti said.

While online marketing has made the company he started about four years ago into a major global distributor of brands such as Dean Guitars and DDrum drum sets, Sacchetti said he would like to draw a larger local clientele to his Mellor Avenue showroom as well. After all, he said, for the residents of Music City, Md., BeatStreet really is "right around the corner," located in the Mews at Mellor.

"It's a good location because of all the music that's happening in Catonsville," said Sacchetti, who lives in Oella with his wife, Francine, daughter Kara, 14, and son Vinny, 10.

"And we want the people to know we're here," he said.

To that end, Sacchetti has held two live music events in his warehouse in the past two months.

His most recent one on Saturday attracted more than 50 fans of drummer Carmine Appice and guitarist Michael Angelo Batio, the event's featured performers.

The two men -- billed as a an "undisputed legend" in the world of drumming and "one of the most interesting guitar players alive," respectively -- are known in the world of instructional books and DVDs and have played with various popular bands over the last few decades.

Appice played in the band Cactus and has performed with the likes of Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart, Pink Floyd and Ozzie Osbourne.

Batio, who played in the band Nitro, was named the "No. 1 Shredder of All Time" by Guitar One Magazine in 2003.

The two came to Sacchetti's store as part of a tour with Dean Guitars and DDrum that is taking them to Europe and throughout the Midwest as well, Appice said.

Batio, who performed first, gave a lightning-speed show on the guitar, including a segment during which he simultaneously played two welded-together guitars -- one left-handed and one right-handed -- above his head and backwards while his arms were crossed over his chest.

"I don't like to talk a lot," Batio said, dressed in tight black pants and a black shirt, both of which had shiny metal buckles and zippers. "I'd rather just play guitar, which is the best way to talk about guitar."

Appice followed that performance with an equally impressive show on the drums that highlighted his intricate understanding of rhythm and time signatures, which he talked about extensively with the crowd.

"No matter what you do, you gotta stay in the groove," Appice said, referring to the importance of a band's drummer staying on rhythm. "You've gotta be right in the pocket."

The crowd -- made up of teenagers and adults from all over Maryland and up and down the east coast -- loved it.

They played air drums and air guitar in their seats, wagged their tongues, made grunts of approval, recorded the scene on their I-phones and snapped pictures.

Harley Noel, 8, who came from Huntingtown in southern Maryland with his dad Eric, got personal instructions from Appice on tapping his drum sticks together to create independent beats.

Morgan Bryan, 15, a budding guitarist who follows Batio online, drove five and a half hours to the show with his dad Kevin from Long Island.

He left the show shaking and speechless after winning the raffle for a Dean guitar that Batio signed.

"Just seeing (Batio) was enough," said his father, smiling at his son's obvious glee.

"This (guitar) is just icing on the cake."

Brothers Alex and Andrew Cotsaris, of Overlea, were there with their parents, Nick and Brenda.

Alex, 14, plays guitar and Andrew, 13, plays the drums.

Both wear their hair in rock star styles, blown out and dyed, and listened intently to the performances from just off the impromptu stage -- erected in a storage area where big black sheets were used to cover racks of boxed guitars.

Their mother, Brenda Cotsaris, who home schools them, said the family uses such clinics as educational trips.

She said the fact that the event featured a drummer and guitarist matched her sons' interests perfectly.

After Batio and Appice finished their individual sets, they jammed together along with Sacchetti on the keyboard, singer Josh Maloney on the microphone and Elliott Rubinson, president of Armadillo Enterprises, which distributes Dean Guitars and DDrum sets, on the bass.

After the session, the crowd lined up for autographs in BeatStreet's showroom.

Sacchetti said he was happy to see the crowd enjoy the show, and hopes to have more shows in the future to get more Catonsville residents through the doors -- where "edgy, pointy, metal guitars" will catch their eye.

"We (have) a lot of guitars you won't find at Bill's (Music Store) or Jims (Guitars)," he said, referring to the two nearby stores.


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