Tomfest at Troy's Hanger in memory of musician Tom D'Ambrose

Tom D'Ambrose — sax player, Shark, lover of music — was always attending shows, always texting and calling friends to tell them to get out and hear this band or that performer.

One night last fall, he chatted on the phone before heading to bed at his home in Loudonville, and he never woke up. After his death on Nov. 10 at age 63, his friends started thinking about a tribute. The memorial service six days later was important, yes — but to fully invoke the spirit of D'Ambrose, they needed to mount a concert.

And not just any concert. It had to be a show he'd want to attend himself. A show he'd be bugging everyone else to attend. A show people just had to hear live, just had to check out. So began Tomfest, a massive musical celebration of D'Ambrose, a founding member of '80s rockers the Sharks and a fixture on the Capital Region art and music scene.

"This is a show he would be over the moon about," said keyboardist Mike Kelley, his first cousin and fellow Shark. "All of his favorite acts are here, singing and playing for him."

Scheduled from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday at the Hangar in Troy, Tomfest is packed with acts: Circle of Willis; Double B and the Drive-By Jazz Band; Johnny Rabb with the Tichy Boys; Lonesome Val with Todd NelsonOff The Record; the The Lazy Suns; the Lustre Kings with Erin Harkes; the Tichy Boys; Tom Corrigan; and the Lost Radio Rounders with Bowtie Blotto.

"It's the bands that Tommy really admired," said Sharks drummer Bob Assini, who'll be playing with Kelley in the roots-rocking Circle of Willis. "The music is so ripe in this area. Between the Capital District, Saratoga, Schenectady, Troy, there's just so many musicians and everything. But there was just so much time allotted. It could have been a three-day festival, a rock festival, if we...