Two Dozen Bands To Play Benefit For Local Child
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — More than 20 bands and performers will perform a daylong marathon of music Saturday, organized by the Berkshire Band-Itz roller derby to benefit the daughter of a lost teammate.
The 10-hour event will be held from 2 to midnight at Chameleon's Nightclub, the same venue where 24-year-old Theresa Burke was last seen four weeks earlier by friends at an event held to raise funds for the league. Now, Berkshire Band-Itz are working with local music promoter Andy Poncherello to raise money for Madison, the 5-year-old daughter she left behind.
"I'd only met Theresa a few times but I saw her regularly at Lipton Mart on North Street [where she worked] and she was always so nice," said Poncherello.
"She was at the Full Blown Chaos show with her team and had a blast," he said of Burke's last night. "Most everyone there remembered her, and it was the fact that she happened to touch so many people as part of her team's fundraising event that many people wanted to donate a performance."
"I actually had the second night of the toy fund benefit that I do every year booked that day and didn't intend to change it," he said of the event's beginnings. "There have been, up until now, a few benefit events but it wasn't until the team asked that I changed the toy fund event to one night and used the second night for the roller derby team."
At that point, the lineup of musical acts swelled from a few to a dozen, then two dozen, as bands and solo musicians chimed in on Facebook and elsewhere to donate their services.
The club will utilize both its bar areas to accommodate ongoing music on two stages. The smaller Long Bar room will feature Wandering Oak, Dharma & Friends, Sarah Elizabeth Rayner, Jess Hume, Colin Moran, Exovox, Nice Try Kid, Josef X Haryanto, Polysonic Joy and Sifer.
The second, larger room will host a separate lineup: The Matchstick Architects, Shane Daoust, Goblet, Noumenon, Immune Friction, Leap the Dips, Order of the Circle, From Battlefield to Sanctuary, The Remones, Damsel In This Dress, Amerikan Citizens and Be the Seen.
"I'd already had bands booked so it was easy to add another 17 to the mix of things," said Poncherello.
The admission cost for the entire event is $10 at the door, and is open to all ages. Some food will also be provided.
Donations of merchandise and items from businesses have poured in nearly as fast as the performers. Art, music, books, jewelry, clothing, and gift certificates to a wide range of goods and services, including food, manicures, tattoo, barbering, chiropractic, and even a 2-hour schooner trip off the coast of Connecticut.
The more than 20 donations in total will be used in two separate chinese raffles during the event.
"Every single cent is going to Madison, no one is taking any money, everything is volunteered," said Berkshire Band-Itz's Najwa Squailia, one of the organizers. "Chameleon's has generously offered the venue ... all the musicians and bands are doing it for free. So it's just been really moving."
"You can't help but be touched, be affected by the tragedy," she said of the support offered from parts of the community. "People want to help
"This is something for Madison, so that when she turns 18 she'll have something real," she said of the trust fund the team has opened for her, and intends to continue to fund raise for annually. Contributions can be made directly to the Madison Frances Fund through Berkshire Bank.
Unwrapped Christmas gifts for Madison are also being accepted at Saturday's event. She wears size 7-8 clothes, size 13 shoe, and loves pink, purple and anything Hello Kitty.
"She was always going to see bands and musicians play," said Squailia of Burke, adding that Saturday's event will also be a way to show her family the outpouring of support back from that same music community.
"She was a music fan and this show, in her honor, to benefit her daughter's future is truly representative of an iPod on shuffle," said Poncherello. "There's something for everyone and then some.
Tags: benefit, fundraiser, music,
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