two benefit concerts raise support for sgub 2015 — kolkata!!!
the fifth annual survivor girl ukulele band project benefits last fall were the place to be!!! the artists and the audience and the cause combined to make magic and raise funds toward survivor girl ukulele band project 2015 — kolkata!!!
the first concert was at bethany church of sierra madre. we had some great volunteers helping again this year, ed tree repeated as musical director, and my bffla, sharon hannah, did an amazing job as producer and promoter.
we raised over $6000 for survivor girl ukulele band project!!!
chava pollack and corrine cunningham helped bring in the cash.
the evening started off with a lovely dinner of delicious indian food hosted by bethany, and then pastor briant gave a welcome and prayer.
notable women in attendance, beverly thompson, lois tedrow, britta lee shain, and sharon hannah:
we like to think the sparks first started flying for these two at a past sgub benefit. and here they are again in the same seats. heart.
dana charnofsky and lorin hart.
two great talents, john cartright and beverly mickins.
berrington van campen and lynne popadak.
the best dressed award goes again this year to rick and lisa mystic of the wild mountain mystics. don’t they look amazing?!!
laurie with frank schifani, and look who showed up — ukulele master, abe lagrimas!
lorin hart and valerie kuhns and aireene espritu.
marcel shain shot some great video of the night, which follows. thanks, marcel!!!
and now for the music. first up, kendall forrey.
next up was aireen espiritu accompanied by ed tree.
followed by tim tedrow with john o’kennedy.
and now for lorin hart along with ed tree
john o’kennedy, who four years ago came up with idea of doing a benefit concert for my work, always puts together something very special. here he is with the fabulous beverly mickins, john cartright, mb gordy, and wes miller.
starting out the second half of the concert was special surprise guest: heidi swedberg!!!
the tall men were the featured act of the second half of the show, led off by marty axelrod.
then john stowers
next up, jeff kossack.
severin browne
jimmy yessian
and then ed tree got us dancing in the aisles.
and finally the survivor girl ukulele band song (written by ed tree) finale featuring lorin hart and bliss bowen along with all performers and anyone who had a ukulele!!
wow, what a night!
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brit rodriguez and heidi swedberg and the smoking jackets played the second benefit, a matinee at the coffee gallery. you can see some videos of that fabulous afternoon (and much more) at dave clausen’s emajor9productions youtube channel! thanks, dave!! here’s the link
but meanwhile here’s a few photos.
what a super afternoon of music and fun and love for survivor girl ukulele band project!!!
thank you thank you thank you all for joining the band!!!