Before the concert started the BFA committee began rolling into the event site at Maginolia. Everyone was nervous because it takes a great deal of planning and coordinating to setup these events and as all Second Life residents know, SL exists on a web of computers all over the world. The first performer was Beamer Lowtide and by time of Beamer's show the crowd had begin to swell. Following is a pictorial story of an amazing day and amazing night.
Over 30 people had arrived for the opening show at 10am.
Singer, songwriter, musician Beamer Lowtide, streaming in from Tulsa, Oklahoma opened the show with "Banana Pancakes". Beamer stummed his sweet acoustic guitar, and while he sang with his distinct bluesy-country sounds, the crowd began contributing generously. Beamer closed with a gentle "Sweet Malissa".
Beamer Lowtide singing "Sweet Malissa"
Next up was self-professed "joker/teaser/flirt" DJ Ben Shutt. Ben began his show with a blend of rock n' blues, but shortly after he started he threw out a challenge. Ben said he'd match all the donations received during his performance and almost at once the donations started pouring in. While Ben played songs form Seger to SRV to Eric Clapton, the donations kept pouring in. By the end of Ben's set contributions exceeded L$100,000 and with Ben's matching amount the total raised was L$214,140. At this point there was a feeling that Blues Fest was going to be a success.
Handsome and charming Ben Shutt performing and making his generous challenge.
When technical problems prevented the next performer from streaming, Ben stepped in and spun more tunes until the fabulous DJ Lucinda Bergbahn was up.
Lucinda "Miss Luci" Bergbahn has been a supporter of Blues for Autism from the first and while she spun one of her patented sets of bluesy tunes, she talked passionately about the history of BFA. Luci also explained how autism is a developmental disability, and a problem with the nervous system with no "cure". When she played "Through the eyes of a child", there wasn't a dry eye in the house, and by the end of her show donations totaled L$1,112,667.
Miss Luci showed her great compassion for people with autism.
Again, technical problems kept the next performer from streaming and like Ben earlier, Miss Luci continued her show until the incomparable Allister Westland took the stage.
Allister Westland is a singer/songwriter/musician, and he sings a blend of new and classic rock. He is also an electrifying musician on both acoustic and electric guitar. If you've never heard Allister sing, imagine a deep resonate voice that is both masculine but with a gentleness that reaches out and touches you. Al sang a selection of songs including "Love is Overrated", "Electric Soul" and others.
Allister on stage, generating his magic.
DJFiery Otaared is one of the pillars of the SL bluesy community and Fiery has a clear intellect and is gifted with an ability to communicate and move people with her ideas. This year, as last year, Fiery delivered her "I Am Autism" soliloquy and when coupled with her extraordinary music selection, she once again touched the audience deeply. After the first part of her speech, she played Billy Holiday's "God Bless The Child" and despite the pixels that separate us, the emotions created by the music could be felt. Throughout her performance Fiery spoke of the destruction that autism causes, and thru her music she delivered one of the powerful autism messages of the Blues for Autism fundraiser.
Fiery delivering her passionate message about autism. Bravo "Mama Fi!"
Von Johin and his fantastic guitar!
The Chicks are great to see and a total delight to hear.
As 5pm turned on the clock, Von Johin took the stage and as in past years he brought his daughter Kelly to sing with him. Kelly has autism and she is a reminder of the human beings behind the word, autism. Before beginning his performance, Kelly sang rock classic "White Rabbit". Then Von began strumming his guitar and singing in his deep, friendly country voice. Von has a powerful, driving style swinging from warm country to hard driving and accented with his spectacular command of the guitar.
Then came the sassy sounds of The Choo Choo Chicks out of Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Chicks are lead singer Angua Ashbourne, Lotus Melodie on guitar, and Mishkamenges Collazo on keyboard. This is a group that knows who it is and delivers the goods with, "Tight harmonies and a kickin' rhythm section." During their performance they performed classics including "Woman's World", "The Thrill is Gone" and music written by Angua Ashbourne.
Do you think you know where the bluesy community lives? Next up from Manila in the Philippine Islands was musician/singer, Dakila "Dak" Lacava. As with Von Johin, Dak is a parent of a child, a son with autism. So, for Dak, this was both a performance and a chance to express some of his feelings about autism. When you listen to Dak perform you are at once taken with his command of the piano which he plays with elegance and strength. Dak sang several songs, but his rendition of "What a wonderful world" was powerful and moving.
The engaging Dakila Lacava on stage at Blues for Autism.
By the time the gorgeous Ichie Kamachi (pronounced EE-ChEE-AY) arrived, the night had settled in. And what better way to spend and evening than with the enchanting sounds of Ichie. Ichie sings jazz and blues, and her lovely voice is pure, mellow and seductive. During her performance she sang "Cry me a River", "Ain't No Sunshine When he's Gone" and the very sexy "The Naughty Song". While performing, other musicians joined her on stage with Matt Renfew on drums, Jill Easterman on keys, Dakila Lacava on bass.
The gorgeous Ichie singing her naughty and nice songs.
The final show of the evening was Paul Nowles. Paul is a musician, songwriter, singer with a great sound and a great look. Paul sings mostly classic rock and his style is . Paul opened up with an wonderful, romantic version of "Chasing Cars". Then he demonstrated his range with "Let it Be", "Purple Rain" and even Seger's "Night Moves".
He's good looking and he sings beautifully, he's Paul Knowles
Finally, Miss Luci took the stage for the 2nd time that day, it had been a long day so she drug friends Gracee Beaumont and Destinova Ducatillon to dance with her. Luci continued to enlighten us with Autism facts and statistics. The event total was at 460K+ when she started the hour and challenged everyone to push it over the top to 500k!
It was another spectacular in the Blues Fest concerts. It was a resounding success. At the end of the evening the concert brought in L$500,053 in donations. Thank you to the truly wonderful performers who came, performed and contributed, and a special thanks to those that performers stepped in at the last minute. Thank you to all of the people who came and enjoyed the concert and contributed!!
In addition to the perfomers, we'd like to acknowledge a couple other contributors to this event. First, The stage was the creation of Bluto Brando and his Brando Construction company, way to go Blu! And the entire concert was also streamed into the Junkyard Blues club, thank you Junkyard Blues for extending our reach.
The Final Results
This was the last of the Blues for Autsim 2010 fundraiser events. When Magi McBride, Founder, got the final accounting, BFA had raised a whopping L$1,372,777!!
On behalf of my fellow BFA Organizing Committee Team members, we want to say thank you to Magi McBride for her steadfastness in making this year's fundraiser an outstanding success!!
As always, all funds raised by Blues for Autism are paid to the Autism Society of America in U.S. dollars.
Story & Photos by Yordie Sands
