Sunday, May 1, 2011

Blues Fest 2011 @ Gwampa's

Each year the Blues Fest anchors the Blues for Autism (BFA)fundraising events. And each year Blues Fest has also brought in the largest amount of donations, but that would be hard to beat this year due to the great success of the BFA auction.

Blues Fest is by far the longest event on the BFA schedule and usually brings in crowds that ebb and flow all day, sometimes maxing out any single sim. This year Gwampa Lomu stepped up and offered a two-sim area at his Gwampa's Dance Kamp, enabling twice as many concert attendees to find space to enjoy the show.

Then there are the performers. Each hour of the concert a new performer takes the stage and this year's lineup included wonderful friends from the past and some amazing new ones, both live performers and DJs. Here are the names of the performers: DJ Bard Wasp, DJ JC Landau, DJ Moonmaiden "Moonie" Horner, Strummer Vultee (live), DJ Pronvelle Cristole, JavaJoe MacIntyre (live), Beamer Lowtide (live), Jimmy49T Dukes (live), DJ Jaco Fitzpatrick, Von Johin (live), DJ Voodoo Cooperstone, Ichie Kamachi (live) and DJ Lucinda Bergbahn.

So it was that at 8:00am on Saturday morning, twelve+ hours of music began and the donations started rolling in. Following is a photo story of the concert.

Kicking off the concert was ever easy DJ Bard Wasp broadcasting from Bard's Blues with a great mixture of tunes.

Next up was bluesy favorite for a Saturday morning, DJ JC Landau, and nearby was his lovely partner Astarte.

Another newcomer was DJ Moonmaiden "Moonie" Horner with her captivating voice and gorgeous looks, broadcasting from her radio station.

Making his first appearance at Blues Fest, Singer/musician Strummer Vultee performed live.

'The Wharf' owner and also great DJ, Pronvelle Cristole brought his hot looks and great tunes.

Next was another live performer, JavaJoe MacIntyre. JavaJoe say, "Blues Mashups of popular songs" and yes, we heard wonderful, transformative music.

Each event of the Blues for Autism fundraiser features great Second Life performers. And each performer brings their talent and time, contributing it to the campaign for Autism Awareness and support. But each performer makes a special effort to inform concert goes of the facts about autism and of how important it is to recognize the condition early and build support.

Check our BFA "Facts" tab to learn important information about Autism and how it impacts lives. If you don't know someone with autism or a family with an autistic child, you won't have to ask too many friends to find someone narrowly separated from you who does.

Another return performer from 2010, was live performer, Beamer Lowtide who brought back his sweet acoustic guitar and bluesy-country sounds.

And still another returnee, from the 2009 BFA fundraiser was the great Jimmy49T Dukes, with his great voice and guitar. Checkout his bio.

This year, The Crossroads owner Jaco Fitzpatrick has hosted BFA Mardi Gras, BFA Market Place and auctioned himself off at the BFA Dance Auction. And he also DJ'd for the first time at Blues Fest!

Four time Blues Fest live performer Von Johin and his daughter Kelly brought Von's love of music, commitment to Autism Awareness, and love of his autistic daughter all together. Magi McBride said this about their moving performance, "There were many teary eyes."

Next up was Professional Wrestler, DJ Voodoo Cooperstone. Voodoo was new to Blues Fest but he is a very outgoing and entertaining performer.

In 2010, Ichie Kamachi made her first live Blues Fest performance and she introduced many bluesy music fans to her mellow, seductive jazz and blues stylings. Again this year, she delivered a great mix of naughty and nice.

DJ "Miss Luci" Bergbahn was one of the original organizers of Blues for Autism and each year she's found a way to bring her emotional commitment to this cause. In the past two years, she has anchored both Blues Fests with an emotional climax that brings many to tears, and this year she did it again.

Blues Fests are marathon efforts to raise money for Autism Awareness, but anyone who has ever participated in them knows that these are emotion filled events that build throughout the day. When you attend a blues fest you learn about wonderful performers who've made commitments to helping and you learn facts about autism. But there's one other thing, you learn about this community of music lovers.

In the beginning it was all about blues but now we have jazz, rock, country and really we are opening the doors to all music lovers. Blues fest is a bonding experience for many of us and when the evening is done, we all feel like we've accomplished something and know each other much better. Of course, Blues Fest is also about donations and this year our music loving friends came through again.

Total donations for Blues Fest 2011 were L$415,051!

And this morning, Magi McBride reported the grand total of Blues for Autism donations:

Blues for Autism 2011 donations are an all time record L$1,567,537!!

There are many thank yous to be given. First, to all who donated. Thank you to the performers. Thank you to Gwampa Lomu for the large, stable venue. Thank you to the BFA Organizing Committee especially event organizers Dillon Janus, Kitten Lytton and of course, Magi McBride.

It's hard to believe, but this is the final fundraising event for Blues for Autism 2011.

by Yordie Sands

(note: This is a reminder that all funds donated will be donated to the Autism Society.org.)

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