Concert for an artistic cause
Published on August 1st, 2007
STONEHAM, MA - Jason Weber (Class of 2001) and Joe Price (Class of 2002), both graduates of Stoneham High and friends since high school, heard the news reports about the sports, art and music programs being in trouble for SHS students next season, and they did much more than shake their heads and say 'what a shame.'
They did something about it and the fruits of their efforts will be on display Aug. 18 in the Stoneham High School auditorium where their interest in music first began to take shape. The first Annual Save Stoneham Arts and Music Show is planned to be a five hour show from 5-10:30 p.m. with all ticket sales, donations and proceeds going directly toward funding and keeping alive local arts programs. Tickets are on sale now for $20 (see below for details) or will be $30 at the door the day of the show.
Five bands, all with at least one and in several cases many Stoneham High alums within their membership, will take turns entertaining on the stage and coaxing audience members to donate money toward Stoneham High's depleted fund. The night will include performances by the following bands: Another Life, The Gardner Shakedown, The Steve Gutenband, ADayDelayed, Aeons, J Blake, Ekkum, The Euphony Project and more.
Both SHS alums now work for Avid Technology with Price having been involved with the company since his high school internship at the company.
"We work together and we were at lunch break and we know a bunch of people in bands, and we kind of said to ourselves 'hey we should put on a show' but it was something that we were kind of joking around with at first," said Weber, who plays drums in a band called 'The Gardner Shakedown' that will be a part of the festivities. "We thought about it and started planning it.
"I never had any experience with fundraisers before, but it feels good getting people hyped up for a good cause and hopefully people that are supporting it will show up that night and see that this cause is cared for," said Price. "I've always thought doing something like this but never really followed through and - even though we're still in the middle of it and haven't finished - it feels good to be involved with this."
"It'll be cool that night when we get to share in this with the people that come to the show and have the same kind of hearts that Jay and I have," added Price.
Price and Weber were always friendly but found they had a lot in common during jazz classes with SHS teacher Ed Grammar, and formed a friendship that's still intact today and has
"I was in the concert band in Middle School, but the jazz class at the high school was such a key part of my musical experience," said Weber. "The class was so small and everyone was so into music that we got to bring in songs that we really wanted to play, and it gave us a lot of opportunities to push ourselves."
The Stoneham High auditorium has a seating capacity of 800 people, so both Weber and Price are hoping for a good turnout to the concert that is both celebrating local musical talent and supporting the arts. Each band will have tables set up with items and CDs for sale with a portion of the proceeds going toward the money being raised by the concert. Weber and Price are shooting for $10,000 as a realistic mark for the concert, and will send all of the proceeds to the Stoneham Public Schools Foundation where the money will be specifically earmarked for "music and the arts."
"That was one of the first things we decided when we were talking with Chris Willard, Darryln Leikauskas and Toni Mansfield about what we would do with any money raised for the concert," said Weber. "You can bet that it's going to help out kids just like us at the high school, and make sure they have the same opportunities and things that we had at Stoneham High.
"Plus you get to see some great bands," added Weber, who said the pair are still looking for both sound people and local restaurants for volunteer help in providing the sound quality and food for the night of the show. "How can you go wrong?"
Good entertainment and a great cause that supports the deserving kids of Stoneham - there really isn't much more that needs to be said.
Concert organizers are still working on selling tickets to the event at the door, but encourage concertgoers to buy their tickets ahead of time online at http://www.inticketing.com/evinfo.php?eventid=17889.
Those interested can also Call Toll Free 1-866-55-TICKETS (Mention event Save the Arts in Stoneham, MA.
Tickets will also be available at the door the night of the show. But I would act quickly since they might sell out online!!
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