Saturday night, the Algonquin Theatre will play host to an event with a cool vibe and a warm heart.
The inaugural Rock & Roll Black Tie Affair, the brainchild of local musician Jamie Clarke and friends Brent Ellerson, Matty Phillips and Mike Shaver, is a fundraiser in support of Hospice Huntsville and in memory of Jamie’s father, Richard, who died in June.
Jamie and his sister had moved home in the spring to help their mom provide palliative care to their dad. During that time, Jamie managed to sneak away for two days to record three new tracks with his band Myrle, to be released on 45 RPM vinyl. Not long after returning home his father was admitted to hospice. While there, Jamie realized how much hospice staff do for residents and their families, and that 50 per cent of their funding comes from donations.
“So, with a 45 to release and a cause dear to my aching heart I decided there would be no better way to honour the memory of the greatest man I have ever known than to do it as a fundraiser for (Hospice Huntsville),” Jamie said in a release. “…somehow this quaint little building takes a situation that completely sucks….and somehow makes it suck less.”
The event will feature a silent auction, tastings from Highlander Brewery and Peninsula Ridge Estates Winery, Totem Juice Martinis, canapés from Spencer’s Tall Trees, and pre-concert entertainment from Toronto’s Bluebelle. Julian Taylor, formerly of Staggered Crossing, will open the show, followed by Jamie’s band Myrle joined by Canadian indie legend Ron Hawkins. All proceeds from the evening will go to Hospice Huntsville.
“A lot of people have been asking, ‘am I supposed to dress up?'” says Jamie, adding that people can choose to dress up if they want to. “It’s going to be an interesting mishmash. There’s a hipness to it that’s more Toronto than Muskoka. Everyone is welcome.”
Even before the doors open, the event has had such a good reception that Jamie plans to make it an annual fundraiser. “I just hope that if we raise x amount of dollars this year, that next year it will be better and hopefully 10 years from now we’re still doing it and it keeps growing.”
He says his dad has, in some ways, been proud that Jamie is so willing to give up album sales in support of a cause. “Usually when you make a record, your CD release is an opportunity to try to recoup the cost and for two years in a row I’ve given it away. In some ways he’s always been proud of that and in others he thought I should probably pay off my mortgage and things like that. I don’t think he’d be surprised that we’re doing this.”
There are still some tickets available for the show – you can get them for $40 at the Algonquin Theatre box office or at algonquintheatre.ca.
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