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April 17, 2009

Benefits of ‘Concert for a Cause’ rock

She liked making arts and crafts with her niece, listening to Broadway music and seeing others laugh.

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Bret Alexander, of Badlees fame, has been a regular performer at Concert for a Cause since the beginning. He’s energized crowds as part of the Badlees and Giants of Despair as well as solo.

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Flaxy Morgan has performed at every Concert for a Cause since 1999 and takes the Grand Ballroom stage at 8 p.m. Wednesday.

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Those are just some of the things Nicole Erin Carey remembers best about her aunt, Karen Greenberg Revit.

“She would let us come over and have sleepovers, and she acted like however old we were at the time,” Carey, 22, said.

Carey is one of 37 musical acts who will take the stage at Concert For A Cause 7: A Concert For Karen at the Woodlands Inn and Resort on Wednesday in memory of Revit, a beloved member of the local music community and one-time associate editor of music magazine Sound Check, who died of leukemia 10 years ago.

The benefit began a decade ago as “Concert For Karen” and was renamed “Concert For A Cause” in recognition of the various charities it has supported through the years.

Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tom Leighton officially proclaimed Wednesday “Concert For A Cause Day” in the city. All proceeds of this year’s event benefit the United Way Leukemia Fund.

“Because of the community-mindedness of its planners, the generosity of area musicians and the enthusiasm of the public, the event has channeled thousands of dollars to local agencies,” Leighton said.

Money raised will primarily be used to offset costs not covered by insurance for local people with the disease, Barry Diehl, regional branch director for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, said.

Carey said she is honored to play but even happier the show has been put together in honor of her aunt, bringing “something good from something so terrible.”

Carey, who is now on a 10-day tour of the southern East Coast, plays guitar and sings mostly folk music.

She will be joined by several other popular local musicians at the event, which will showcase modern, classic and indie rock as well as bluegrass, country, metal, reggae and retro artists.

Acoustic/folk/pop/rock artist K8, who will perform at 9:45 p.m., said the event isn’t just one of her favorites to play, it is her favorite.

Along with her band, The Borrowed, she serves up mostly original songs but cover music from time to time.

The band has a core group of entertainers, but “it’s more of a concept,” she said. “We’re trying to promote a little more of a music community in the area.”

She has played at Concert for a Cause for seven years and describes it as one of the rare occasions local musicians can get together in one place, on one night.

Her song “Without Me” is on “Concert For A Cause: The Album,” which sells for $5 in Gallery of Sound stores and benefits the leukemia fund. The double-CD set, which spent three weeks at No. 1 on the local-albums charts after its Feb. 4 release, includes 33 songs from participating groups.

Dickson City alternative-rock band Graces Downfall has a song on the album, too, and will play the show for the first time this year. After hanging out at the event last year, lead singer Ken Norton knew he wanted to be on stage in 2009.

“We play 20-25 benefits a year,” he said. “This one seems to be the biggest of the big.”

It started smaller, recalls Richie Kossuth, drummer for Flaxy Morgan, a local rock band that has been together nearly 15 years and has played the event since its inception.

“The first one was at Jitterbugs, and that one seems like yesterday,” said Kossuth, whose company, Rock Street Music, handles the sound and lighting for free. “Certain things in life you just remember.”

Playing at Jitterbugs, which was co-owned by Revit’s sister at the time and is now called Nightcaps, is how Kossuth got to know Revit.

“You just became friendly with her,” he said.

Most but not all bands on the lineup are local. Go Go Gadget, an energetic cover band from Reading that has visited many local venues, will support the cause as well.

Kossuth said that’s a testament to the concert’s popularity.

“They could be out there making money at a show, but they give up the night to come up here,” he said.