January 27th marked the second annual Shake Shake Shake concert in benefit of Parkinson’s Disease at Vancouver’s Imperial . Oh what a night! Hosted by actor/comedian/MC Brian Cook, the show was filled with many laughs, fantastic local music and lots of dancing! We had approximately 250 people out and raised just under $17,000 for Parkinson Society British Columbia ‘s programs and services. Awwwwwwe Yeah!
We kicked things off with the incredible electronic/R&B trio
I M U R
. These guys have received praise from Noisey, Exclaim!, Hiphop Canada, Beatroute Magazine, and were listed as one of Vancouver’s Top Acts to watch out for in 2016 by
Winnie Cooper
. We felt lucky to have them! Thank you so much to the wonderful Jenny, Mikey and Amine for donating their time to this fantastic cause.
3 time Grammy awarded winner and r&b hall of fame inductee
Dutch Robinson
was back for the second year in a row with his killer band made up of some of Vancouver’s finest! Dutch is always a legend to watch. If you have not checked him out be sure to see him dropping into
Guilt & Company
sometime soon. Thank you Dutch and band!
Next up we had a live art auction, selling 3 extraordinary pieces by local artist
Lauren Taylor
. I met Lauren two years ago while songwriting in my apartment. She knocked on my door and when I opened very awkwardly said something like “I’m sorry, this is weird, but you have an amazing voice…” and we have been friends ever since. Later I found out that Lauren herself was incredibly talented and even more so, kind. She gives back a ton with her art work and we are so pleased to be a part of her generosity for the second year in a row. Thank you Lauren for helping us raise over one thousand dollars towards our total.
I hit the stage third with an 8 piece band consisting of some of my favourite people (who happen to be relatively great musicians). We had Alexander Flock on guitar, Derek DiFillipo on bass, Philip Laessoe on keys, the handsome Brendan Krieg on drums, Dominic Conway on tenor sax, Jocelyn Waugh on trumpet, and Tim Sars himself on baritone sax and flute! All of these musicians are very busy and donated their time to rehearse and take a Friday night off the market to play this show with me. Thank you so much to you all – it means the world to me to share the stage with you.
The night closed with Vancouver Island born and bred rocker
Jesse Roper
! I discovered Jesse when listening to Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats on Spotify. Jesse came up as a suggested artist and I fell in LOVE with his album
Red Bird
. My boyfriend was over one day while it was on and said “Hey Matt Reid (bassist and friend) played on this album” and I was like “what!? This dude is local!?”. I was very excited to have Jesse and his energetic band mates a part of this year’s show. They rocked the night away until DJ David Love Jones (owner of Vancouver’s
Vinyl Records
) took us out with some funky soulful vinyl. Thank you David for donating your time and fantastic musical taste.
Although our attendance was about 100 people less than last years, we raised around $1000 more. Thank you so much to Alicia, Mirela and Betty of
Parkinson Society British Columbia
for doing this with me again. Thank you to
Roundhouse Radio
,
Do604
, and
The Westender
. Thank you to all of the volunteers, bidders, buyers, bartenders and bands. Thank you to
Imperial Vancouver
. Most of all, thank YOU for showing up and shaking down. See you again next year in APRIL! (date TBA)
If you have any suggestions on how to make this event even bigger and better in 2018, shoot me a line ! I am grateful for your feedback.
SO MUCH LOVE!
em.
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