Kids in Distress Benefit - March 21, 2009
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- Photo by Michelle Brecher
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- Photo By Trish Earls
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- Photo by Pat Kazor
Artists unite for Kids in Distress II took place at Radio Active Records in Ft. Lauderdale Saturday, March 21st and proved to be a success! Although we only raised half the amount of money of last year’s event, the record store was filled with people eager to support and learn more about Kids in Distress (K.I.D.). The art covering the walls was magnificent, the bands were well received, the DJs were entertaining, and the food and wine were delicious! I would like to commend all of the local businesses that contributed prizes to the raffle we held: The Poor House, TGI Fridays (Coral Springs), Anthony’s Coal Fire Pizza, Pat Kazor with Arbonne Int’l, Santosha Yoga, American Laser, and Phats Custom.
This event began with a group of good friends ready to aid K.I.D. by showing off their natural talents whether it was painting, music, photography, culinary skill, or networking. I would like to thank and list all of the artists and musicians involved in the benefit and highlight their contributions with photographs included at the end of the post.
Michelle Brecher: Photographer extraordinaire, capturing unique subject matter with an equally unique perspective. Michelle was an asset to the team utilizing her networking skills to establish our Facebook page. She got our event mentioned in several different blogs and online resources.
1. Metromix/ Wynnwood mention
2. Localmotion mention
3. Metromix mention
Steve Burzynski: Genuinely kind sir and skilled painter, utilizing vibrant color and appealing techniques to celebrate his abstract painting style. I suggest that you visit Piola in South Beach (1625 Alton Road ), on April 7th for the opening of his solo show.
Ira Margulies: Abstract painter, using methods that play tricks on the observer’s eye to create layers of color and textures that pop from the canvas. Ira’s work has the appearance of a mixed media style but he strictly utilizes paint.
Bill Strecker: This Renaissance man displayed his interests through colorful and animated acrylics. Bill runs Striker Studios, his own graphic design firm and can perform any design task ranging from making business cards, to large murals, and even web design.
Karen Smith: As a painter she combines stunning colors and subject matter that spectators are not used to seeing together like her teal blue background with the prominent sunflowers. It’s a pleasure to scratch your head at her pop art creations.
Melissa Kazor: Painter-my right hand woman demonstrated her skill for fine detail and vibrant colors with surreal nature scenes while utilizing both watercolors and acrylic paints mixed with ink and TLC.
David A. Taylor II: Photographer, DJ, and all around good guy, had high contrast black and white photographs placing the viewer on the edge of nature and man made structures.
Kyle Khulman: This easy going painter applies more care to his canvas than a brain surgeon to his patients, which requires you to take a closer look in order to realize the excellent detail involved in his labor. Kyle’s featured paintings could be confused for photographs if you don’t take a closer look.
Dustin Wilson: This artist displayed three out of the ordinary caricature paintings of fruit and vegetable mutant people. Dustin’s fun subject matter and colorful scenes portray his eccentric sense of humor.
Desiree Gutierrez: Our group’s Renaissance woman, played music as well as displayed paintings with a sense of realism that portray images of people influential in her life.
Steven Imas: Choosing a nature theme I displayed photographs taken at two of our nation’s most spectacular national parks: the Redwood Forest and Yosemite.
The Bands:
Carl Ferrari: Playing this benefit on his own, he displayed a soaring level of focus and emotion through his flamenco guitar playing as he lead one song into another. The audience was mesmerized by the beautiful sounds produced by this classical guitar wielding virtuoso.
The Deal: Desiree is the beauty and brains behind this operation playing rhythm guitar and vocals with Smokin’ J on lead guitar, and me on bass. Desiree corralled the audience with her raspy songs of heartbreak and life reflections.
Homegrown Sun Sentinel mention
The Elastic Bond: The Elastic Bond is a group of versatile individuals that have a musical sound that lingers between jazz, reggae, hip hop, and various forms of Latin music. This talented band is made up of El David- trumpet, Andres Ponce- samplers, keyboards, and musical direction. Sofy Encanto –vocals, and Orion- vocals. The Elastic Bond had the entire crowd dancing and grooving to their catchy tunes. Thank you for the contribution from your cd sales!
The Int’l Language: On this night we played the benefit as a three piece, made up of me on bass and vocals, Other Bob on guitar and vocals, and T-Roy on drums. Despite the fact that we were missing key member Bob Rich on sax, we did pull off a rocking good set as we are no strangers to adversity. Catch us at the Wallflower Gallery with Tristan Clopet & the Juice Saturday, April 4.
Homegrown Sun Sentinel mention
Band No. 12: This punk rock trio is a Ft. Lauderdale nugget of goodness made up of John Owens on guitar and vocals, Dan Bonebrake on bass, and his brother Daryl on drums. Band No. 12 has a sound that could be likened to bands like Samiam, Jawbreaker, and Hot Water Music. All the members push their parts to a point that makes you smile while you’re banging your head. Thanks John for getting the Poor House involved! Band No. 12's myspace
There were three DJs involved in the benefit including DJ Slim, Digitall, and Dr. Strangelove. These skilled record spinners kept the party going between the musical acts, while bands broke down and set up, playing some old favorites and rarer gems for our listening pleasure.
It was an honor to work with Radio Active Records, all of the artists, musicians, and volunteers for such a noble cause and I welcome the opportunity to do it all over again. Once again, THANK YOU! to everyone that came to the benefit and helped out in some way, you know who you are!
Blue Lotus Luanda Giusti's Jewelry
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