Band Aid for Band-Aids Local musicians band together for the uninsured
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Sarah Munro and Mark LeGrand, pictured, joined by Spencer Lewis, will be among the four groups performing Nov. 13 to benefit the People's Health & Wellness Clinic. SUBMITTED PHOTO |
Toolbox
By ART EDELSTEIN Arts Correspondent - Published: November 6, 2009
While a Friday the 13th may be an ominous day for some, this coming Friday the 13th will also be an evening of exceptional local talent gathered together for a great cause. Billed as "Band Aid for Band-Aids," four different local musical acts will perform at the Montpelier High School Auditorium to help raise money for the People's Health & Wellness Clinic in Barre.
The evening's entertainment is decidedly acoustic and leans heavily toward folk and bluegrass music. Appearing are the WDEV Radio Rangers, singer-songwriter Jon Gailmor, Con Hogan and Cold Country Bluegrass, and Mark LeGrand and Sarah Munro with Spencer Lewis. Ken Squier, owner of WDEV and WCVT radio stations, will be the master of ceremonies and Glenn Howland will provide the sound.
The WDEV Radio Rangers are an exciting group. WDEV salesman Mark Struhsacker started the band in 1986 to re-create the great live country music radio show feel of the '40s and '50s. One of the great performing groups on WDEV during those years was Waterbury-native Don Fields and His Pony Boys. Today the Rangers have a decidedly bluegrass sound. Members include Tony Washburn on fiddle, Struhsacker on guitar, either Jim Pittman on dobro or Danny Coane from the Starline Rhythm Boys on banjo, and David Rowell on bass. Here's a band you can listen to every Saturday morning at 10:30 on WDEV radio.
Gailmor is a longtime Vermont folk favorite, performer for children, and singer-songwriter, with six albums to his credit. Gailmor's soaring voice and appealing stage presence put him in great demand as a performer and workshop presenter.
Con Hogan and Cold Country Bluegrass are based in Plainfield. Here, a former state official and gubernatorial candidate (Hogan) his longtime band mates have become one of the favorite central Vermont bluegrass bands. You'll often see this band at the Barre summer concerts in the park and other warm weather events. A few years ago they decided to take their show on the road, by air, with a week's tour of Ireland. Cold Country sings a lot of bluegrass gospel music.
LeGrand and Munro, a country-folk duo, will be joined by Spencer Lewis on violin. LeGrand has been a longtime country musician who led a trio that played regularly at the Langdon Street Café. Of late he's performing more with his wife and duo singing partner Munro. The two released an album of their own songs in the late 1990s. Spencer Lewis, himself a well-known performer, recently hooked up with LeGrand and Munro. This trio could be the surprise of the evening.
It's important to note what this concert supports. According to Ted Allen, the board president for People's Health and Wellness Clinic, the clinic provides free medical care for people without medical insurance or with high deductibles. It has been providing this service for the past 14 years. The clinic serves central Vermont and patients from 54 different towns in the state.
Everyone knows how expensive health care has become. The clinic, says Allen, must raise money for the administrative staff that supports the 18-20 doctors and nurses who donate time to the clinic. The clinic does receive a state appropriation through the Vermont Coalition of Clinics for the Uninsured. This is its only regular source of financing but it must raise a considerable amount, about $120,000 a year, from donations and grants to operate. The clinic is open Monday through Thursday and Tuesday and Thursday evenings by appointment.