Staff Blog
Rick DiFonzo, other Philly musicians to play benefit concert for St. Jude’s tonight in West Chester
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DiFonzo is definitely doing good good on March 6 – tonight – at 8:30 p.m. with a benefit concert for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. His DiFonzo Pop Experiment is playing with members of The Hooters, Earl Slick (David Bowie’s old guitarist) and Kasim Sulton from Todd Rundgren’s Utopia at The Note in West Chester. (Tix are $25-$27.)
But why St. Jude, why The Note — and what the heck does he want from you? Rick answered all my questions in one (long) fell swoop.
The wife and I regularly contribute to the local children’s hospital here at the Jersey shore, as well as the ASPCA. I am very partial to animals and small humans. I wanted to do more, and a benefit concert seemed like the best way. I chose St Jude’s because of their work, the fact that 100% of donations goes directly to the people they’re helping, the fact that they never turn a patient away for inability to pay, and they are universally known and respected.
I took the idea to Live Nation, and they embraced it right away. They get hit just about every day with charity suggestions, but they really took to this one. It was interesting to see the responses, or lack of, from all my friends in show biz. The original idea was to have a lot of Philly artists from the past and present get together and raise a ton of cash. It was fascinating to see the responses. Some of the artists were unavailable, and we tried several times to change the date to accommodate them. We eventually landed on March 6, and let the chips fall where they may. Unfortunately, three of my faves were already booked — Jeffrey Gaines, Tommy Conwell and Jim Boggia. The Hooters said yes immediately. Although their drummer Davey can’t make it as he lives in LA for some reason, the rest were there in a heartbeat.
It was the same with Kasim Sulton and Earl Slick. Some of the others who were asked — and who shall remain nameless — were not as eager. I’ve been very lucky in my career, and am grateful for that. I’ve been fortunate to have met and played with some very cool, talented, professional, surprisingly caring musicians. Everyone on this bill was not only eager to join in, but willing to do anything to make the show better. We’ll all do our individual sets, but we’ll also play together in various combinations. This will either be amazing, or a train wreck, but in either case, a blast.
The fun part for me is that I’ve known all these guys for a long long time. It really is a bunch of friends getting together to play, and do something good. I go all way back with Eric and Rob to before they were the Hooters, Kasim and I played with Patty Smyth, and Earl and I toured together on the same bill. I also played on Jeffrey Gaines’ first record — it is really too bad he can’t make this one. He WILL do the next, as will Boggia and Tommy. As long as we’ve known each other, Earl and I have never played together. Somehow, I’ve never had the chance to play with any of the Hooters, either. It’ll all be fast and loose, a lot of fun for us, and the best part is that at the end of the night, we get to send St Jude’s a nice fat check.
I’ve said this many times, but it bears repeating. Times are tough right now for almost everyone, but times are ALWAYS tough for the kids being treated at St Jude’s and other children’s hospitals across the country and around the world. If you can’t make the show, please try to help others who need it. Send a check to St Jude's or other worthy charity. Increasingly, there are two kinds of people in the world — those who can help, and those who need it.
I was THERE! - a woman whose FIRST concert was The Beatles at Shea Stadium AND who caressed David Bowie’s thighs while he sang “Lady Stardust” on the Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars Tour @ The Tower AND who gave Joe Strummer and Graham Parker (the latter sang “Love Gets You Twisted” to me ) FLOWERS onstage @ The Towere AND who fell uncermoniously into David Johannson’s LAP trying to get past his gonzo bouncers …
THE sonorous, avant garde, joyous, magnificent, heart-felt, GROOVY TUNES eminating from THE NOTE Friday Night made Jesus SMILE on all his little lambs (thank you for John Lennon, God). XOXOX Bopalina