About Blackbird Rising Concert
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Our Mission
Our Mission
Our Mission
At Blackbird Rising, our mission is to bring people together to remember Gabriel and celebrate his life by sharing his name and story while raising awareness about Epilepsy and SUDEP. Our goal is to raise enough money for the Epilepsy Foundation of America to really further their research towards a cure and turn the tragedy of his passing into a triumph
The Venue
Our Mission
Our Mission
Our concerts will be held at two fantastic venues.
The Barn Kitchen and Bar was one of Gabriel's favorite places to eat and is also a wonderful music venue in a great location.
Conchy Joe's is a beautifully redone establishment with an amazing stage and large tiki room that is perfect for live music events.
The Artists
Our Mission
The Artists
We have curated an amazing lineup of artists for this year's Blackbird Rising Concert. Most of them got to meet Gabe but they're also all incredibly talented musicians and great people.
Tori Lee
Greig Atkinson
John Murphy
Mikey B and the Trixters
Stage Fright
Switch N Whiskey
Springwoods Electric Luau
One Eyed Willie
Thru The Void plus Bill McSweeney and JR Zito
Sound by Bill McSweeney and Dan Rapatski
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU
THANK YOU ALL!
This event came together and has grown way beyond my expectations through the kindness, generosity, and hard work of a whole lot of people. My experience in putting it together has really restored a lot of my faith in humanity, and I can't thank everyone enough.
Musicians
Bill McSweeney and Dan Rapatski for doing the hardest part of it all - sound
Tori Lee
Greig Atkinson
John Murphy
The Trixters
Mikey B, Jen and Joe Bagierek
Stage Fright
Corey D'Agosta, Lori Lefkowitz, Robert Burbank, Eric Olsen
Switch N Whiskey
Jay Andrews, Ben Burgman, Doug Ober, Johnathan Chontos
Springwoods Electric Luau
Mike Medina, Clive Williams, John DeMan
One Eyed Willie
Joe Wineman, Tom McGrane, Dan Tepper, Brian Ray, Rich Conklin
Thru The Void (sort of)
Priscilla Fuentes, Mig Santos, Joe Bagierek, Jesus Hidalgo, Bill McSweeney, JR Zito
Guitar Donors / Autograph Getters
-Jeff Castelaz, Benton Oliver, Mark Kocourek of Cast Management and Todd Piotrowski of Dratic Management. I can't thank them enough for all they did to arrange getting the guitars signed by Dropkick Murphys, Blues Traveler, Gin Blossoms, Spin Doctors, and Violent Femmes
-Guitar Center donated the Ibanez Acoustic Electrics that Blues Traveler and Violent Femmes signed. Special thanks to Myka Miller-Jimenez and Chris Mottweiller for arranging that
- Tone Central Station Music Shop for arranging with Billy Sheehan to sign Gabe's bass and getting it shipped safely to me
- Wendy Lovato and Travere Parsons for going to Atlantic City and handling everything for the Blues Traveler/ Gin Blossoms/ Spin Doctors Guitar
- Lou and John "JD" DeServio for arranging everything for the Black Label Society Guitar signing. JD went to the UPS store himself in the morning and then played in front of 1500 fans later that day
- Chris and Dawn Mulligan for assembling and getting my green bass to the Stone Pony for Dropkick Murphy's to sign and then to the auction
- The person who worked out all the logistics to get all of the signatures on the Experience Hendrix guitar also graciously donated that rather expensive guitar from his personal collection, but he has asked not to be named. He also made it possible for to get the Violent Femmes guitar signed. He knows who he is, and I hope he realizes how amazing and important what he has done is.
- Kris and Matt Bulas for helping get the all the guitars where they needed to go for everyone else to gather signatures.
Celebrity Participants
None of these incredibly talented and busy artists knew me at all. They all got behind this event and were willing to take a chance and lend a hand to help. I appreciate all of them immensely and hope they all see this.
Billy Sheehan
Dropkick Murphys
Ken Casey, Matt Kelly, James Lynch, Tim Brennan, Jeff DaRosa, and Kevin Rheault
Blues Traveler
John Popper, Chan Kinchla, Brendan Hill, Tad Kinchla, Ben Wilson
Spin Doctors
Chris Barron, Aaron Comess, Eric Schenkman, Jack Daley
Gin Blossoms
Bill Leen, Jesse Valenzuela, Robin Wilson, Scott Johnson, Scott Hessel
Violent Femmes
Gordon Gano, Brian Ritchie, Blaise Garza, John Sparrow
Black Label Society
Zakk Wylde, John DeServio, Dario Lorina, Jeff Fab
The Experience Hendrix Tour
Zakk Wylde, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Eric Johnson, Christone Kingfish Ingram, Samantha Fish, Tony Beard, Sam Bryant, Noah Hunt, Ally Venable, Henri Brown, and Janie Hendrix
The Venues
- Conchy Joe's - Nick Darley and Jordyn, for letting me use their venue and also donating the money that would have gone to an afternoon band to the foundation
- Ron Hart - for arranging things with Conchy Joe's and also making a donation from "The Dirty Hippie" store that he owns in Stuart
- The Barn Kitchen and Bar - Frank Luna and Frank Shizas for letting me use their venue and for their support of the event
The Epilepsy Foundation of America
- For all the work you all do for the all the families with one of their loved ones having Epilepsy.
Special thanks to Mike Cantagallo, Sharyn Israel, and Maureen Slotnick for their help with logistics
for this event