This year’s band battle

ARNIE SHUCHAT

After organizing the Battle of the Bands event for the third year, one thing seems clear: if we asked each of the 400 attendees how the evening went, we would get 400 different opinions – about the type of music, the volume, the food, the ticket prices, the venue, the drink prices, yadda, yadda. Notwithstanding such a survey, did the event pass the musical quality and profitability analysis? From all the talk I heard, one opinion did seem to dominate: the concert was once again a success.

The opening act, Mother Father, was a young band with Maddi Bell on vocals and punchy guitar, Sage Lachman on drums, Ori Nevares slappin’ da bass and Catherine Rivers “unlocking doors” with the keys. Their music filled the dance floor and got the house shaking. Their enthusiasm and energy was infectious and the evening never looked back.

A short Marliss Production video got the folks at the Louis Brier Home and Hospital in on the act by having them introduce each band, and there was also a short video of Richmond Jewish Day School students performing a musical number.

By all accounts, the music was loud enough to get lost in, but not too loud to disable communication between friends. Each of the five bands had notched up their performances since last year and some made a special effort to include other musicians and another generation, a parent or child.

The surprise act was a flash mob performance produced by A Star Studios: a seemingly random person started to dance a routine, then was joined by others who appeared to go from just watching to being part of the act. After about a minute or two, the whole dance floor was shaking and shimmying in unison with a great group of young dancers who “appeared out of nowhere.”

As part of this community-building project, Bagel Club Social Enterprise Catering, a nonprofit service that provides adults with various abilities an opportunity to be trained and employed in the catering field, was hired to provide the food. Their fees help fund the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver’s social programming for adults with various abilities. Meanwhile, the money raised from the event as a whole will benefit the Louis Brier Home and Richmond Jewish Day School.

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