Concert For The Cause

 Concert For The Cause:

Featuring John Rowdy and Simone du Garfunk

Avenue A Park

Hutchinson, KS

© Lydia Lowe 2013

      It was a hot night in Avenue A Park on Saturday night: hot temperatures, hot music, a hot crowd, and hot food, but the tunes were cool and so was the free ice cream and popsicles.  And what a crowd. . . the evening started out with highs at 100 degrees, but as the concert began a cool breeze swept through the park and brought increasing crowds.  The non-profit on this night was The Sexual Assault Domestic Violence Center Inc. and they sold out of hotdogs and hamburgers.  

     The evening began with some Southern Rock courtesy of John Rowdy.  He sang some cover tunes and original material.  One of his new songs, Alley Sun, was quite the hit with the crowd.  Where I was sitting everyone was tapping their feet and dancing in their seats while Rowdy sang.  So even through the song was new and the lyrics not yet familiar, the crowd support for this song was huge.  

     Sean Story returned for an impromptu appearance and sang a few songs of his own.  He spotted Morgan Wilk in the crowd and had her come up on stage for a duet.  I love that song!  The crowd did too and I found out that the two of them are recording it in September for an upcoming CD.

     Then it was time for Simone du Garfunk to take the stage.  This band is composed of Tammy and Bob Colladay.  I've seen Bob around Hutchinson playing his ukulele and having a lot of fun.  So I wasn't sure what to expect when I saw Bob and Tammy play together.  They were really incredible.  Bob played the bass and showed the crowd the versatility of his talent.  If an instrument has strings, he has me convinced that he can play it, and play it well.

       At the end of the evening the entire group hit the stage for a jam session.  Wilk sang while Colladay and Story accompanied her.  It was amazing!  You never know what will happen at a Concert for the Cause show.  If you miss one week, you miss a lot.

     Next weeks show will feature three bands: Victims of Spotlight, the McPherson Bag Pipe Band, and Bottom Feeder.  The featured non-profit will be First Call for Help.