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| Lots of effort and fun in fundraising Published/Last Modified on Tuesday, July 29, 2003 10:00 PM PDT MATTER OF OPINION, Ron Rose Several weeks back, we all attended the Main Street fundraiser for Cunha's store. It was a rousing success, raking in $200,000. Everybody was pleased as punch about that. We all have visions of Bev, Josie and the whole gang sipping margaritas on Maui while the new store gets built. With an office on Main Street, our law firm gets the latest Half Moon Bay rumors right off the griddle. Most of them are false, especially the ones involving Tracy Chapman and Neil Young. The Tubes rumor, however, seemed like it might have some legs. They were probably sufficiently down and out to assume that they might play Half Moon Bay for a few bucks. Being the good lawyer that he is, Jack Rix, however, asked the critical question: "Are they still alive?" Bill Bennett is really fast with Google, so he was almost immediately able to confirm that, "Yes, they are still alive. Or at least they have a Web site, which is the same thing." The Web site listed a gig in Half Moon Bay. It was confirmed. This was clearly going to be the biggest thing in Half Moon Bay since Pierce Brosnan munched a burger at Cameron's Inn. We had to educate our younger staff about who the hell the Tubes were. That wasn't easy as we could hardly remember ourselves. But then again, who could ever forget a rock masterpiece like "White Punks on Dope," with those timeless lyrics, "Hang myself if I get enough rope." Somehow the younger staff didn't fully appreciate the portent social commentary of the song. They agreed, however, to attend the benefit after I assured them that the Tubes had actually appeared on MTV. The offer of the firm to pay for their donation and dinner also may have played a part. So we all went out and enjoyed ourselves in the freezing fog. We all hung on until Fee Waybill closed down the house on stilts, wrapped in a pink feather boa. What a visual snapshot in time. In the meantime, Donna Pacini was working like a whirling dervish organizing another benefit for Bev, Josie and the whole gang at Cunha's store. It was going to be a concert that would make Woodstock look like a piano recital. I was able to convince Donna to get my musician daughter to be one of the included acts. Accordingly, I was party to the mountain of work that went into the creation of Phoenix Rising. In retrospect, however, you have to wonder, what the heck was Donna thinking? How could you ever top "White Punks on Dope?" Yeah, there would be 39 different bands playing on three different stages. Sure, the music would cross the entire musical spectrum including bluegrass, folk, rock, jazz, gospel and new wave. I'll concede that the musicians, if you actually listened, were very talented, and the songs beautifully crafted. But let's get real; none of these acts has ever been on TV, much less MTV. Not that Donna was being provincial about the whole thing. She did try to get some name acts, including the usual suspects Tracy Chapman and Neil Young, but they were unavailable. However, the Half Moon Bay police chief had been apparently unduly influenced by all the reported Neil Young sightings around town. He thought Neil was sandbagging and would mysteriously appear at Phoenix Rising, generating Pumpkin Festivalish crowds. So poor Donna had to hire a security detail as large as the Albanian army. Neil, of course, didn't appear, but the concert was great anyway. Unfortunately, it didn't raise a dime for the Cunha's store employees. Even worse, the tab for renting the Albanian army has put Donna in hock for $3,600. Coincidentally, I actually saw Neil Young the following week at Shoreline Amphitheatre. So I can confirm that he does exist. I went expecting to visit Sugar Mountain but wound up in a place called Greendale. Now there may be enough superficial differences for Neil to have plausible deniability, but trust me, Greendale is Half Moon Bay. It is a small village on the coast where people support each other out of love and affection, don't give a damn about being on TV, and pursue their art for the pure love of it. This sure sounds like the whole gang who participated in Phoenix Rising. Ron Rose lives and works in Half Moon Bay. |