A Night of Sweet Relief
October 12, 2011 Cheshire, CT. Drummer Marcel Blanchet will be banging out the message and hopefully raising money and awareness for ill, disabled and elder musicians, singers, composers and arrangers this Saturday, October 15, 2011, Marcel and Beyond the Sun will join hundreds of live music performances taking place in arenas, theaters, clubs and bars across the country that support this “live music night” by donating a portion of the door cover charge. The hope is that people will come out and support artists on stage and in turn will also be supporting artists who can’t be there. Marcel and Beyond the Sun will be appearing at the Funky Monkey in Cheshire; show time is at 8pm. “I’m very proud to support Sweet Relief and the October 15th event, Live Music Night / Night Of Sweet Relief”, said Marcel Blanchet, drummer producer of Beyond the Sun. The Jazz group can be heard on XM radio and are promoting their new CD called, “Somewhere Paradise”
“We are extremely grateful to have the Funky Monkey as part of our National event. Marcel was one of the first to sign on as a participant in “Night of Sweet Relief”, enabling the event to grow to over 200 venues nationwide.” … Rob Max, Executive Director of the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund.
Established in 1994, Sweet Relief has raised and distributed millions of dollars to pay for medical costs, housing, food and other vital expenses of ill, disabled and elder musicians, singers, composers and arrangers. Sweet Relief was founded by singer-songwriter Victoria Williams in 1993. Victoria, while on a career-making tour with Neil Young was forced to drop off mid-schedule after experiencing unexplained debilitating symptoms. A long and painful diagnostic process revealed she had multiple sclerosis.
After her diagnosis, a group of friends assembled an all-star album of Victoria’s songs, Sweet Relief, which alleviated much of her medical debt. Vic, knowing that there are many musicians like her -unable to afford medical expenses and compromised in their ability to work- donated some of her proceeds from the album to found Sweet Relief Musicians Fund.
The name of the fund derives from a song of Victoria’s, Opelousas (Sweet Relief) and the fact that we do provide sweet relief in the form of financial assistance to many musicians who would otherwise be in untenable predicaments.