Two-day event to benefit
the Tune In & Tune Up
Rhode Island Musicians Health Awareness
Program
PAWTUCKET – The
Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame (RIMHOF)
in partnership with The Ocean Mist will
hold The Unity Concerts, a weekend-long
event with 100% of proceeds to benefit
the Tune In & Tune Up R.I. Musicians
Health Awareness Program, on Saturday,
November 9, from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m., and
Sunday, November 10, from 2 p.m. to
midnight.
The two-day concert
fundraiser will take place at The Ocean
Mist, 895 Matunuck Beach Rd., Wakefield,
RI. Admission is $20.00 per day or
$35.00 for a weekend ticket. Etix can be
purchased at
www.oceanmist.net or tickets can be
purchased at the door.
Participating bands,
who are all donating their performances,
represent an unprecedented array of R.I.
talent teamed with the generous donation
of the venue as well as concert support
by The Ocean Mist. The weekend features
four inductees to the R.I. Music Hall of
Fame on the same stage for the first
time – John Cafferty and the Beaver
Brown Band, Roomful of Blues, Ken Lyon,
and Steve Smith & the Nakeds. In
addition, participating bands include
every musician member of the R.I. Music
Hall of Fame board as well as two
up-and-coming bands – Kim Petrarca and
The Brian McKenzie Band – to further the
Hall's mission of also spotlighting new
musical talent in the Ocean State while
celebrating Rhode Island's past and
present music scene.
On Saturday, the
lineup in order of appearance is:
Adrienne West and the Tabers, Rossoni,
The Brian McKenzie Band, John Cafferty
and the Beaver Brown Band, The 100 Watt
Suns, and The Rudy Cheeks Band.
Sunday's lineup in
order of appearance features: Kim
Petrarca, Ken Lyon, The Zimmermen,
Longshot VooDoo, Becky Chace, Mark
Cutler, Pendragon, Roomful of Blues,
Steve Smith & the Nakeds, and James
Montgomery.
Organizers point out
that Monday is Veterans Day which will
allow many to more easily attend Sunday
or the entire weekend. To further
facilitate that option, RIMHOF has
partnered with Hampton Inn South
Kingstown for a special room rate for
The Unity Concerts weekend.
The Unity Concerts
idea builds off the March, 2013 CD
release concerts held at The Ocean Mist
by Hall of Fame inductees Roomful of
Blues who chose to donate the proceeds
of one of those concerts to the Tune In
& Tune Up initiative which was just then
getting off the ground. Ocean Mist owner
Kevin Finnegan was so inspired by the
idea that he suggested trying an even
bigger benefit event with more bands
later in the year.
Roomful
leader Chris Vachon says, "In
addition to doing some very special
things to celebrate and recognize
Rhode Island's musical legacy, the
Hall of Fame has been proactive in
helping with education – most
recently developing Tune In & Tune
Up. For so long the music community
has sought affordable health care
... the Hall is helping to identify
viable options. I applaud Hall of
Fame members for working to make it
happen."
During RIMHOF's
first induction ceremony in 2012, Hall
of Fame inductee Ken Lyon mentioned from
the stage that many musicians in Rhode
Island do not have adequate health care
and that it was an issue that concerned
him greatly. He challenged the Hall of
Fame to look into this important issue
and that is exactly what happened as
board member Don "D.C." Culp started
constructing what would eventually turn
in to a grassroots movement spearheaded
by several Hall of Fame board members.
Culp explains "I
first brought up the idea of joining
together some type of affordable health
care with a health awareness information
center. The idea was met with great
enthusiasm but also a realization of the
greatest obstacle to overcome – existing
programs with very high monthly fees
and/or high co-pays which make them far
from affordable for most musicians."
"Unfortunately," RIMHOF chair Robert
Billington says, "most in the music
community make the hard decision to
live without proper preventive
health care, skipping routine annual
exams and turning down medical
services because they can't afford
them or are unwilling to pay their
insurance's high deductibles if they
even have insurance. In effect,
people are denying themselves basic
primary care."
Fellow RIMHOF board
member and Tune In & Tune Up cofounder
Russell Gusetti adds, "It can be scary
being a musician. Because we are
independent contractors, we usually have
no health insurance unless we are lucky
enough to have a spouse who does.
Because we don't work for just one
company, musicians have no benefits nor
do we make much to begin with."
Gusetti continues,
"Too many of us have seen friends who
are musicians go without health care of
any kind, simply because they felt they
could not afford it. So year after year,
we end up holding benefit concerts for
fellow musicians who have suffered major
health events. And with musicians, if
you are sick, you don't play. And if you
don't play, you can't earn a living let
alone pay for health care visits or
procedures. It made us want to do
something to let the music community
know that there ARE options out there
for affordable health care and that
prevention really IS the best medicine."
Culp adds,
"And we want to be clear – we are
trying to reach the entire music
community so that includes music
professionals such as sound techs,
studio engineers, roadies and more,
as well as their spouses. We also
want to stress that there is no paid
staff or financial gain for RIMHOF
or Tune In & Tune Up committee
members. Our sole interest is
helping our fellow musicians... it
is straight from the heart."
As part of the The
Tune In & Tune Up Rhode Island Musicians
Health Awareness Program, TI&TU members
will be eligible for discounts at area
health and wellness retail locations and
will receive free admission to a planned
series of health-related forums geared
specifically to musicians. Additionally,
a web site geared to the music community
will be developed directing them to area
health and wellness options and trying
to make the topic of health care more
understandable so they don't just tune
out.
Don Culp
explains, "Hall of Fame board
members have recently begun to
solicit retail outlets and stores
that offer health-related items or
services to become part of the TI&TU
program. This could be health clubs
or yoga studios or healthy
restaurants... basically any store
that supports and promotes healthy
living."
To date, 200 TI&TU
membership cards have been produced and
they anticipate another 200 to be signed
up for and available by the Unity
Concerts weekend.
TI&TU's planned
bi-monthly series of
conversations/workshops will focus on
topics geared toward the music
community, everything from carpal tunnel
problems, to stage anxiety, to vocal
health and more. The first of the series
will feature Megan Hall, the Outreach
and Education Lead at HealthsourceRI.
TI&TU has already
partnered with medical professionals
such as Dr. Stephanie Hansen,
psychologist, and Dr. Mark Andreozzi,
ENT, who both serve on the advisory
committee. They also support Dr. Zaheer
A. Shah's Access Basic Care initiative
and have already enrolled nine R.I.
musicians in Shah's membership health
care program, some who had not had an
annual physical for decades.
Gusetti
concludes, "Instead of only reacting
after a health problem becomes
serious we hope we can, in some
small way, inspire the music
community to be proactive about
their health so they can prevent or
address some health problems before
they get even worse. And if we
become a model for the dance, visual
arts and acting community, we would
be thrilled as we all face similar
situations and as parts of the
creative community, we are all in
this together."
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