On Wednesday, a concert at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel celebrates the
release of a concert DVD titled A Call for Action, which will benefit
victims of The Station fire.
A week after the Feb. 20 disaster, local bands gathered at The Call, 15
Elbow St., Providence, and The Century Lounge, around the corner on
Chestnut Street, over three evenings to deal with the tragedy in the
only way that makes sense to musicians -- raising money, and perhaps
spirits, by playing.
The shows were shot by Providence filmmakers Tom Davies and Stephen
Taylor, who own a production company called Sibling Rivalry.
"It was a very moving event," said Davies. "The bands were clearly
affected by what happened at The Station, and it showed. We wanted to
capture that feeling, and I think we did."
But Davies and Taylor have had a falling out with Paul Roidoulis, owner
of The Call and Century Lounge.
Roidoulis had no comment about the DVD, except to say it was not
authorized by The Call, the Century Lounge or his charitable
organization, The Liquid Blue Charitable Fund.
Roidoulis has issued his own CD of the benefit concert, titled The Call
to Action, which is available online at
www.liquidblue.com.
Meanwhile, eight of the 15 bands that played on the Sibling Rivalry DVD
will be at Lupo's for Wednesday's show: Fungus Amungus, Ricky Valente,
the Stereobirds, Jon Tierney and the Truth, the Psycads, Mr. Lincoln,
Green Tea. Mark Cutler, who was on the DVD with the Dino Club, will play
Wednesday with the Schemers.
The music kicks off at 6 p.m. with reggae from The Psycads.
The evening will also feature an auction of rock 'n' roll memorabilia,
hosted by comedian Charlie Hall.
The A Call for Action package is a double-disc affair that includes a
concert DVD plus a music-only CD soundtrack. It sells for $20, and
Davies says all the money from sales will benefit The Station Nightclub
Relief Fund.
The music includes angular rock from Betty Finn, twisted country-rock
from Mr. Lincoln, blues from Young Neal & the Vipers and Dave Howard &
the Highrollers, a passionate solo piece by Ricky Valente and a fine
version of "Some Fun" by The Dino Club (Mark Cutler, Emerson Torrey, Bob
Giusti and Mike Tanaka).
The DVD also includes inteviews with some of the musicians. Many of them
had played at The Station. Some knew people who had been killed or
injured in the fire. Everyone spoke of their desire to help the best way
they could.
"This is as good a cause as it gets," said Hollis Smith of Mr. Lincoln.
Sibling Rivalry manufactured about 1,000 copies of the DVD, using a
combination of donations and loans to pay for the manufacture.
Copies of the DVD will be sold at the concert. They are also available
online at www.acallforaction.com
. Admission to the concert is $10, which will be used to help defray the
production costs of the DVD.
