The following is taken from the invitation to the Benefit Show which took place last week, Wednesday, April 20th.
“Last April we lost a great man. When I say ‘we’ I don’t just mean the immediate posse, I mean family, friends, Vancouver, the lower mainland, the Canadian music scene, the world in general. The DRBC was pretty much the best guy, all around. He wasn’t popular because he was in amazing bands, that was just incidental. He was everybody’s favourite because any encounter with him invariably brightened your day in some way. In a world rife with pretension, that man was the best breath of fresh air you could imagine. His very presence just bred goodwill. I recognise this is a massive cliche, but this isn’t something I’ll throw out there for just anyone. I’m ginger, I have a massive ego, but I firmly believe he was the best one of us the world has ever seen.
A man like this deserves tribute, and with that, I would like to invite everybody to a benefit show for the Foundation set up in his name:
THE DEVON CLIFFORD MEMORIAL FUND BENEFIT SHOW
Wednesday, April 20
The Biltmore Cabaret – 395 Kingsway
Doors: 8pm
Cover: $10 (All proceeds to The Devon Clifford Memorial Foundation)
FB event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=195812750437513
His parents have set up a Foundation in his name (http://drbclifford.wordpress.com/) in order to raise money to assist financially disadvantaged youth in playing music. Best possible kind of charity, if you ask me. Music makes everything better, and if we can help kids to not hate life, then we’ve done something right. It’s the perfect way to pass on the legacy of one of the most well-respected members of the music scene in Canada, and to raise this money we’ve got an unreal line-up for this show:
-THE TRANZMITORS (http://www.myspace.com/thetranzmitors)
If you don’t know The Tranzmitors, where you been? Pure powerpop partytimes. I dare you to keep still.
-HARD FEELINGS (http://hrdfeelings.tumblr.com/)
Rip-roaring spazzy fun. Infuriatingly good. I have recently decided that they are officially THE MOST INTENSE BAND IN TOWN.
-CHAINS OF LOVE (http://chainsoflove.bandcamp.com/)
Debut show! I’m really excited for this. Fuzzy girl-group garage-pop. Members of Mode Moderne and others, check out their Bandcamp above, listen to the songs, lose your shit.
-VICIOUS CYCLES (http://www.myspace.com/vcmc69)
Vicious Cycles generally play Serious Rock n Roll, and you will note the capitalisation. But for this show this bunch of greezy muthas have elected to go a different route and will be busting out bluegrass-style here, and I couldn’t be more into it. Violin, mandolin, banjo, slide, acoustic guitars? And you know it’s still gonna be Serious Rock n Roll.
….aaaaaaand Jarrod and I will be playing records before, between, and after bands.
ALSO: BAKE SALE! T-SHIRTS! IF WE CAN GET IT TOGETHER MAYBE EVEN A 50/50 DRAW!
Doors will be at 8, show will start early.
$10 – All – and we mean ALL – proceeds to The Devon R.B. Clifford Memorial Foundation.”
I went to the Show and co-worked the Bake Sale table which was put together by the lovely ladies in my ‘book club’–The Rack Pack. We were happy to contribute, and not a patron walked by without a smile at the treats. We figured the savory snacks would be the first to go, but it was the sweet baked goods that flew off the table.
All told the benefit raised over $4000 for the Memorial Fund–now that is a lot of music lessons.
The Full English 