Double feature show in Russell...
The man with the thousand voices, impersonator André-Philippe Gagnon, shared the stage with Russell’s own Tara Shannon as an opening act last Saturday night, and left a crowd of 500 asking for more! With proceeds going to the Russell Sports Dome, the June 3 event was considered a success.
Shannon performed original material from her album, Unfinished, launched earlier this year, along with her seven-piece band. From ballads to upbeat songs, many were able to discover the artist, and many of her CDs disappeared quickly. During her show, she made a surprise happy birthday call to Jonathan Pitre, whom she is close to and who encouraged her to launch the album earlier rather than later. The crowd was able to join in singing to Jonathan and learn that he was getting stronger.
As for the main act, André Philippe Gagnon was faithful to his reputation by imitating several people and giving us a history of rock ‘n’ roll, notably imitating classic giants such as Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley and Paul McCartney.
Doug Anthony and Marie-Claire Ivanski were the master-and-mistress of ceremony for the evening and were very thankful of
Samedi dernier, l’aréna de Russell était l’hôte d’un spectacle bénéfice pour le Dôme sportif de Russell, mettant en vedette nul autre que le légendaire homme aux mille voix, AndréPhilippe Gagnon et l’auteure-compositrice-interprète de Russell, Tara Shannon. Sur la photo, on retrouve cette dernière (au centre) en compagnie des membres de son groupe, pendant qu’elle interprétait une des chansons de son album intitulé « Unfinished ».
the 50-some volunteers and donators of the evening, including the official sponsor of the evening, OrthoMedix, owned by Diane and Gary Hayes, who are excited about the dome.
“There hasn’t been anything like this in the area at all”, said Diane Hayes. “Having grown up in the area, all we had were arenas. The dome opens up a lot of doors, not just for the youth of the community, but for the seniors and everybody.”
So far, Kin Club of Russell has raised about $270,000 towards the dome.
“The big push that we are going to be doing is with the naming rights and the advertising inside the dome, we have a lot of people interested,” said Doug Anthony, following the show.
Other type of fundraising activities will take place soon to support the dome project, and with all of those, it is felt that Kin Club of Russell will be able to fulfill its commitment of $400,000. “We’re very pleased so far, and it’s only because of people like Diane and Gary Hayes, Tara Shannon, the corporate sponsor as well as the volunteers that we’ve had. Russell and Embrun have the most generous people we’ve ever met.”