Fundraiser plays on, virtually
Organizers find way to hold The Who concert memorial despite pandemic
CINCINNATI — For years, alumni of a Cincinnati-area high school have gathred to raise scholarship money n memory of three classmates illed in a crush of people at a 979 concert by The Who.
And they were determined to o it again in 2020 — despite the andemic.
They just didn’t know how. But with the help of their iends — including wo famous ones — hey had their most memorable evening et.
Fred Wi ttenaum, one of the rganizers of the undraiser, said he nd others kicked round “some trange ideas” for he benefit, normally held over the ast decade in the inneytown High chool performing rts center.
In the end, Satrday night’s show included reorded video interviews with The Who’s frontman Roger Daltrey nd guitarist-songwriter Pete ownshend, plus a mix of reorded and live discussions with elatives of the 11 people killed ec. 3, 1979.
There were also plenty of overs of the Rock & Roll Hall of amers’ music, such as “The Kids re Alright” and “Behind Blue yes.” They were performed by umni rock bands, and taped in park along the Ohio River and t other scenic venues in and round Cincinnati.
The P.E.M. Foundation set out o fund three $5,000 scholarships ach year for Finneytown stuents who plan to study the music r other arts. Aging alums wanted heir schoolmates to be rememered and decided the tragedy could be turned into something hat was a living memorial,” Witenbaum said.
Boosted by a visit from Daltrey n 2018 to the Finneytown High memorial, where he signed a guiar, albums, books and other items or auction, they raised enough st ear for four scholarships online auction of a variety of donated items.
The show, livestreamed on Facebook, had a new, global reach. Wittenbaum said it was viewed in 29 countries, including Brazil, Germany and Malaysia. And it enabled Ellen Preston Motohashi to speak from Japan about her late brother, Stephan Preston, the “P” in P.E.M.
Wittenbaum, choking up, unveiled a new plaque at the Finneytown memorial listing all 11 who died. One of the evening’s participants was Kasey Ladd, the son of Teva Rae Ladd, the oldest of the victims. She was 27 and her son was just 2 years old at the time.
The stars, of course, were Daltrey and Townshend, who spoke in separate interviews about how the tragedy has haunted them. The crush — in which another two dozen people were injured — was blamed on the Cincinnati venue’s first-come seating, and the band wasn’t aware of it until the end of their show.
The band scheduled a show this spring that would have been its first performance in the Cincinnati area since 1979 but had to cancel because of the pandemic. Daltrey pledged they’ll be back, with proceeds to benefit the scholarship foundation.
“We will definitely be there for you as soon as we’re allowed,” Daltrey said, calling the scholarships “such a positive thing,” a catharsis.
“It’s something that never ever goes away,” Townshend said. “You never stop thinking about it … young people, really young kids. The idea just of making this awful thing into something really, really great, which is to provide scholarships, is brilliant.”
The foundation organizers will now look ahead, to the band’s return concert and the format for next year’s show.
Walt Medlock, an organizer who narrowly escaped injury in the 1979 disaster quoted one
“The idea just of making this awful thing into something really, really great, which is to provide scholarships, is brilliant.” — Pete Townshend, The Who