Concert fundraiser returns to DaVinci’s
When an exuberant, five-hour set list bounces from R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion” to the Everly Brothers’ “Bye Bye Love” and then on to the Eagles’ “Take it Easy,” it canprobablymeanonly one thing— You, Me & Reenie is back rocking DaVinci’s Pub for a good cause.
The Third Annual Sum- mer Concert benefiting Variety — the Children’s Charity on Sunday, July 23, 3 to 8 p.m., will feature Eagleville Elementary School teacher and frequent DaVinci’s Pub performerMaureen Stanko heading up the usual revolving cast of musicians in the appropriately named You, Me & Reenie.
“You, Me, and Reenie predominantly plays classic rock, but we also weave in popular songs from other decades ... even a few from this century!” Stanko noted.
A $10 donation at the door will net you a drink, complimentary appetizers and five hours of nonstop live music.
The musical fundraiser’s first may have been a little random as regards which of Stanko’s friends and colleagues would be available to play, but now the talent is overflowing from year to year, Stanko allowed.
“I have invited over 50 tremendously talented people to help the cause, and it seems as if whoever is meant to play is who ends up being available, willing and able,” she said. “When somebody who has played in the past is unavailable, it makes roomfor new talent. This year’s show will have many returnees as well as many new faces. One of (the news faces) is Deb Pease, the leader of the Red Angel Band. I met her last January at DaVinci’s while You, Me, and Reenie was tearing down and her bandwas setting up, we got to talking, we exchanged business cards, and now she is sharing her gift to help me use my family’s adversity to make a difference. Good stuff or what?”
Stanko credits the Worcester-based Variety Club and its recreational, social, educational and vocational programs for chil- dren with developmental and physical disabilities for helping her and her family through son Nicholas’ autism.
“Wewere in a big hole for several years before Variety Club came along,” Stanko recalled. “Variety Club has not only brought us the resources we’ve needed to cope, but opportunities to get out, connect with other families, and have fun. It’s so hard when your child is first diagnosed with autism. It’s like you’re walking aroundwith a potential time bomb, andhere is Variety Club offering you tickets to Sesame Place. A successful day at a place like that empowers families to do more things on their own.”
Stanko pointed to Variety’s new programs to help the special needs population after high school, up to age 25, as a “huge” development.
“I saw a blurb from CHOP on Action News stating that there is currently an influx of 20,000 adolescents with autism in Pennsylvania alone, that there is absolutely no programming for once they graduate. My son, Nicholas, just turned 15, and I know that the next six years are going to fly,” Stanko said. “Figuring out what to do with these kids after high school is a tremendous source of anxiety for many parents of the special needs population, including us.”
Many may recall that the Annual Summer Concert was originally called a “pool party,” referring to Variety’s need for major renovations to its pool.
But it turned out that the brandingmay havewrongly conjured up images of ’60s icons Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon gleefully romping with their fellow teens, distracting atten- tion fromthe real purpose.
“Mary Fuller from Variety and I decided to just start calling it an ‘Annual Concert,’ because calling it a ‘pool party’ seemed to only make the event confusing,” Stanko admitted. “I personally found myself having to constantly explain that it was not really a pool party because the name brought images of girls running around DaVinci’s inbikinis andpeople bopping beach balls across the bar. One of my friends actually missed the show last year because he showed up at Variety Club’s campus, thinking that we were playing at their outdoor pool.”
Fuller agreed that the name change embraces the direction where the money will be headed.
“Funding fromthis event will go toward our camp programming efforts. This yearwe’ve refined our camp programs to include choice for our kids,” Fuller pointed out. “The reasoning is this: From the moment our Variety kids are diagnosed with whatever their disability, they are constantly made to feel they are different and focus is typically on what they can’t do, or given only one alternative to ‘can’t do.’ This year at camp, there are six different activity areas (Sci-Tech, Arts & Crafts, to name one), and in each activity the kids have four or five different choices related to the activity they can choose to do, depending on their abilities as well as their likes or dislikes. Seems so obvious to people like us, right? We’re used to having choices, but this is programming outside the box for our population.”
The pilot programfor the post-high school population includes job training, Fuller added.
“Our vocational kids have the opportunity to learn viable and various job skills through one endeavor. Our kids are learning to grow zucchini in our greenhouse and garden, harvest it, turn it into bread, package it and then take it into the market to sell it. This summer we have a pop up shop every Tuesday in front of Scent & Sip at Main and Wood streets in Lansdale and every Friday at Einstein Montgomery in front of their cafeteria. A full push of our Variety Works will launch in January 2018 and will now include young adults up to age 25, rather than the previous cut off at 21. There will be other job skill opportunities in addition to the ‘zucchini factory,’ ” Fuller said.
Whether they realize it or not, what folks hear at DaVinci’s on Sunday will be resonating from last year, and quite possibly the year before that.
“What is really cool is that once a song is put together, it carries over to the next year with minimal work. That is how ‘Dust in the Wind’ and ‘Eleanor Rigby’ with the string section, Jethro Tull’s ‘Locomotive Breath’ with the flute, and our Chicago set with the horns will be,” Stanko said. “We are now up to nine horn songs, with ‘Hey Jude’ being part of the grand finale with Michael Santiago of Methacton’s tech department playing incredible keyboard and belting out the perfect vocal.
“Whenwe play this at our DaVinci’s happy hours,” she added, “the audience does ‘the wave’ and chimes in at the end, and I do not expect it to be any different this time.”
DaVinci’s Pub is located at 217 E. Main St., Collegeville.