Concert raises funds for Variety Club Camp
COLLEGEVILLE » With an extra two hours added on this year, the 4th annual You, Me & Reenie Summer Concert for Variety Club Camp will rock DaVinci’s Pub on Sunday with more live music than ever.
Make a $10 donation to Variety Club at the event and you will receive a ticket for a free drink and complimentary appetizers.
As always, the set list to be performed by a rotating cast of musicians and vocalists is largely a nod to timeless rock classics.
An advance peak revealed more than a few red-hot crowd pleasers from the likes of Little Feat (“Dixie Chicken”); the Eagles (“Hotel California” — “My 13-year-old son, Kenny is playing bells on this, and my college friend’s 15-yearold son is playing lead guitar,” noted organizer Maureen “Reenie” Stanko); Fleetwood Mac (“Gold Dust Woman”); The Who (“Baba O’Riley”); Billy Joel (“Scenes From an Italian Restaurant”) and Carly Simon (“You’re so Vain.”) For the first time, regular bands that are sure to attract their own followings will periodically take the spotlight for their individual sets.
“Just to take things to another level, I decided to expand the event by inviting a few full bands to play,” noted Stanko, a teacher for the Methacton School District and an instructor at Kinetix fitness. “Last year, I ended up performing on every song except for three in a five-hour show. It felt like it was time to step back and allow some other people to take over the stage, and by having full bands perform with their own followings, my hope is to make this event even more wellattended and successful.”
As it has been from the beginning, it proved to be a small world within the worldly You, Me & Reenie musical network, Stanko allowed. “The first full band that signed on to play is a pretty heavy classic rock band, Party Hat,” she said. “Bruce Landis, their keyboard player, is the father of one of my former Eagleville Elementary School students (Tom Landis) and was also a frequent rider in one of my early morning Spinning classes years ago at Kinetix, so we go back decades. He and his wife, Susan, always see me with my two boys at Mass at Visitation BVM Parish, so we have remained in touch after all of these years. Party Hat’s drummer, Tom Smith, is the husband of one of my colleagues at Methacton, Arrowhead Elementary Phys. Ed. teacher, Deb Smith, the mother of Kyle Weir, another Eagleville student I taught many moons ago. So many connections! Because there will be three full bands and several acoustic acts, in addition to everyone who normally sits in with You, Me, and Reenie,” Stanko explained, “I had to ask my band mates and DaVinci’s owner, Vince Giancaterino, if we could add a sixth hour to fit them all in. Talk about an awesome human being dedicated to helping a cause.”
The first You, Me & Reenie concert back in 2015 lasted four hours. The following two years gave DaVinci’s guests a full five hours of music. Would a sixth hour present an overwhelming challenge?
“When I started putting the set list together this year, it all seemed ‘doable.’ I just had to make sure that I was stringent about giving each act a time limit for songs and that I allotted adequate time for transitions,” Stanko said. “Then, a third full band and a few additional people that I had reached out to also committed to playing. Because
several people will be performing on only one or two songs, even with the extra hour, I have asked each of the full bands to designate one song in their set list to forfeit in case we get behind just to ascertain that everyone involved gets to perform and nobody ends up disappointed. I really want to be able to sit back and enjoy all of these performances rather than stand there, sweating, looking at my watch to make sure we are maintaining the time schedule. I have several of my own band’s songs ‘at the ready’ to skip as well, but with so many people sitting in with You, Me, & Reenie, my choices are few and far between. I am so appreciative of my band mates, Dennis Grady (guitar and bass), Adam Chantry (drums), Michael Santiago (keyboard) and Tom Moran ( my big brother and lead guitar player) not only for being willing to spend their entire Sunday to help me with this event, but for being willing to allow other players to utilize their equipment.”
“A dozen performs will be helping to interpret the Doobie Brothers’ “Black Water,” including a string section comprised of some of my Stanko’s Methacton School District colleagues from the Music Department.
This year’s show will also spotlight new acts such as the Sin Brothers Band, featuring
brothers Erik and Mark Hetzel.
“They will be performing an eclectic mix of epic songs from The Doors to Little Feat,” Stanko said. “Their saxophone player, Mark Gregan, will be remaining on stage to help You, Me, and Reenie out with some Chicago songs. Mark Gregan and I never met, but after talking, we realized that we went to the same high school (Cardinal O’Hara) in Delco and that back in the 70’s, his sister dated my brother, Tom, who happens to be the lead guitar player in my band. More connections!”
Also on stage will be Natalie Wallace, the founder of the Zachary Wallace Foundation in memory of her son, Zachary, who passed away several years ago from a rare disease, backing up her daughter, Olivia, on vocals for the Pink song, “What About Us.”
“Olivia has an incredible voice, and she and her mother, Natalie, along with Bruce Landis, are all involved with the music ministry at Visitation BVM Church. I initially met Natalie because her son, Ben, who is legally blind, was on my son, Nicholas’ Challenger Baseball team through Audubon Recreational Association. This amazing team of special needs children from the ages of 6 to 18 often utilizes Variety Club’s Worcester facility for their practices and games.”
Stanko credits the Worcester-based Variety Club and its recreational,
social, educational and vocational programs for children with developmental and physical disabilities for helping her family through her son Nicholas’ autism.
“We were 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 around with a potential time bomb, and here 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.”
Nicholas, now 16, has been benefiting from Variety Club in a whole new way through his participation in their Saturday Arts Program run by Jean Merkyl, Stanko noted.
“He absolutely loves this program which includes art, music, and dance, and he will be attending the fall session. What is really cool is that he is now coloring and using water colors at home for recreation because he enjoyed these things so much during the program,” she added. “This is huge for him.”
The concert will take place at DaVinci’s Pub, 217 E. Main St., Collegeville, from 2 to 8 p.m. on Sunday, July 29.
To make a donation, visit varietyphila.org/davincispub.