Just Singin Round (focus on VASS)

Last night, I was privileged to participate in the November edition of Just Singin’ Round, a monthly fundraiser for the Synergy Foundation. I was invited by the Developmental Disabilities Association (DDA), a charitable, non-profit organization that as you may know, is very near and dear to my heart. I brought along the lovely Grace Carter (Invoke Media), whom is a very dear friend of mine, but with whom I have rarely had the time to hang out (surprising, as our offices are literally like 9-10 blocks away!)

So you may ask yourself – so what is JSR and the Synergy Foundation?

The Synergy Foundation is a community-based foundation that blends art with social responsibility. Synergy builds integrated partnerships with local Vancouver charities to support cooperative programming and help sustain community programs.

We arrived at the Vancouver Rowing Club close to 6:45pm, and sat along with Victor Tang at the DDA table. After we had dinner, we were treated to two sets of excellent musical performances. The objective of Singin’ Round is to raise funds for the Synergy Foundation, so donations for the event are minimum $ 25 (although you can donate more should you wish to do so!), and they include dinner (last night, if I’m not mistaken, was catered by Emelle) and awesome music. The charity focus for the month of November was Vancouver Adaptive Snow Society (VASS), a wonderful organization whose work I have highlighted before on my blog.

Both Grace and I love music so this was the perfect chance to listen to a great show. The group of performers included Don Alder, Danielle Hebert, Robert Wilson, Rick Parnell, Mark James Fortin, Beverley Elliott, and Yvonne McSkimming. All of them are incredibly talented, though I confess I have a really soft spot for Robert Wilson and his music, in particular his song “Big Sore Heart”. Danielle Hebert is fabulously talented and experimental. Beverley Elliott and Yvonne McSkimming were just outstanding (Yvonne’s voice is so powerful, strong and broad-reaching!).

I learned that JSR won’t be happening in January, February and March due to the Olympics. That’s really unfortunate, and I would encourage venues in Vancouver to consider jumping in and providing the Synergy Foundation with space for those three months. Trust me, it would be great exposure, it is a fantastic cause and it would definitely attract a great audience. The room was full last night and the crowd was great.

I would encourage you to participate in the upcoming monthly JSR sessions, not only for the charitable aspects, but also to be exposed to some great music and artistic performances. Tickets can be purchased online. Thanks to Grace for coming along and to the DDA for the invite!

Also, for your listening pleasure, the acoustic version of Robert Wilson’s Big Sore Heart (in concert at The Commodore, 2006).