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You might remember I mentioned in June that my friend Pat Spurgeon from Rogue Wave has kidney failure. He's been astonishingly brave about the whole thing. He toured with the band while on dialysis, and at the end of September, the band finished the tour and returned home. Shortly afterwards, Pat found out that his potential donor had failed the final match test, meaning that he has to start the testing process all over again with another donor. Thankfully, he's got a lot of amazingly generous and loving friends who have offered to donate.
But of course, being a musician doesn't pay very well, and getting a transplant is expensive.
Pat Spurgeon of Rogue Wave with Daniel Lorca of Nada Surf
photo by Elise Nordling
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So, on September 30th, Rogue Wave held a benefit show for Pat in San Francisco at the Independent. They got an all-star lineup of bands to play: Nada Surf, John Vanderslice, Ben Gibbard (of Death Cab For Cutie), the Winechuggers, the Moore Brothers, and, of course, Rogue Wave. It was an amazing evening. I think a lot of people came just because Ben was playing, but they donated to Pat's cause, which was the important thing. Indie rock photographer Peter Ellenby put a pre-release copy of his upcoming book Everyday is Saturday up for a raffle drawing, along with some signed framed photos, which sold many tickets.
Ben Gibbard
photo by Elise Nordling |
When I saw the listing for the show, I was beyond delighted. Basically, Rogue Wave managed to book all of the nicest guys in the industry to play with them that evening: John Vanderslice, who I've proclaimed more than once to be the nicest musician in the business; Nada Surf, three very different but all incredibly kind and funny guys; and Ben Gibbard, a complete sweetheart. Oh, and don't forget Rogue Wave themselves — such great guys. Pat is always helping other bands out, Zach and his wife Lisa are rarely seen without smiles on their faces (especially now that Lisa is eight months pregnant), Gram always has a hug (and sometimes a slow dance) for me, and Evan is such a goofball (he was sporting an eye patch that evening, thanks to a "rogue" bottlecap — haha).
I missed the Winechuggers and the Moore Brothers, as the line to get in was extremely long and slow. But John Vanderslice played a fantastic solo set, as did Ben (although, really, no one played truly "solo" that night, as all the other band members were on and off the stage all night). I was fortunate enough to have a backstage wristband, so I got to hear various combinations of band members practicing songs backstage, as they hadn't had time to do it beforehand (Nada Surf was in the middle of a tour; they had played earlier in the day in the East Bay, and zipped across the bridge to play the show, while Rogue Wave had played at the Download Festival in the South Bay earlier that day.)
All the evening's performers
photo by Elise Nordling |
Ben played all my favorite Death Cab For Cutie songs, and Rogue Wave played a set of mostly covers, including a Beatles song and an Elvis Costello song, which made me really happy. All the musicians seemed like they were having the most fun they'd had in a long time. It was definitely an evening about friendship, helping each other out, and having a good time doing it.
I patted Lisa's swollen belly, and a bunch of us tried to decide if it was a girl or a boy (they don't know yet). I personally think it's a boy, but I've been wrong before. Daniel kept putting fresh beers into my hand, and Ben and I discovered a mutual love of scotch, which meant I was pretty lit by the end of the night — which I managed to prove by crying on Pat's shoulder while drunkenly telling him how wonderful he is. Pat's mom went onstage before Rogue Wave's set and gave a heartfelt talk about Pat, how he was born with only one kidney, and the problems he's had (this will actually be his second transplant — apparently transplants only last for a certain number of years before failing). I also managed to cry during her speech (but I don't think I was the only one), and I gave her a big hug when she came down and told her that she's a great mom.
Pat holding the evening's proceeds
photo by Elise Nordling
All in all, the benefit show managed to raise about $15,000 for the cause, which is really fantastic. Rogue Wave has also been collecting donations via their website, www.roguewavemusic.com, but Pat still needs a lot more to cover his medical costs. Hopefully the donations will keep coming in.
Posted October 2006
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peterellenby commented, on October 16, 2006 at 12:36 p.m.:
I got a lot of great shots that night and I'm selling them to help raise more $ for Pat.
Check 'em out and order them at
http://www.ellenby.com/pat.htm
Thanks,
Peter Ellenby