I was moved to tears by the turnout for The Five Singing Guys benefit concert for ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) at the Southminster United Church.
My mom passed away from ALS in 2004, which made this show especially poignant, I was very pleased to see such a great turnout and at $15 a ticket, it raised a substantial amount of money for the ALS Society of Alberta to help buy special equipment needed to help people with ALS to do the simple tasks most people take for granted like eating, dressing and communicating.
The show was held in the memory of Lynn Doram, who came to Kade Hogg at age 61 to learn how to play piano, and told him she wanted to play Carnegie Hall in six months, as Hogg related on stage to begin the show.
She never made it. She was diagnosed with ALS nine months ago and passed away from ALS on Mothers Day.
Organizers stopped counting after recycling 200 blocks of tickets several times.
They estimated 600 people filled the church to hear reunited local vocal group The Five Singing Guys.
They admitted they can’t count as there are seven members of the group including George Evelyn, Juran Greene, Blaine Hendsbee, McKade Hogg, David Mikuliak, Ken Rogers and Greg Sheen. They were backed by Don Ponech on piano.
Jan Zoeteman from the ALS Society of Alberta said a few words about the disease, which attacks the victim’s involuntary muscles which “ are the muscles you use to speak, to say I love you and to blow out candles and to blow a kiss,” she said.
“There is hope,” she said during the intermission.
“I am so moved. We’re over the moon. I had no idea there would be this many people,” she said.
The first songs, “I Dreamed of Rain,” was especially appropriate for the evening as it was drizzling outside and in line with the melancholy theme of the night.
Despite the sombre theme of the evening, the seven singers kept spirits high with lighthearted banter about reuniting, about how the five members of the group expanded to seven and went serious for a moment while dedicating “Londonderry Air (Oh Danny Boy)” to Michael Kaufman, who they noted usually sang the solo on the song.
All of the members took turns singing solo, cracking jokes and harmonizing seamlessly on a variety of songs. Most of the show was of the deep southern spiritual and gospel variety.
A slower version of “He’s got the Whole World In His hands,” lead by George Evelyn was a highlight. The first half of the show was extremely moving.