Many is the musician who has been celebrated in this very column. In fact… hey… it's a music column, people. And your friendly neighborhood Crawler can't think of a single instance in more than a decade of scribing it when it did not highlight a local up-and-comer or a national notable.
Until today, that is.
Today, we honor not a band, but a fan—in every sense of the word. A true music fan named Timothy J. Young.
It would seem fitting to state that, regrettably, Mr. Young's passing occurred between Advocate deadlines or this homage would have come in a slightly more timely fashion. But the truth is, it didn't really matter. The community that Young literally spent his life supporting—i.e., area musicians—picked up the mantle, as they so often do, and immediately threw a memorial concert for him that no less than a dozen of the region's top acts swiftly signed on to.
That show took place at The Elevens on Oct. 2 and, as evidenced by some recent conversations with a couple of its participants, fond memories of the man known for his "exploding fist bump" and attending multiple shows any given evening remain strong.
"I remember Tim taking out a piece of paper from his back pocket and showing it to me," recalls Valley musical elder statesman Ray Mason, who was slated to perform the memorial with The Lonesome Brothers. "It was a list of the shows he was planning on going to that night, and I'm certain he made it to all of them… he always did, somehow."
"I never needed to read the paper to see who was playing in and around Northampton," echoes the Drunk Stuntmen's F. Alex Johnson, who was in Belgium touring with the Young@Heart Chorus when he heard of Young's passing. "If I ran into Tim—as I would almost always certainly do if I ventured into town—he would tell me who was playing, what time and where. And if I were playing on any given night, he would always make sure to let me know he would be there, regardless of how many other shows were in competition."
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In a similar show of altruism/appreciation, Valley boy Dennis Crommet (Winterpills, Spanish For Hitchhiking) has lent some of his audio—specifically, the track "Orange and Reds"—to a recently released compilation aimed at raising awareness/finding an answer to autism.
The project is titled Acoustic For Autism, and according to the men who brought it together—childhood friends Louis Gendron and Michael Cusanelli—the songs they selected to grace it were chosen to convey themes of "hope and healing."
Fellow Bay Staters Chris Trapper, Kris Delmhorst and Elizabeth Lorrey also contributed to the comp, which is currently available at both Amazon.com and Itunes. All funds realized from it are earmarked for Generation Rescue (generationrescue.com), Jenny McCarthy's international movement of scientists, physicians and parent-volunteers researching treatments for autism.
This Saturday, Oct. 10, Crommet and his Winterpills also pop in to the Notes For Life benefit concert on a bill rounded out by Samirah Evans and Her Handsome Devils and Kate Pazakis.
The eclectic evening of Broadway tunes, indie folk rock and electric jazz occurs at Brattleboro's Latchis Theater, and the proceeds from it will be divided between the AIDS Project of Southern Vermont and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.
"HIV/AIDS have not gone away, but the funding for these programs is being decimated from Vermont to California," explains event producer Ken Schneck. "So [funds realized from the concert] will help provide vital services and programs designed to produce the quality of life for people living with HIV/AIDS and reduce the number of new infections each year."
For more information on the concert or cause, kindly point your browser to notesforlife.net.
Send correspondence to Nightcrawler, P.O. Box 427, Somers, CT 06071; fax to (860) 698-9373 or email Garycarra@aol.com.
