Some Surrey-based musicians are among the hundreds who will perform during this month’s Hell or High Water benefit concert, produced with the help of a studio in rural Port Kells.
Set for Sunday, March 13, the musical telethon will raise money for those who live in the fire- and flood-ravaged communities of Merritt, Lytton, Princeton and Abbotsford, and surrounding First Nation communities.
An evening live concert at Mission’s Clarke Theatre will be livestreamed by Hubcast Studios in Surrey, amplifying a day of more than 100 musical performances, messages, vignettes and videos, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tickets for the concert are $42 via ticketweb.ca, and more info is posted to hellorhighwater.ca.
The country-heavy concert lineup will feature Tom Jackson, George Canyon, Lisa Brokop, Aaron Pritchett, Kenny Hess, Karen Lee Batten, Jackson Hollow, Bruce Coughlan and others, while the day-long telethon will feature performances by Loverboy, Chilliwack, Patricia Conroy, Crystal Shawanda, Luisa Marshall (as Tina Turner), Russell deCarle, Topaz, Big & Rich, Trigger Mafia, Todd Richard, David Gogo, Appaloosa and more.
“Lisa Brokop is flying in for this concert (from Nashville),” noted Delanne Reid Young, who does marketing and production for the Hubcast studio. “Jackson Hollow is also from Surrey. Greg Girard, one of the main organizers, will also be doing live cut-ins during this time based from Hubcast’s studio, with fundraising updates.”
• RELATED STORY/VIDEO: Surrey-born Brokop sings support for truckers before ‘battle’ in Ottawa.
Musicians, celebrities, dignitaries, media, corporations, companies are all coming together in a collaborative effort to support the communities involved.
“No time in history have the communities in British Columbia been as devastated by fire and floods as in the last few years,” says a post on the event website. “There were 1,600 fires in British Columbia in 2021. Then came the widespread flooding in 2021 that turned roads and highways into swamp land. The flooding is estimated to have cost $450 million in insured damages, making it the costliest severe-weather event in the province’s history.”
Donations are being accepted prior to the fundraiser, on hellorhighwater.ca/donate. Prizes can be won, including tickets to Canucks and Flames hockey games and Rockin River Music Festival, golf at Sagebrush, a NEO 24 mountain bike, a two-night stay at a Glimpse Lake cabin, and more. Winners will be announced during the telethon, from 9 to 10 p.m.
“Proceeds collected, including those made online and through the telethon portion of the event, will go directly to Rotary Merritt and partnered non-profits to disperse the funds to individuals affected by the natural disasters,” the event website says.
• RELATED STORY: ‘Star Wars’ characters in Surrey to entertain Variety Show of Hearts viewers.
For three days in February, Surrey’s Hubcast Studio was used for filming of segments for the Variety Show of Hearts telethon, including a performance by blues-rocker Colin James and an appearance by “Star Wars” characters with the 501st Legion Outer Rim Garrison, members of which “express our fandom through the use of costumes for charity” – just some “bad guys doing good,” as noted on the website outerrimgarrison.com.
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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