text: 'Colorado Bands Together' flood-relief benefit concert set for Chautauqua - Colorado Daily
  'Colorado Bands Together' flood-relief benefit concert set for Chautauqua
  Show to include The Samples, members of Big Head Todd, Leftover Salmon
  Posted: 09/23/2013 07:20:18 PM MDT
  Al Laughlin performs with The Samples during a 2010 rehearsal at Skytrail Recording Studio in Boulder. Laughlin helped organize the Colorado Bands Together flood-relief benefit concert tonight at Chautauqua. ( Jonathan Castner )
  What: Colorado Bands Together flood-relief benefit concert
  Where: Chautauqua Auditorium 900 Baseline Road, Boulder
  Info: tickets.chautauqua.com
  When disaster strikes Colorado, it's never long before benefit concerts come together.
  Tuesday night, Chautauqua Auditorium takes its turn hosting a flood relief show.
  The concert initially was slated to start at 7:30 p.m., but was been pushed up to 6:45 p.m. as more musicians joined the lineup.
  The show gets going with Mark Diamond and the Jeff Brinkman Band, who will be followed by Rob Drabkin, Highway 50, The Samples, and members of Leftover Salmon and Big Head Todd and the Monsters.
  Al Laughlin, who plays with Highway 50 and The Samples, sparked the idea and brought the talent together.
  "It was a fleeting idea of mine, actually, and I just threw it on Facebook and Michelle (Clifford) asked if I needed help and I said, 'Absolutely,' since I've known Michelle since back in the day, since the early '90s when she ran (the University of Colorado's) Program Council. I knew she had the network to make it happen."
  While Laughlin started calling his musician friends, Clifford, who worked for years booking concerts but is now in real estate, found a venue and worked out the logistics in just three days.
  "It's been a harrowing few days," she said. "The idea was, you know, grassroots. Get it pushed out quickly, get it happening to get money flowing to these charities quickly, while people need it. We're calling it Colorado Bands Together because it's the bands all working together to put this on."
  In fact, without the close-knit, overlapping nature of the local music scene, this might not have come together so quickly.
  Laughlin's band Highway 50 will have help from Brian Nevin of Big Head Todd and the Monsters, for example, and The Samples' Sean Kelly will play with the band and on his own.
  "We're all Boulder musicians. I've known Todd and his group since the early '90s, as well. The Leftover guys and everybody's from the area," Laughlin said "I just networked all of the musicians I knew I could get right away. It's tough to throw a show that fast, but since it's such a cool reason, everyone was so cool about it."
  All of the proceeds from the concerts are going to the Foothills United Way Flood Relief Fund, Boulder Flood Relief and the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund.
  The latter, of course, has special meaning to the local musicians who know the panic of trying to save instruments and other gear. Laughlin, whose basement flooded, had to rush in from out of town to get his equipment out.
  Brian McRae, who plays the drums with Rob Drabkin and the Jeff Brinkman Band, had to evacuate his home in Lyons.
  "His place was kind of close to the St. Vrain River, the one that made the biggest mess. Water came up to his doorstep. He got very, very lucky. Just down the block, neighbors were devastated," Drabkin said of McRae. "They literally were in this all-night panic attack of just getting thousands and thousands of dollars of gear out of the place ... When your friend can't go home for two to six months, that's a slap in the face."
  When the organizers asked local bassist Mark Diamond to put a band together and join the lineup, the Jeff Brinkman Band was an obvious choice for instrumentation and talent -- but the inclusion of McRae takes on its own significance.
  "So many musicians live (in Lyons), and whether they actually have lost homes or not, they can't live there anymore," Diamond said. "Brian and I are good friends. He's affected personally by this, and I thought, 'I think it would be great if Brian could do this.'"
  "He's playing for himself and he's playing for everybody"
  Ann Obenchain, director of marketing and development at Chautauqua, said that what little flood damage the facilities had has been cleaned up, and she and her colleagues are happy to host Colorado Musicians Together as the last show of the season.
  Clifford said that tickets, which cost $30, should be purchased in advance, as there will only be one volunteer in the box office.
  Troy's Custom Tees also will be there, selling specially printed "Colorado Strong" shirts. Someone from Boulder Flood Relief will speak about the group's efforts so far and sign up new volunteers.
  Among everyone involved, the sentiment is the same. As Diamond put it, "It's an easy way to do something quickly, if a bunch of musicians get together and people want to come hear the music. We're all helping each other out here."