Benefit to aid New York, D.C.

The money raised during the Oct. 13 concert will go directly to the city governments to help pay for overtime and cleanup costs related to the Sept. 11 attacks.

By BARBARA L. FREDRICKSEN

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 5, 2001

In past weeks, groups and individuals have planned countless fundraisers for specific victims of the Sept. 11 attacks. Youth groups are raising money for children of victims, firefighters are holding boot drives to raise money for firefighters, and restaurant chefs are planning a fundraising day for the families of missing restaurant workers.

The West Pasco Chamber of Commerce is holding a concert of popular music on Oct. 13 to raise money for the cities themselves.

"We're sending the money directly to New York City and to Washington, D.C. to help with cleanup expenses like police officer overtime and dumping fees," said Chad Zimmerman, whose Zimmerman Entertainment Group, Inc. put together the performers who are doing the show.

"No one is thinking about these things," he said. "As business owners, that's what we want to help. Governments and cities need the money now. Since we're a Chamber of Commerce, that's where we want our money to go."

The show features four nationally known and six regional singers.

Headliners are 1950s and 1960s rockers Frankie Ford (Sea Cruise), Maurice Williams (Stay), Ray Peterson (Tell Laura I Love Her and Corinna, Corinna), and Jimmy Jones (Handyman and Good Timin').

Also on the program are local favorites Pete Rostel in a tribute to Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Ferraro and Dee Etta Rowe of the Angel Cabaret Dinner Theatre, and The Satellites, a classic rock band.

Opening acts are Gyrl Talk, a pop band from Tampa, Shan-N, a New Port Richey pop singer, and Chad Z, doing a tribute to Billy Joel.

"These guys are donating their talents, and local businesses are paying their expenses, so all the money can go right to the cities," Zimmerman said.

Peterson, whose 41/2-octave voice was a legend in both pop and country music circles, had a string of hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s. His first was The Wonder of You, which went to number 25 in 1959. His second hit, the death-rock song Tell Laura I Love Her, in which a stock car driver dies trying to win $1,000 to buy his girlfriend a wedding ring, went to No. 7 in 1960.

Those were followed by the upbeat Corinna, Corinna (No. 9, 1961), and two lesser-known cuts, Missing You and I Could Have Loved You So Well in 1961.

Williams's biggest hit, Stay, was made with the Zodiacs, but the song came back to the charts years later when it was covered by the Four Seasons and later by Jackson Browne. Williams had earlier performed with other groups, such as the Royal Charms and the Gladiolas, who recorded his Little Darlin', a song that became a mega-hit when it was done a couple of years later by the Diamonds.

Ford, who recently headlined a doo-wop show at River Ridge, has sold more than 30-million copies of his 1959 blockbuster hit, Sea Cruise. He was recently featured in the documentary American Hot Wax on PBS. The tag line of Sea Cruise, "ooh-wee, ooh-wee baby" is one of the most recognizable riffs in rock music.

Ford has performed all over the world and does about 200 shows a year.

At a glance

WHAT: "American Relief Effort"

WHERE: Center for the Arts at River Ridge, Town Center Road, New Port Richey

WHEN: 7 p.m. Oct. 13

TICKETS: $12, open seating. Call (727) 842-7651 or 943-0977

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