Writer’s note: my personal thanks and gratitude to the Cautela’s and the Make It Fit Foundation for tonight’s event as I was diagnosed with TS in grade school.
Saturday February 9th the Alrosa Villa in cooperation with the Make It Fit Foundation held the Amplified Awareness benefit fundraiser for children with Autism and Tourette Syndrome. The evening’s entertainment all volunteering their time and talent included Loboz, Fat Dog and the hot rod riding Jasmine Cain.
Event sponsors included Beckners Costum Cycles, QFM 96, Iron Brothers of Ohio and Boyd’s Goodyear. QFM’s Sue Leighton was there to help MC the event introducing the evenings host and organizer Make It Fit founder Mike Hoover. Fans from 8 different states made the trip for tonight’s show.
Loboz opened cranking out 90 minutes of smooth flowing blues rock paying tribute to the classics and respect to some of music’s most beloved fallen heroes. Beginning with a Chris Duarte female friendly tune and the long bearded boys from Houston say Thank You. They get a little funky with The James Gang and play some sexy Latino attitude for Mamacita. They get original playing a namesake tune from their upcoming CD because somewhere Between Hell and Home you’ve Got to Groove into a swinging night taking the lady out on the town, showing her just how special she really is. If She Came in Through the Bathroom Window around dawn you know it was a good time. They set aside their bikes in favor of a red corvette traveling back to the 80’s with the roof down basking in the Purple Rain. We go to Chi-Town with the fuzzy guitar twirling eliminators hanging out on a bus with Jesus. Then Walk the Dog with the toxic twins of Boston and Scrawl with Mr. Duarte again. Though they’re opening tonight’s show they’re The King Bees playing the blues like they’ve lived the stories of seasoned headliners. But they haven’t ‘weathered’ as many storms as Mr. Vaughan… yet. They might look like the average white blues band but they definitely put some electric gypsy voodoo into their show.
Fat Dog breaks open the Pearl Jam with an Evenflow of multiple genre gems and classics combined with a Cold Crossfade of collective collectibles that went over cool with the crowd. We get a little dark, deep and introspective with Tool, wait Everlong with Dave Grohl and enlist the crash and burn Bad Company of Johnny. Time for a Journey back in time with some friends from the 80’s Anyway You Want It and a trip to the summer skies of Boston along the way. From Boston to the hair-sprayed dusty old western streets of New Jersey washed in a synthesizer wave of 80’s pop metal where it’s all the same, only the songs change. From the six string streets we go deep in the trenches with The Rooster then Ramble On with Zeppelin. Bassist Nathan Hartley shows off his pipes telling us about love then we get Hot For Teacher and those wonderful grade school memories. They throw out a ‘colourful’ tongue and cheek claim of ownership on the next tune then bust into CM Punk’s favorite theme song. The Good Times, Bad Times keep rolling then everything gets Disturbed by the The Police. The end of the show was a clear Schism of band and crowd. All the pieces fit during the show then they walked off stage.
Straight from the gas guzzling hog wild town of Sturgis comes the raven haired, leather and lace queen of the open road Miss Jasmine Cain. Here to smash your face with a few shots of Jager and a show of originals and covers you’ll want to remember, planting a pretty image in your mind you won’t want to forget. Till the early hours of the morning she weaves her headbanging gothic spell, thrashing out like a mad woman banging out deep soothing, thumping bass lines with attitude and you should hear her scream. Her sound created by red rimmed top hat keyboard playing insanest David Michael Thomas along with her own special traveling band combines the heart of country, the rebel in rock, the dark sinister side of metal with an atmospheric horror movie blend that raises holy Cain.
She blasts into the enchanting nocturnal song of the Nightingale spreading delusional fantasies of hopes and dreams drowned in the wishing well. She breathes out the ice cold embrace of Frostbite then takes us face down in a liquid dream with a Whiskey Kiss. We go back to 1995, a great year to learn to drive and ride officially starting the mileage of life. The engines roar, gasoline and oil burn as we hear the hog-lovers lullaby as she travels down that endless gypsy road the Highway Prophet. She’s a road wise woman with hard living stories spiced with a sweet country slap. An acoustic version was played on QFM’s Arch & Elliot Show the previous morning followed by an appearance at the Columbus Easyrider show. She’s a pretty haunted gothic princess moving under the Evanescence of scattered spotlights, adding her own satin locked touch to Miss Lee’s opus. We get Zombified with a Thunderkiss 30 years before ’95. Whether it’s the whiskey or the past the witching hour, hour talking she’s still got some devil in her lungs proving good loud heavy music is still the ‘international colors’ of the two wheeled roaring beasts. Enter night as the sandman takes over for the Nightingale spreading wicked dreams turning front stage Alrosa into the snakepit. With a cold winter’s moon above Cain is definitely of wolf and woman (and a bit of a Dreamweaver in her own right).
The organ blasted out The Phantoms welcome as the Abbey’s creaky gates opened to a Lady Cain guided tour of Mr. Crowley’s house. Bats on the left, doves on the right, don’t expect to leave tonight. We all yell Hey Man Nice Shot as the drinks pour, she lets out a sensual roar and we keep feeling More Human Than Human. She sings like she’d have your back in a bar fight and flings her bass around playing like she’s its scorned lover. It was time for old Ozzy vs. new Ozzy. It’s just a hand in the bush. Tonight was their first show since November and they’ve had plenty of time to make us their Audioslave. Jasmine reminds us that Life is Beautiful and we’re all the Beautiful People, the beautiful people, in it. She gives us a little bit of a ‘sappy’ Love Song then harnesses the energy to Rage Against the Machine.
As part of the fundraiser, a guitar signed by all performing band members was raffled and won by Derek of Ohio’s Number #1 Biker Magazine Thunder Roads Ohio. After a loudly encouraged encore we got a small slice of Americana from The Boss then saving the enchanting White Winged Dove for the last mesmerizing soulful seduction.
Jasmine Cain has come a long way since being the house band for the Full Throttle Saloon back in 2000. She released her debut album The Inside and title track video in 2004 (wins 2 JPF awards in ’06). Videos for Sweet Euphoria and Help Me are released in ’05. Headlines Easyrider shows three years in a row starting in ’07, releases Locks & Keys in ’08 winning 6 JPF awards for it in ’09 and releases Highway Prophet in 2011 winning Female Rock Vocalist of the year award at the first annual Music City Mayhem Awards. Last year the Highway Prophet video was released and they were nominated for three MCMA awards.
The Make It Fit foundation has spearheaded its push for Autism awareness since November 2011. They’ve worked with professional athletes from MMA, football and baseball also appearing at the Arnold Classic and Mr. Olympia 2011 and 12. They’ve donated to numerous charities including Autism Speaks, The Autism Society of Ohio, Cookies for Ipads, Recreation Unlimited, Oakstone Academy and several more. They’ve also partnered with the owners of White Castle who donated 10 million dollars to further Autism research and also donated to Ohio State University and Nationwide Children’s Hospital in a joint venture called The Ingram Autism Research Center. Make It Fit will also be donating to The Ingram Center this year and to the Tourette Syndrome Society of Ohio, tsaohio.org. An Autism Motorcycle was built by Kip Meeks and Mark Beckner of Beckners Custom Cycles painted by Steve ‘Copperhead’ Stritenberger and taken to conventions/fundraisers/Easyrider shows, viewed by millions and auctioned off last year. The annual Ohio Ride for Autism will roar through Columbus on July 27 and The All About Autism Car Truck and Motorcycle show will be on August 17. The Alrosa Villa hopes to make Amplified Awareness an annual event.
Autism is described as a neural disorder affecting mental, emotional development resulting in impaired social interaction, communication and repetitive behavior. It is one of three disorders in the autism spectrum (ASDs) the other’s being Asperger Syndrome which lacks delays in cognitive/linguistic development but greatly affects social behavior. Pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) is diagnosed when the whole set of criteria for the other two aren’t met. Autism has a strong genetic base and signs are noticed within the first two years of life. Movies with autistic characters include The Boy Who Could Fly, Rain Man, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Bless the Child and Mercury Rising and on TV’s Parenthood, Grey’s Anatomy, House, Law &Order Criminal Minds, The Shield and most recently Touch.
Tourette Syndrome is an inherited mental disorder onset in childhood characterized by multiple physical (motor) and vocal (phonic) tics that come and go and can be temporary suppressed occurring from an oncoming pre-urge. TS is defined as a tic disorder which are sudden, repetitive, body movements, sounds and vocalizations which include sniffing, blinking, facial movements, body jerks and spasms. Audio tics include making noises, involuntary cussing, swearing and other derogatory verbiage, though the tics generally subside with age. TV shows featuring TS characters include Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Sopranos and The Tourette Guy with documentaries Twitch and Shout, last year’s Magic Camp and the film short Harvie Krumpet. The 2008 TV movie Front of the Class is based on the real life story of TS diagnosed Brad Cohen who became a gifted teacher. Depending on your sense of humor TS has also been lampooned in Deuce Bigalow and mentioned in The Wedding Singer. Celebrities with TS include Howie Mandel, Howard Hughes and Dan Aykroyd. May 15-June 15 is national TS awareness month.
