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Date: 7/10/2019
STAFFORD SPRINGS, CT – They’re comin’ to your town to help you party it down – Grand Funk Railroad brings its “American Band Tour 2019“ to the MDA Benefit Ride and Concert at Sun Valley Beach Resort July 14.
Brett Michaels, singer-songwriter and former front man for the 1980s rock band, Poison, will share the bill, helping Connecticut’s largest one-day charity motorcycle ride “Drive Awareness for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.”
Tickets for the music fest, which starts at 2 p.m. on the grounds of Sun Valley, 51 Old Springfield Rd., Stafford Springs, are $30 in advance, $35 at the gate. Reserved VIP tickets in the shaded tent area are $50. For tickets and more info visit www.mdridect.com.
Reminder Publishing spoke with founding Grand Funk member, singer-songwriter and drummer Don Brewer, about the band’s upcoming appearance at the MDA Benefit Ride in Stafford Springs– one of many stops on the iconic rock group’s 50th Anniversary tour this year.
“I’m looking forward to it,” he said, adding that he, his fellow founding member and bassist Mel Schacher, and current band mates – singer Max Carl of 38 Special, lead guitarist Bruce Kulick, formerly with KISS, and keyboardist Tim Cashion, who has played with Bob Seger and Robert Palmer – would all be “getting on a plane Saturday” to make the gig. This will be the second charity event Grand Funk has played this month; on July 6 Brewer said the band performed at a festival in Naperville, IL. to raise money to combat child abuse.
When asked what fans should expect at the July 14 appearance, Brewer shared everyone should come to the Sun Valley concert “ready to smile and sweat … we want everybody up on their feet having a good time!
“It’s for a good cause,” he added.
Without the concert contract in hand, Brewer couldn’t confirm if Grand Funk would be performing a 60-minute set or its traditional full show at Sun Valley, but he did promise fans wouldn’t be disappointed either way.
“We focus on the hits, we know what the audience wants to hear,” Brewer said. “If it’s a cut down [show] it will be ‘Keep Shining On,’ “Closer to Home,’ ‘Locomotion,’ ‘American Band’ – the songs the audience will be looking for.” He said it gives him a “charge” when he looks out in the audience and he sees multiple generations – grandparents, kids and even grandkids all rockin’ out and singing along with the band – and he hopes that will be the case at Sun Valley.
“It’s incredible, it’s a charge, it’s a thrill,” he added, to hear the stories from fans at band meet and greets of how they first discovered Grand Funk back in the day, and shared that music with their children and grandchildren
Looking back over 50 years with Grand Funk Railroad, Brewer said at 19 when the band started out in Flint, MI, he couldn’t imagine still rockin’ out for audiences in 2019.
“It’s pretty amazing,” he said. “I never dreamed I would be 70 years old with grandkids and still on the road.
“I don’t enjoy the traveling,” he admitted, “But I still enjoy getting up onstage and making a fool of myself. I’ve been fortunate that I’ve been able to do this my entire life.”
Motorcyclists should note registration for the Benefit Ride part of the event starts at 9 a.m. at three satellite locations – Old School Harley- Davidson of Ellington, CT., Yankee Harley-Davidson of Bristol, CT., and Sheldon’s Harley Davidson of Auburn, MA. – with kickstands up at 11:30 a.m. in Ellington and Bristol, 11 a.m. in Auburn. Gates at Sun Valley open to the public at noon.
For more info about the ride, events at Sun Valley and the concert, visit www.facebook.com/mdaridect or www.mdaridect.com. The MDA Benefit Ride & Concert is presented by Trantolo & Trantolo LLC.