2019 - Kats Helped raise $1500 on NYE
The Merchant, The Kings of the Cold and the ToneKats played a benefit on New Year's eve at the Merchant and raised a combined total of $1,500 for Joe Chithalen's Memorial Musical Instrument Lending Library (Joe's M.I.L.L.) located at the Tett Centre in Kingston, ON.
See belowfor details and the mant people to be thanked who participated.
The ToneKats debut at Little Texas on Saturday Jan 12th, 2019 - Come and see the band uptown for some live action like New Year's Eve downtown Kingston at the Merchant with special guests Laura Richards and Paul Stacey on saxophone.
If you were downtown on December 31st you would have noticed it was a cold and rainy night. But 6 degrees Celsius is not what we expected in Kingston. A Benefit was organized by Dave Bull of the ToneKats with the help of the Merchant, the Kings of the Cold and the ToneKats, The idea took shape and the New Year's Benefit Bash for Joe's M.I.L.L. was born.
Ever supportive of Joe's MILL, Bill Welychka asked Dave to come on and talk about the show.
Bon Evans from Joe's MILL joined Dave , Solomon. Bon and Kurt went for a TV interview on the Morning Show Dec 18th, 2018 and a radio interview right afterwards. Thanks to CKWS Global, Bill Welychka and 96.3 FM a few days before the event (Dec 18th) to remind people what was happening and let everyone know the details. The Merchant was also very enthusiatic about Joe"s MILL and they joined in the enthusiasm and the sold out event took shape.
The Kings of the Cold opened the evening with Nic on Bass, Grayson on drums, Kurt Paquette from Lucious on guitar and Solomon Woodland on Vocals and rhythm guitar. They played a powerful 90 minutes before the countdown to midnight approached.
Dave Bull counted the last few moments of 2018 down with the partygoers and Auld Lang Syne was played by the ToneKats followed by "I Will Survive" by Cake (Gloria Gaynor) and a blistering two hour set of hit after hit to an audience enjoying the dancing and hooting and hollering and the abundant rock n rolling going on in the room!
Special guests included Bill Welychka himself on a rare performance of Copperhead Road.
Then Laura Richards and Paul Stacey then took to the stage with their saxes and provided the horn section to Bon Evans' singing his original song "Trouble". The group continued after and played "Play that funky music" to the delight of the folks celebrating new Years at the Merchant. Approximately $1,500 was raised from ticket sale donations from the two bands and the Merchant to this worthwhile cause to make musical instruments more accessible to anyone wanting to play an instrument..
Smitty Kingston then joined in and played a rousing version of the Doors' "Roadhouse Blues" with The Tonekats followed by Matchbox 20's "Three A.M".
The ToneKats finished the night with "Sweet Child of Mine" "Come and Get your Love" "Blow at HIgh Dough" and many more rocking dance tunes culminating with "You can't always get what you want" taking the crowd to 2 a.m. and a great end of night!
We really appreciate it when you come out to our shows, we work hard to give you the best live band sound possible while keeping it intimate.. According to Talking Head's David Byrne in his new book "How Music Works" live music is back in fashion as people are over-saturated with recorded music they can have 24-7 anywhere now. Over time this has diminished its value and people are looking for a social experience and music is it! See you Soon - The Kats
