WesFest 3 Benefit Concert Again Raises $10,000
Tuesday, April 1st, 2008WesFest 3, the third annual WesFest benefit concert, took place at Paladino’s in Los Angeles on February 25, 2008 and raised $10,000 for the Wes Wehmiller Endowed Scholarship Fund at Berklee College of Music for the third consecutive year. This brings the total amount raised by the WesFest concert series to over $30,000 since its inception in 2006.
In addition to concert proceeds and private donations, WesFest 3 was also officially supported by corporate sponsors Epifani Custom Sound, Mike Lull Custom Basses, D’addario & Co., and Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. The monies and awareness raised by the WesFest concert series have quickly made the Wes Wehmiller Scholarship one of the most noted awards given by Berklee College Of Music.
Headlining WesFest 3 was gospel/R&B bass legend Andrew Gouché, whose world-class jazz/fusion quintet left the audience of nearly 200 with jaws open and hearts filled from their combination of musical excellence and spiritual presence. A tradition also continued as 2007 Wes Wehmiller Scholarship Award winner Claire Finley performed at WesFest 3 with Danny Mo & The Exciters, a band led by Wehmiller’s Berklee Bass Professor and close friend Danny Morris, and featured Berklee alum and Zappa Plays Zappa drummer Joe Travers (’92). Finley, the second winner of the award, confidently took center stage and grooved mightily as The Exciters pounded out original and classic rock material.
Three other acts, all a part of Wes Wehmiller’s broad and diverse musical world, performed at WesFest 3: Nashville-based soul/R&B singer/songwriter (and Berklee alum) Kira Small (’93), newly-formed Los Angeles rockers Mother Eff, and perennial WesFest performer Mike Keneally, whose virtuosic band headlined the original event in 2005 and brings continuity to an ever-expanding community.
“The WesFest concert series really has come of age very quickly, and it’s still growing,” says WesFest 3 producer Bryan Beller. “And though we’re very grateful for its success, it’s not just about meeting fundraising goals. Every year we do this, we’re meeting and bringing new people - students, musicians, folks from all walks of life - into the community, and they get for themselves a huge awareness of Wes and why he’s so special to the people who knew him. Plus, everyone’s seeing with their own eyes the tremendous impact of their support. Seeing Claire Finley carry on the tradition is a reaffirmation of what the event really stands for, and then watching Claire watch Andrew Gouche while Wes’ family and friends look on…that’s when you start to get the bigger picture of why this works so well. We’re all connected, and you can’t help but get swept up in the positivity generated by the whole thing.”
Established by Wes’ family and friends in 2005, the Wes Wehmiller Scholarship is awarded annually to a continuing student at Berklee who best exemplifies the excellence and grace Wes showed as a bassist and as a human being. The WesFest concert series serves as the centerpiece for a continuing fundraising drive for the scholarship fund, which honors the legacy of Wehmiller, a Berklee graduate (‘92) and highly accomplished bassist, athlete, and photographer who died of thyroid cancer in January, 2005.
The first two WesFest concerts are available on DVD, with net proceeds also going to benefit the fund. For additional biographical information on Wes Wehmiller, WesFest and the WesFest DVD’s, please visit the official Tribute To Wes Wehmiller Website at www.weswehmiller.net. Pictures of WesFest 3 are available here.
For more information on the scholarship, or to find out how to contribute to the fund, please contact Peter Gordon, Director of the Berklee Center in Los Angeles, at (818) 380-3041, or by e-mail at pgordon@berklee.edu.
Most visible was the ability to light up a song thru his bass parts. I recently played a track from a Tom Langford cd with Wes on bass for my Survey of Bass Styles class. Upon the song’s conclusion, I asked the class to describe what they heard. John Wehmiller, Wes’ dad, in attendance at this class, commented after hearing the students speak that they all described Wes’ personality so clearly. This power of the medium, to be able to get a concise and clear picture of one’s being thru the bass part of a pop/ rock tune is profound. In fact, many aspects of this scholarship are so special. Not only is music being performed and shared by folks who knew and loved Wes, but also those who had never had an association prior to these events are experiencing his beauty.