A Tribute to Wes Wehmiller

Show tickets are now on sale for the public so don’t wait! Once this is posted on the Baked Potato’s website, tickets will go quickly!  Click here for tickets!!

YEAR-END REMINDER
If you haven’t been giving to charity throughout the year, now’s the time! If you’re itemizing your deductions, your donations will reduce your year-end tax bill!
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Over the years, your generous contributions have kept the Wes Wehmiller Endowed Scholarship thriving!  Each year the scholarship is awarded to the electric bass student that best carries on Wes’s talent and generosity. Your contributions and the proceeds that WesFest brings in every year allow this student to continue their education with the prestigious Berklee College of Music.

Although we don’t have information for you yet about next year’s WesFest, we wanted to let you know that you can still contribute to the scholarship fund.  The recipients will still receive this money!

1. Go to  http://www.berklee.edu/make-gift
2. Under “Donor Information,” fill out the online form
3. Under the “Designation” dropdown list, please choose “WesFest in support of Wes Wehmiller Scholarship Fund”

*NOTE:  all gifts to Berklee and to WesFest are tax deductible and this is a very secure pay site.*

We and the bass students of Berklee are truly grateful for anything you can manage to give to support music education and to continue honoring Wes’s legacy.

Thanks for reading and you’ll hear from us again soon!
Stacey

In the fall of 2013, the WesFest family welcomed a new member as Max McKellar was awarded the Wes Wehmiller Scholarship. Click here to find out more about Max!

We’re excited to announce that, thanks to WesFest 8 sponsors EPIPHONE and GALLIEN-KRUEGER, we will be giving away some awesome gear to two lucky folks attending the WesFest 8 benefit concert featuring BRENDON SMALL’S GALAKTIKON on Sunday, March 3 at The Roxy in Los Angeles.

All you have to do is buy tickets to the WesFest 8 show, and show up, and you’ll be eligible to win one of the two following items! First, for the guitarists:

THE EPIPHONE LTD. ED. BRENDON SMALL “THUNDERHORSE” EXPLORER OUTFIT GUITAR

Epiphone presents the Ltd. Ed. Brendon Small “Thunderhorse” Explorer Outfit, a one-of-a-kind signature guitar for one of the most eclectic and challenging artists working today.  Do we mean Brendon Small? No! Dethklok, of course!  Brendon Small is the co-creator and comedic–and musical–imagination behind Dethklok, the virtual metal band featured in the hit animated program produced by [adult swim], Metalocalypse. And now with the “Thunderhorse” Explorer Outfit, Epiphone and Brendon have collaborated to create the ultimate 6-string weapon packed with exclusive features only found on Epiphone. It’s a guitar worthy of “the world’s greatest cultural force” and in the hands of Dethklok lead guitarist Skwisgaar Skwigelf, a serious and potentially lethal musical weapon to be reckoned with. Billions of Dethklok fans have already noticed the Epiphone “Thunderhorse” is the ultimate Brendon Small Signature Explorer and have declared it totally metal times infinity. Retail price: $999.

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And, for the bassists (after all, this concert does go to benefit a bass scholarship at Berklee College Of Music!):

THE GALLIEN-KRUEGER MB 500 SUPER LIGHTWEIGHT BASS AMP

Weighing in at less than 4 lbs. and taking up less than one rack space, the MB500 delivers 500 watts of power in a package that will easily fit into your gig bag. Featuring GK’s legendary four band active EQ and contour control, the MB500 allows you to tweak your tone before hitting the digital power section. In addition to the generous tone shaping capabilities, the preamp section also features a foot switchable boost channel with independent volume control to dial in just the right amount of grind and level boost when needed. Retail price: $714.

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This year’s WesFest 8 lineup features the live debut of headliner BRENDON SMALL’S GALAKTIKON, as well as Derek Frank, Ali Handal, Janet Robin, Joe Travers & Friends, Colin Keenan, and Danny Mo & The Exciters (featuring 2012 Wehmiller Scholarship winner Jed Lingat.

TO PURCHASE WESFEST 8 TICKETS AND FOR FULL SHOW DETAILS, JUST CLICK HERE!

WesFest 8 is a benefit concert whose net proceeds go to benefit the Wes Wehmiller Endowed Scholarship at Berklee College Of Music. The scholarship fund honors Wes Wehmiller (1971-2005), a Berklee graduate (’92) and highly accomplished bassist, athlete and photographer who died of thyroid cancer in January 2005. Established by his family and friends, the Wes Wehmiller Endowed Scholarship is awarded annually to a continuing student at Berklee who best exemplifies the excellence and grace Wehmiller showed as a bassist and as a human being. The WesFest concert series and related fundraising drive has raised more than $150,000 over the past seven years. Additional sponsors for WesFest 8 include Mike Lull Custom Guitars, D’Addario Strings, and Studio Instrument Rentals.

Here it is, the official announcement…this is one year where WesFest 8 just might sell out, so DO NOT wait to get your tickets!

BRENDON SMALL’S GALAKTIKON TO MAKE LIVE DEBUT
HEADLINING WESFEST 8 BENEFIT CONCERT AT THE ROXY
IN L.A. ON MARCH 3, 2013

Eighth annual benefit concert continues tradition of paying tribute
to Berklee College of Music alum and accomplished bassist,
athlete and photographer Wes Wehmiller

BOSTON (Jan. 9, 2013) – Brendon Small’s Galaktikon, the critically acclaimed side-project of Brendon Small – the creative mastermind behind the smash-hit animated [adult swim] TV show Metalocalypse and the band Dethklok – will headline an all-star lineup for WesFest 8: A Concert to Benefit the Wes Wehmiller Endowed Scholarship at Berklee College Of Music at The Roxy in Los Angeles on Sunday, March 3, 2013. The show marks the live debut of the project, and the event is sponsored by Gallien-Krueger Amplification, Mike Lull Custom Guitars, D’Addario Strings, and Studio Instrument Rentals (S.I.R.).

The scholarship fund honors Wes Wehmiller (1971-2005), a Berklee graduate (’92) and highly accomplished bassist, athlete and photographer who died of thyroid cancer in January 2005. Established by his family and friends, the Wes Wehmiller Endowed Scholarship is awarded annually to a continuing student at Berklee who best exemplifies the excellence and grace Wehmiller showed as a bassist and as a human being. The WesFest concert series and related fundraising drive has raised more than $150,000 over the past seven years.

Before Metalocalypse and Dethklok’s runaway success, Brendon Small, a Berklee alum (‘97), began his career in animation as the co-creator, writer, voice actor, composer and musician for the TV show Home Movies. Small has also lent his voice to a number of other shows including The Venture Bros., Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Squidbillies, Reno 911! and Frisky Dingo. He then reprised his co-creator/writer/voice actor/director/producer/music-composer role for Metalocalypse, which premiered in August 2006 and just completed its fourth season on [adult swim]. But in April of 2012, Small branched out to write and produce Brendon Small’s Galaktikon, a self-described “High Stakes Intergalactic Extreme Rock Album.” The long-awaited side project was inspired not just by modern metal, but also by Queen, Foo Fighters, Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins and Weezer.

Brendon Small himself had this to say: “I’m excited to get this album up on its feet in a live scenario with some of the best musicians on this planet.”

The live band required to pull off the multi-layered music of Brendon Small’s Galaktikon will contain four guitarists, including L.A. based guitarist and former Musician’s Institute Guitar Dept. Chair Jude Gold, Mike Keneally (Dethklok, Frank Zappa, Joe Satriani), Rick Musallam (Ben Taylor, Carly Simon), and Small himself. Additional band members include keyboardist/guitarist Walter Ino; bassist Beller (Dethklok, Steve Vai, The Aristocrats); and vocalists Ben Thomas (Zappa Plays Zappa), Kira Small (Peter Frampton, Martina McBride), Ali Handal (Neil Young, Paul Williams) and Jude Crossen.

“We’re beyond psyched to have Brendon Small’s Galaktikon making its debut at WesFest 8,” says event co-producer and Galaktikon bassist Beller. “For seven years we’ve been growing the WesFest community with every event, especially in Southern California. But this year, thanks to Brendon’s involvement, we’ve got a greater chance to reach more folks around the country than ever before.”

The event will feature three additional acts: Los Angeles funk/R&B bassist Derek Frank (Jonatha Brooke, Brian Auger); the WesFest All-Stars, featuring the music of previous WesFest performers and singer/songwriters Janet Robin (Lindsey Buckingham), Ali Handal , and Colin Keenan, along with a special group assembled by Zappa Plays Zappa drummer Joe Travers; and Danny Mo and the Exciters, featuring Wehmiller’s Berklee bass professor and close friend Danny Morris, as well as 2012 Wehmiller Scholarship award winner Jed Lingat and legendary drummer John “JR” Robinson.

From 1997 through 2001, Wes Wehmiller toured worldwide with the multi-platinum pop band Duran Duran, and appeared on many TV shows with them as well, including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Today Show, VH-1’s Storytellers, and Hard Rock Live. He performed with Missing Persons and several other L.A. based bands, and his work appears on numerous recordings produced in the L.A. area and in Vancouver. He gained endorsement deals with SWR bass amplification systems and La Bella Strings.

WesFest 8 advance tickets are available through March 1 for $35 per pair of tickets or $20 per single ticket. Tickets are $30 each at the door. Ticket orders and donations will be accepted via check or credit card.  Click here for complete ordering instructions.

For any questions about ordering tickets or donating to the fundraising drive, please contact Peter Gordon at 818.380.3041 or pgordon@berklee.edu. For additional biographical information on Wes Wehmiller, and more information on the WesFest concert series, as well as new details about WesFest 8 as they become available, please visit the official Wes Wehmiller Tribute Website at www.wesfest.com.

Berklee College of Music was founded on the revolutionary principle that the best way to prepare students for careers in music was through the study and practice of contemporary music. For over 60 years, the college has evolved constantly to reflect the state of the art of music and the music business. With over a dozen performance and nonperformance majors, a diverse and talented student body representing over 70 countries, and a music industry “who’s who” of alumni, Berklee is the world’s premier learning lab for the music of today – and tomorrow.

Hello everyone-

It’s now a month since WesFest 7, and we wanted to write you to let you know of the results of the fundraising effort and the concert.

It’s all great news: We raised over $25,000 for the Wes Wehmiller Scholarship Fund at Berklee College Of Music. Not only did we achieve the $20,000 goal, we blew it away and broke the record for fundraising in a single year. This is all thanks to you, and to everyone who contributed in one way or another to making WesFest 7 such a success.

It’s humbling and gratifying for all of us on the team to know that the WesFest community is still growing and thriving, seven years and counting. These continuing successes ensure that future deserving bass students will not only receive support in their educational journey, but also that they and their family and friends will join the growing WesFest community as well. In this way, Wes’ spirit lives on for all of us.

We’ve included the official WesFest 7 press release below, so you can see what we’re sending out to the world at large. Once again, thank you SO much for being on this list, and for all you do to help make this event and effort a success.

Best wishes to all,
The WesFest Team:
Bryan Beller, Stacey Ferguson, Peter Gordon,
John and Paula Wehmiller

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Peter Gordon

818-380-3041

pgordon@berklee.edu

WESFEST 7 BENEFIT CONCERT RAISES $25,000
FOR WES WEHMILLER SCHOLARSHIP FUND
AT BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC
7^th annual event breaks all previous years’ fundraising results

LOS ANGELES, CA (April 5, 2012) – WesFest 7, the seventh annual WesFest benefit concert, took place at The Roxy in Los Angeles on March 4, 2012. The results were unprecedented in the event’s history, as the concert and related fundraising drive raised more than $25,000 for the Wes Wehmiller Endowed Scholarship Fund at Berklee College of Music. The total amount generated by the WesFest initiative since its inception in 2006 has now well exceeded $100,000.

Officially supported this year by corporate sponsors Gallien-Krueger Amplification, Mike Lull Custom Guitars, D’Addario Strings, Eminence Speaker, and DW Drums, the WesFest concert series has made the Wes Wehmiller Scholarship one of the leading awards for performance majors at Berklee College Of Music. 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 Wehmiller 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 WesFest 7 concert was headlined by rock/fusion supergroup The Aristocrats, comprised of guitarist Guthrie Govan (Asia/GPS, Dizzee Rascal), bassist Bryan Beller (Steve Vai, Dethklok, Mike Keneally), and drummer Marco Minnemann (Steven Wilson, UKZ, Adrian Belew). The Aristocrats’ set also featured special guest guitarist/keyboardist Mike Keneally, the headliner from the very first WesFest concert (and participant in nearly every show) on three roof-raising tunes. “It’s extremely gratifying to see how WesFest has not only continued but flourished, both as a support system for new musicians on the scene and as a way to keep Wes Wehmiller’s name and presence alive,” says Keneally. “I’m forever grateful to the Fest for the way it spurs those of us who loved Wes to refocus our remembrance and appreciation of him, year after year. Long live Wes – and long live WesFest!”

In a long-standing WesFest concert tradition, the 2011 Wehmiller Scholarship winner performed at WesFest 7. London-born bassist Hayley Jane Batt – one of the many international students at Berklee – wowed the crowd with not just her superior bass chops, but with her lead vocal prowess as well. She anchored Danny Mo & The Exciters, a band of mostly Berklee graduates featuring legendary drummer John “JR” Robinson (Michael Jackson, Chaka Khan, Madonna, Eric Clapton), as well as singer/songwriter Kira Small (Peter Frampton, Martina McBride) on lead vocals. The band was led by Wehmiller’s Berklee Bass Professor and close friend Danny Morris.  Danny plays a key role in selecting the scholarship winner, and is central to the WesFest community both in Boston and Los Angeles.

“Seeing the look on John Robinson’s face summed it up,” says Morris. “We had just finished plowing through the set at rehearsal, and JR said to Hayley, ‘You can play, you can write, and you look great!’ At the Roxy, Hayley and the Exciters threw down a nasty set that lit up the packed house. After the set we were all spent, and that’s how I knew that Hayley Jane Batt rocked the house. Wes was smiling bright – he told me so!”

Other performers at WesFest 7 included many musicians who knew and worked with Wes during his twelve years in Los Angeles, such as Jackie Daum, Joe Brooks, Colin Keenan, Joe Travers, Pete Griffin, Griff Peters, Mike Olekshy, Ali Handal, and The Casualties Of Jazz (featuring Matt Rohde, Chris Golden, and Jimmy Paxson).

Peter Gordon, Director of the Berklee Center In Los Angeles, offered this about WesFest 7: “It’s a real statement that for seven years now, regardless of circumstance, WesFest has continued to grow, as does its impact both in the Los Angeles community and on the Berklee campus in Boston. This annual event, and the energy surrounding it, is making a real difference.”

All WesFest related merchandise – which includes two concert DVDs, the I, Claudius CD Bleed: The Wes Demos, and Wicked: Music From The WesFest Community – are available for purchase at http://weswehmiller.net/wesfest, with net proceeds also going to benefit the fund. For additional biographical information on Wes Wehmiller, WesFest, and all related merchandise, please visit the official Tribute To Wes Wehmiller Website at www.weswehmiller.net.  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.

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