All-Star Tribute To Rick Danko

Will Benefit WPKN Radio

An all-star musical tribute to Rick Danko, a founding member of the legendary 1970s group The Band, will take place at 7:30 pm on Thursday, June 8, at Edmond Town Hall, 45 Main Street in Newtown. The show is a benefit concert for WPKN-FM (89.5), a listener supported community radio station.

Featured performers will include former Band bandmate Garth Hudson, “Professor Louie” & The Crowtmatix, The Honky Tonk Gurus, Artie Traum, Michael Bacon, Mary Ellen Bernard and other special guests.

Mr Danko, a former member of The Band, was scheduled to perform a benefit for WPKN before his death in December 1999. Family and friends decided to honor Mr Danko’s commitment with the tribute in his memory.

A native of Ontario, Canada, Rick Danko was the lead singer and bassist for The Band, which gained fame working as the touring group of musicians who backed up Bob Dylan in the mid 1960s. The group’s first record, Music From Big Pink, was a landmark in the country-rock genre of music, influencing countless performers. The group’s farewell performance in 1976 was recorded and filmed as The Last Waltz, and featured an all-star group of rock royalty.

Mr Danko went on to a successful solo performing and writing career after The Band broke up, and eventually performed with reunited members of The Band in the 1980s. He later toured with Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Band in 1994 and also was inducted with the group into the Hall of Fame of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

When he died at his home in Woodstock, NY, at the age of 56 in December 1999, Mr Danko was working on a new solo album with longtime friend Aaron “Professor Louie” Hurwitz.

WPKN is a unique listener supported radio station based in Bridgeport. With the exception of its paid general manager, the station is operated completely by volunteers and funded by listener contributions. There is no set format of programming. Listeners can hear virtually every style of music, from rock and jazz to bluegrass and classical, as well as alternative news, talk, short stories and poetry.

Tickets for “The All-Star Musical Tribute to Rick Danko” are $30 each and are available at Grand Union in Newtown, Trash American Style in Danbury and New Morning Natural Foods in Woodbury. For more information call 203/331-9756.