The Anatomy of an Event

There are some things that aren’t supposed to happen. Among them, I list waking up at seven o’clock in the morning on a Saturday. But, on August the 23rd, that’s exactly what I had to do.

That particular Saturday was the day of the long-awaited first CONFRONT Presents… music concert. There was a meeting at Dame Tartine’s, a fantastic Ontario Street East breakfast bar, where the CONFRONT Crew were meeting with the MAPMusic (((Musicians Against Parkinson’s))) crew over toast, sausage, bacon, eggs and pancakes to discuss the multiple last-minute details that we needed to coordinate before heading over to the Club Soda, our show venue for that evening.

It would be a long day of setup, coordination, planning, networking and crisis management, but the event itself, the MAPMusic Awareness Concert, and CONFRONT Presents… had their genesis months earlier.

Over the course of the two years that CONFRONT Magazine has been in operation, we have had the privilege of making many contacts in the music industry; local, national and even international. Publicist Jon Asher is among those contacts, and one day he pitched an intriguing idea to CONFRONT Editor in Chief, Angel Karmazenuk. He proposed that one of the artists he represents, Robbie Tucker, should write a regular column for the magazine.

Robbie Tucker is a musician who, three years ago, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. The diagnosis was devastating, and evidently was a life-changing experience. Much of his life since has been spent dealing with the bureaucracy of insurance companies and the government, dealing with the effects of the illness and the medications, which have as many side effects as Parkinson’s has symptoms. But if the diagnosis did anything, it cemented Robbie’s determination to live as normal a life as possible, and to find a way of beating the disease.

With the help of Canadian Olympic Pairs figure skating sensation Craig Buntin, whose mother was also diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, Robbie formed MAPMusic (((Musicians Against Parkinson’s))).

After meeting with Robbie and learning about his organization, Angel and Robbie soon began planning a benefit concert to raise awareness and funds to help fight against Parkinson’s disease. The goal of the concert was simple: to educate and change the way people think about Parkinson’s, to help raise funds towards finding a cure for the disease, and to assist and motivate people living with Parkinson’s.