Hands That Rock…Making a Musical Difference

On Saturday, September 15, 2018, a spot of magic took place at the Bonnet Shores Beach Club in Narragansett. It was here that The Hands That Rock (HTR), a Rhode Island-based not-for-profit that provides massage therapy at music festivals and special events across America to raise money for community-based student music programs, produced its First Annual Hands That Rock Tribute Band Festival and what a day it was! The Festival was a roaring success grossing over $18,000 and insuring a handsome amount of scholarship money for Narragansett and South Kingstown High School students with financial disadvantages. Witnessed by over 300 enthusiastic attendees rocking to the sounds of the fantastic tribute bandsTotal Access (Chicago), Barefoot Rebel (Lynyrd Skynyrd) and Merchants of Cool (Foreigner+), Rhode Island’s own Narragansett High School Band performed outside the Beach Club to greet guests as they arrived.

“We are very excited to have hosted this important program supporting music scholarships in our home state of Rhode Island,” says Darcy Lynch, executive director of HTR. “Since its inception in 2012, HTR has raised tens of thousands of dollars for student music programs by providing chair massage services for audiences at major concerts and festivals. Artists featured at such events include superstar acts such as Bon Jovi and Katie Perry, to name a few. HTR proceeds were donated to music programs in need local to each concert venue or to national child-oriented organizations. While this avenue of endeavor has been very successful for our mission, we wanted to create an event model that focuses on local school districts and music education programs that can be easily repeated in towns and cities across America. Our Tribute Band Festival was that vehicle. We would like to thank all the volunteers from Narragansett and South Kingstown school district that helpedmake our first outing a grand success. ”

One of the most interesting aspects of the event were the silent auction items donated by prominent stars from the world of music that included collector’s grade signed guitars from Journey, Peter Frampton, Breaking Benjamin and the Vans Warped Tour, along with a drum head signed by George Thorogood and a jazzy pair of black, sneaky sneakers signed by Donald Fagan of Steely Dan fame. Bidding was fast and furious up until the announcement of the winners just before the end of this six-hour event. Supported by 94 HJY: I Radio/Providence, WADK/Newport, RI Blogger.com, Narragansett Times and Narragansett Patch, the word was out to our local world helping to boost the attendance and generate passion for the unique raffle items.

Yet another creative aspect to this magical moment was the request that parents please donate instruments their now older children have left behind to HTR for distribution to students, school districts or music programs serving underserved communities. According to Ms. Lynch, “We are putting together a raft of programming ideas to stimulate interest in music education and performance. Research proves that music programming has a positive effect on a child’s social and emotional development that delivers positive academic achievement and can refocus or prevent risky behavior. We believe the absolute triumph of this first Tribute Band Festivalwill be duplicated throughout all 50 states. Planning is now taking place for our next Rhode Island event in September of 2019. The Bonnet Shores Beach Club and the Tribute bands are ready, willing and very able to have a repeat performance.”