Rocky Mount Telegram
Friday, December 22, 2006
Of all the things that remind people of the holidays, Grateful Dead covers and beer probably aren't high on many lists.
Yet if local guitarist Blake Tedder has anything to say about it, those things will one day be staples of any proper Rocky Mount Christmas.
For several weeks now, Tedder – a senior at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and a fixture of the local music scene – has been calling old friends, pricing equipment and negotiating with bar owners in an attempt to create a new Rocky Mount tradition.
At 9:30 p.m. Saturday at MXB3 at 1127 Benvenue Road, those efforts will culminate in the third annual Blake Tedder Crimmus Jam, a charity event for burn victims that has the dual purpose of reuniting a piece of the city's recent musical past.
"It's an opportunity for all the people we've played with over the years to get back together for one thing," Tedder said. "We all go to different colleges and live in different places, but we all come back for one night."
In what Tedder described as a somewhat organized free-for-all, a mishmash of current and former Rocky Mount musicians now home for the holidays will come together for a night of 1960s classics mixed in with a few originals.
Half the proceeds taken at the door will go to the Blake Tedder Foundation for Burn Survivors, set up by Tedder's parents after severe burns he suffered in a plane crash five years ago.
The Crimmus Jam is a unique event for Rocky Mount that came about both quickly and accidentally.
It began in 2004 when Tedder and a few buddies decided to throw together a show at the now-closed Las Lomas restaurant. Having few connections, the management put them in the smaller back room.
With a viral word-of-mouth campaign among old high school friends, however, the makeshift band managed to draw nearly 300 people and barely had enough room to perform. They repeated the event a year later in the main dining area, drawing a similar crowd.
"We weren't planning on making it anything, just joking around calling it a Crimmus Jam," Tedder said. "We just had such a fun time that we kept doing it, and I don't see any reason for us to stop."
Rather, Tedder has tried to expand the concert, spending hundreds of dollars and countless cell phone minutes trying to ring together a show worthy of the $7 cover charge. He said he hopes to bring back the same people each year, no matter how much they achieve individually.
"Some of these guys are going to be in awesome bands," Tedder said. "If I have their word they're going to come back, it could be a great thing."
Genna Suggs, who sings in a bluegrass band in Chapel Hill and has performed with Tedder for years, said she looks forward to the event more than any show of the year.
"It's the night that I look forward to the most when I'm home for Christmas," Suggs said. "It's a small town, and everyone comes. It's just so much fun to get back together with everybody."
The ultimate goal, Tedder said, is to get even more people thinking the same way.
"I really want this to be a Rocky Mount thing," Tedder said. "I want to get everyone involved."
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Copyright 2007 Blake Tedder. All Rights Reserved. | Web Design by Brad Proctor
Copyright 2007 Blake Tedder. All Rights Reserved. | Web Design by Brad Proctor