Rocking the Rock: St. Cecilia hosts concert fundraiser

From Frogwater jams to Soundgarden swag, benefit strikes a chord on Bainbridge Island.

Saint Cecilia is renowned as the patron saint of music.

Now, islanders are gonna rock-and-roll in her name for a good cause.

Rock the Rock is St. Cecilia’s annual fundraiser. The Catholic school usually holds a fashion show to support its student scholarships and operational costs, but this year, organizers decided to switch things up a bit.

“We decided to keep with the saint’s theme,” said Lois Hartman, co-chair of the concert. “Each group is part of the school or the parish. It’s about the whole community coming together,” Hartman said.

Musical acts include the Stoyanovich Jazz Trio, Steve Nagle and Frogwater.

The jazz trio includes islander Patrick Stoyanovich, Garey Williams and Nathan Parker.

Nagel will provide his acoustic stylings to the concert while Frogwater will rock the show with the best of classic rock.

Each act has a Bainbridge Island connection. Hartman said it keeps with the concert’s goal to maintain a community connection trough the event.

“We thought it would be nice to have an event to promote the school but also the community,” she said.

“It focuses on not only the school but the community, the generosity of the community and things that are Bainbridge,” Hartman said. “Bainbridge beer and Bainbridge talent. The proceeds go to the school but we want it to be about everybody.”

The event brings together a slew of support from Bainbridge Island Brewing Company to Bainbridge Organic Distillers, Bainbridge Cinemas to Silver Screen Video, and Lollipop’s Children Boutique to Sweet Deal, to name a random few from the more than 80 sponsors and contributors to the event.

But the concert is only half of the attraction. A combination of silent and active auctions will also be part of the event and will likely come as music to islanders’ ears; figuratively and literally.

The list of auction items includes a Fender Telecaster signed by all members of Seattle’s legendary Soundgarden, along with accessories from Bainbridge Island’s Mad Ape guitar shop.

The musical attractions continue with another signed guitar from TRAIN guitarist Jimmy Stafford and two bottles of wine from TRAIN’s Save Me San Francisco Wine Company, also signed by Stafford.

Another wine item includes a special “Apocalypse Now” edition of Francis Ford Coppola’s 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon. The bottle features an “Apocalypse Now” label and a compartment for a special edition Blu-ray disc of the film. And, of course, the bottle is hand-signed by Coppola.

Sports fans will also have the opportunity to bid on two charter seat tickets for six Mariners games.