Mayor Matti Bower, Commissioners Michael Gongora and Dee Dee Weithorn take the stage ( C. Libov photo)
The City of Miami Beach's new band "The Office," led by Mayor Matti Bower, and backed by the city's commissioners and staff, raised more than $15,000 -- double its stated goal, to refurbish two surplus city emergency vehicles for use in Haiti.
"We're not sure how much we made yet, but it was over $15,000," said Caroline DeFreze, who works in the City Manager's office.
Audience members, who paid $10 for general admission to the concert or shelled out $100 for the VIP reception beforehand, packed the house at the Byron Carlyle Theater for the sold-out event.
The concert was spearheaded by Commissioner Ed Tobin, who thanked his fellow commissioners "for jumping in with both feet."
Barth Green, M.D., of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and a founder of Project Medishare, which provides relief efforts to Haiti, told the audience that conditions in Haiti "are basically unchanged" since the catastrophic earthquake in January.
The refurbished city vehicles will be used to provide transportation between a hospital that Project Medishare is constructing and a rehabilitation hospital located 10 miles away. "If you don't have transportation, that 10 miles might as well be a million miles," Dr. Green said.
The concert featured several pieces of Haitian music, beautifully performed by Jan Sebon, and members of his band. Bemol Telfort, also a renowned Haitian performer, also appeared. Telfort is a musician and composer who taught himself to play guitar at the age of 10.
The "rock" portion of the evening was provided by the band Jetstream, which is comprised of Miami Beach High School alumni performing their own compositions, as well as covers, locally and throughout South Florida.
They provided the backup for "The Office," which, as it turned out, didn't need much help. Bower, who swept onto the stage in a rainbow feather boa, was ably accompanied by a very talented group of city employees by day; guitarists, keyboardists and singers by night.
The evening was hosted by Hilda Fernandez, the city's assistant manager. By evening's end, she, and the audience, were on their feet, rocking their hearts out.
Text and photograph © Charlotte Libov
Video © Henry Perez
For more info: Project Medishare
Video: "The Office," with lead singer Naima, perform "Mustang Sally"
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