The rockin’-est fundraiser in town

As I noted in my first column, I love it when people join to together to do good things. I also mentioned that I love live music, so today I want to tell you about one of Southwest’s coolest “People-Connecting-and-Doing-Good-Deeds-with-Live-Music” events of the year. (And yes, this is a thing.)
Imagine this: arguably the most versatile cover band in town, performing with more than 20 well-known guest singers, at one of Southwest’s most excellent beer venues... All for a charity that gives 100 percent – YES, 100% – of donations directly to people in need.
The place is the Driftwood Char Bar at 44th and Nicollet, where the burgers are excellent, the pool table’s level, and the dance floor is big enough. The band is The Belfast Cowboys, and if you’ve had the pleasure of seeing them in the past few years, you probably already know that every time they perform, they raise funds for Foothold Twin Cities.
Foothold Twin Cities was started by friend-of-the-band Amber Lampron. Here is their mission statement: “To help families remain stable by providing a one-time payment to assist with an urgent need. Every dollar donated goes directly to families in crisis.”
As it says on their website: “You’ve worked hard to get back on your feet; we’re here to help you keep your Foothold.”
The Belfast Cowboys began as a Van Morrison cover band, and lead singer Terry Walsh can still belt it out like Van the Man all night long... A stripped-down version of the band, St. Dominick’s Trio, plays the Driftwood every Tuesday night. Last year I caught them right after Rick Ocasek of The Cars died, a night when they proceeded to play every Cars song, impromptu and unrehearsed, that anyone in the audience could name. One hit after another: someone would start humming a tune, and within seconds the band was figuring it out and playing it live... making up lyrics only when necessary.
But this last month was something else entirely...
Emceed by Hi Fi Hair & Records owner Jon Clifford (yep, you’ve seen him, he’s the guy who looks like Ronny Wood), the fundraiser started at seven o’clock and the music didn’t stop until midnight. This year, in honor of rock & roll great Charlie Watts, the set list was from the canons of both Van Morrison and The Rolling Stones.
Lolo’s Ghost singer Colleen Martin Oake started it off with “Beast of Burden.” Minneapolis Sound pioneer Robert Wilkinson of The Flamin’ Ohs! ripped out a version of “Street Fightin’ Man.” Fine-dressing Doug Collins came in from Wisconsin (yes, Wisconsin!) to drop a few bombs before his rendition of Van’s “I Will Be There.”
It went on and gloriously on. Dan Israel sang “Paint it Black.” Chanteuse Marie Strand sang “La Vie en Rose” in French. Aaron Seymour, from The Widgets, sang “Here Comes the Night.” All the while, Driftwood music manager Larry Sahagian, who you may remember as singer/songwriter/bassist of The Urban Guerillas, did his best to help people find seats.
And then somewhere during a break, Foothold Board Member Laura Poehlman told the latest Foothold story. “Last week, one family of six couldn’t pay their rent... so we paid it for them. A single mom with two kids, she had a car accident, and then she got COVID. Her teenage kids were going to drop out of school to pay the bills, but we were able to stop that by helping them out. And that’s just what we did this week.”
She went on to explain how they do it. “We have no processing fees. If all you can do is throw five dollars in the basket, that’s fine, because all five of your dollars will go to someone in need.”
Question: How does this kind of thing happen? My answer is Faith: People believing in their own goodness, and the goodness of others, risking their time and energy in faith that it will help.
It was a faith-filled evening, and there seemed to be no end to the number of players that wanted to be part it. My own personal favorite was Katie Vernon singing a unique and genuine version of “Wild Horses.” Terry’s brother, local writer Jim Walsh, sang “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” And as the finale, the legendary Curtiss A ended the parade of stars with a song from Van’s early band Them, “I Can Only Give You Everything.” If you’ve been to the annual John Lennon Tribute at First Avenue every Dec. 8, you know Curtiss gives everything every time he sings... On this night, the rest of us gave what we could, too.
In the end, Foothold raised a total of $7,900.18 that week – all of which will likely go to help people get their foothold during Minnesota’s coldest month of the year.
And then, next week, and every Tuesday, they’ll raise some more... You can still contribute now at www.Footholdtwincities.org. Go ahead: Keep the Faith. And come by some Tuesday!

Larry LaVercombe is a writer, filmmaker, and activist, born in Detroit and arrived in Minneapolis in 1975. He lived in a treehouse in San Diego before getting an MFA from the USC Film School. He writes most days, and as Team Larry he has been selling residential real estate in Minneapolis for 26 years.