In a small sit-down bar and grill in Auburn Hills, Michigan, several bands came together February 7, 2009 to celebrate the life and talent of Spencer Bell. Spencer Bell was a young man who was infinitely talented and taken away too soon by Adrenal Cancer, he was only 20 years old when he left this world.  On a day when most people are surrounded by family and turkey dinner, Spencer went into the hospital for stomach pains, it was Thanksgiving day, 2006. Six short days later, he was diagnosed with Adrenal Cancer, and when five more had passed, Spencer was taken away to the severe grief and loss of his family, friends and fans.

The sign behind the stage reads “Callahan’s Bar & Grill.” Commonly used as a showcase house for Blues bands, on this night it becomes the showplace for a group of caring musicians to come together for a good cause. It was the second show of the day, an earlier show had been held for all ages fans and followers.

As of ten minutes to show time, the crowd continued to mill around and the talking drowned out the background music being played by the bar.

Finally, Bill Bell, Spencer’s Father stepped up to the mic to thank Callahan’s for hosting the show. He followed with a gracious compliment to the Detroit Blues Society, and then spoke about Spencer and the Spencer Bell Legacy program to bring awareness for Adrenal Cancer. He then introduced a video which has been put together by friends of Spencer’s.

The room went dark and a video began. The montage is of Spencer with friends and family and video of various past shows. The song accompanying the video is sung by Spencer himself, and is called “Tourist“.

A gentleman named Mike takes the stage, he is President of the Detroit Blues Society. He followed Bill’s words and the montage up with a few notes about the release of Spencer’s album, and made mention of everyone involved in the evenings events.

The Erich Goebel band took the stage first because of a scheduling conflict with a show they were doing later in the evening. Erich Goebel’s band moved through a 6 song set of beautiful and varied Blues tunes. After they completed their set, 100 Monkeys headed out on the stage along with Shawn Fernando from the Stevedores to sing a song Spencer Bell wrote when he was 15 years old called “The Monkey Song.” and then moved into “Twenty to None“, another song written by Spencer, and in this instance, sung by Ben Johnson.

After the two songs by 100 Monkeys, they left the stage and the Christy Howard Band came on stage.  They have performed at other shows dedicated to Spencer Bell.   They  were also part of a fund raiser known as “One In A Million Night” held in 2008. As I’ve had it reported to me, she and her band mates are not only a fantastic Blues band, they’re also all very kind and gracious to the fans. They sang about 4 songs, including “Party Girl”, then Christy Howard’s guitarist, Billy Davis brought his band, The Rhythm Machine, on for several songs.

After Billy Davis and the Rhythm Machine finished, Tin Tin Can came out and played several songs, their Alternative Rock sound was a break in the middle of the all Blues afternoon. Shawn Fernando, Ben Johnson, and Ben Graupner slowly made their way on stage after Tin Tin Can, amid several wiring issues. They sang several Spencer Bell songs including ‘Beautiful More So’.

Around the fifth song, Ben Johnson continued to have issues with the wires and cords strewn across the floor, he walked off-stage holding a bundle of them, and returned, heading for the drums. Shawn Fernando moved back to the keyboards, and after one more bittersweet song, Jackson and Jerad finally joined them back on-stage.

The first 100 Monkeys song they played was ‘Wing on Fire‘ with Jackson on the bass, Jerad played lead guitar, and Ben Graupner was full of energy as he sang. After this song, they played “Ugly Girl“, Jackson started the song literally jumping up and down with energy. They played through “Poison Oak“, “Sweet Face“, “Smoke“,  “Long Distance Phone Call” and finally a song I’m becoming a really big fan of, “Made of Gold” before they started in on their last song for the set, “Wasteland“. After tossing a t-shirt out into the audience, the group hopped off stage for a much needed break.

When 100 Monkeys made it back out, they were joined on stage by guys from Tin Tin Can, Billy Davis and the Rhythm Machine and Shawn Fernando. They sang through a couple of the Stevedore’s songs and for the third song, took suggestions for an improv song by audience members, Jackson appealed to his Mother, “Mom, I know you’re listening somewhere, I’m sorry.” The group then launched into a song about sex. The various band members changed and moved around, trading instruments and making their way through a total of eleven jam songs.

During the set, Ben played harmonica and drums, Jerad played guitar and even took to doing windmills with a tambourine and Jackson even disappeared and reappeared from the stage at one point. They sang a country song, and a dedication was made during the 9th song of the night to someone named Amy, and finally they ended the evening.

I haven’t received any word of the final profit of the evening, but I hope it did well for Adrenal Cancer Research funding. Raising money for a worthy cause wasn’t the only wonderful thing that happened. Spencer Bell’s music was found by new and receptive fans.

I’d like to make a special mention in this review of Deb Bell, who was very helpful and kind to my photographer, Nikki. Also, (since I was unable to attend the show)  to Nikki herself, for providing me with the photos in this posting and her near perfect recall of the evenings events, without which most of the detail of this review would not have been possible.

**Special thanks to:

Eevilreasaa for “The Monkey Song”, “Twenty to One”, “Smoke” and “Sweet Face”

The Artist’s Consortium for “Poison Oak” and “Long Distance Phone Call”

ptkerrigan for “Tourist”

Patstar05 for Wasteland