April/May - Networking Magazine

THE PATCHOGUE THEATRE AND 89 NORTH RECEPTION BENEFIT IGHL:
How Blood, Sweat & Tears has made
a Village and a Community Non-Profit
So Very Happy
STORY AND PHOTOS BY MIRANDA GATEWOOD • BS&T PHOTOS COURTESY OF PARADISE ARTISTS
Blood, Sweat & Tears Featuring Bo Bice will preform to benefit IGHL, Patchogue Theatre, May 12, 2016 at 8:00 pm
10 NETWORKING® April/May 2016
T
his May, the fundraiser to benefit the Independent Group Home Living
Program, Inc., (IGHL) will be a grand party including cocktails, great food,
and a theater performance by the hit band with 3 Grammy’s and 10
Grammy nominations and three major hit singles: “You’ve Made Me So Very
Happy,” “Spinning Wheel,” “And When I Die.” According to Ann Liguori, renown
sports radio and television personality and producer of Sports Innerview, “Blood
Sweat & Tears is an iconic band with some new blood—lead singer Bo Bice from
American Idol!”
Blood, Sweat & Tears—the genre-and age-crossing band that topped the Billboard
charts and beat out the Beatles’ Abbey Road for Grammy Album of the Year—will
take the stage and rock the house. Drummer/producer Bobby Colomby and his
friends have been blending rock and jazz for over four decades.
It’s all to help support the work of IGHL, an Eastern Long Island-based private
not-for-profit that provides lifetime alternatives for people who are
developmentally disabled. Liguori, a celebrity golfer and sports interviewer, serves
as their media/marketing consultant. “IGHL is a huge part of the East End
community with a variety of excellent programs and services benefiting those who
are intellectually-disabled,” said Liguori. “The Thurs., May 12th IGHL VIP
reception and Blood Sweat & Tears concert/fundraiser is an exciting new event
which IGHL hopes will appeal to both their regular donors and to new supporters,”
she added.
To put together this 9-piece ensemble and organize such a party, it took a Village- The Village of Patchogue, to be sure, and its Mayor Paul Pontieri. Pontieri is the
Chair of IGHL’s Board of Directors and a prominent force in the revitalization of the
historic and scenic village on the Great South Bay, about 50 miles east of Manhattan.
According to Walter W. Stockton, CEO of IGHL, “Paul [Pontieri] and I were
brainstorming. We were looking for something different. This is one of our larger
fundraisers of the year. We wanted to change up the Flowerfield fundraiser,”
Stockton said. (Flowerfield is a North Shore garden, wedding and formal event
venue in St. James).
“As Mayor of the Village of Patchogue,” Pontieri said, “I realized the value of the
theater, how enhancing it could be to have a production there, and how it could
bring in many more people.”
Since the Patchogue Theatre was undergoing a $1 million renovation that would
be ready in time for IGHL’s event, Pontieri suggested it as a venue. It was a perfect
storm and the timing was right. The Mayor spoke to Patchogue Theatre for the
Performing Arts Executive Director John Ashline and they arranged a meeting with
Stockton. Stockton had seen Blood, Sweat & Tears in concert at the Patchogue Theatre
“When I was a boy, this was a movie theater.
[Now] you can have a Broadway experience right
here on Long Island!”
— Paul Pontieri,
Mayor of the Village of Patchogue
PHOTOS BY MIRANDA GATEWOOD
— John Ashline, Executive Director,
Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts
“I realized the value of the theater, how enhancing
it could be to have a production there, and how it
could bring in many more people.”
“As government funding gets tighter and tighter...
...We constantly reinvent ourselves.”
— Walter W. Stockon, CEO, IGHL
a few years prior to which Ashline replied, “We can have them again!” Stockton
thought that was an ideal fit. And when they were approached, “Blood, Sweat &
Tears liked the idea,” said Stockton. “They are a community-oriented band.”
For an added treat, Ashline said they paired up with 89 North, a growing
premier music venue a short walk from the theater, to offer IGHL ticketholders a
VIP reception. IGHL will sell 500 tickets that include cocktails and the show.
Ashline said the theater will sell the remaining tickets in the 1104-seat venue--for
the concert only--to the general public.
According to Pontieri, “[IGHL] normally hosts 300 people at their major
fundraiser. This way—hopefully—we’ll be able to touch over 1,000 people. And
we’ll be able to tell the IGHL story as well as gain a little more fundraising.”
With the revitalization of the downtown, there are many places to enjoy dinner
before and cocktails after a concert. “It’s common for the theater to host benefits,”
said Ashline. “It appeals to both the organization and the people who support the
organization.”
continued on next page
NETWORKING® April/May 2016 11
Walter W. Stockon, CEO, IGHL
continued from previous page
“It’s a live theater right here on Long Island, the largest in Suffolk County. You can
see the same show here [as in New York] and be home in 15 minutes,” said Ashline.
As a unique fundraising opportunity, Stockton said, “People will hear a good
concert, not just... speeches. As government funding gets tighter and tighter, raising
funds becomes more important for our overall mission.”
In 1977, Stockton established IGHL after receiving an initial Federal grant to
convert a private home on Long Island’s North Shore into a residence for eight
developmentally disabled adults. Since then the agency has opened 53 residential
programs, 25 day programs and a 32-bed Nursing Intensive ICF for senior citizens,
serving a total population of over 5,000 children and adults. IGHL employs over
1600 professional and support staff.
“It’s interesting to be the first guy in the door,” Stockton said of his history in
providing services for the developmentally challenged. “Some of the people that
IGHL supports I’ve known for over 40 years. There are actually people going to
programs and in the group homes that were in classes that I taught when I first
graduated college.”
Frank Lombardi, assistant to the CEO and Director of the IGHL Foundation said, “I
oversee fundraising efforts. It was an exciting new challenge. We wanted to do
something unique and different. Everyone has galas and golf outings,” he noted.
“Not everyone can say that they have Blood, Sweat & Tears at their fundraiser.”
“When I was a boy,” said Ashline, “this was a movie theater. [Now] you can have a
Broadway experience right here on Long Island!”
“We constantly reinvent ourselves,” said Stockton. “[We have] to do the right thing
with less money.” ■
BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS FEATURING BO BICE
This is a fundraiser for Independent Group Home Living Program
(IGHL), a not-for-profit agency dedicated to the enrichment of the
lives of people with intellectual disabilities.
W
ith World Class vocals, musicianship, and a multitude of solid gold hits, BLOOD SWEAT &
TEARS is at the top of their game. Vocal dynamo & pop phenomenon Bo Bice fronts the band
with a self-assured voice & good looks.
They are the band that fused rock, blues, pop music, horn arrangements and jazz improvisation into a
hybrid that came to be known as "jazz-rock." Bobby Colomby, original founder and drummer of BS&T,
has fielded a team of the best contemporary musicians to create an All Star powerhouse of a band. His
vision for the band remains quite simple, "Find the greatest musicians and the rest is easy."
That philosophy was combined with hit recordings of songs by masterful songwriters such as Laura
Nyro, James Taylor, The Band, The Rolling Stones, as well as Billie Holiday, that have sold tens of
millions of recordings.
"I believe BS&T has an iconic stature. It's a style of music," says Colomby. "A concept that people are
coming to see, along with songs that they're familiar with."
His desire to create a 21st century BS&T brand first began to come into focus when he heard singer Bo Bice performing "Spinning Wheel" on American Idol.
"Bo's an original," says Colomby. “When I saw him perform I thought, 'WOW!... He could sing a lot of this material in a newer fresher way.' Bo's style works
PERFECTLY with 'God Bless the Child' and 'Spinning Wheel' and 'You Made Me So Very Happy' as well as with the material that the band will be performing
as we move musically forward."
They have won Gold Records, Grammy Awards, the respect of the best in the industry & the love of millions of fans. It's a future of endless possibilities
for Blood Sweat & Tears featuring Bo Bice.
ABOUT IGHL In the early 1970s, a series of televised reports graphically exposed to a shocked public the inhumane treatment of people with intellectual
disabilities at Staten Island’s Willowbrook Hospital. The images and the disturbing testimony caused an outcry for reform. In an historic ruling, the U.S.
District Court demanded immediate changes designed to provide improved care. In 1978, a group of concerned members of the Eastern Long Island
community established the Independent Group Home Living Program (IGHL), a not-for-profit agency dedicated to the enrichment of the lives of people with
intellectual disabilities. Today, IGHL operates over 50 group homes and day habilitation centers, as well as a 60,000 square foot Opportunity Center. Visit
IGHL's website at www.ighl.org ■
"I believe BS&T has an iconic stature. It's a style of music. A concept that people
are coming to see, along with songs that they're familiar with."
12 NETWORKING® April/May 2016
— Bobby Colomby, original founder
and drummer of BS&T