Blues Brothers Winter Blues-themed Benefit Show To Support CAMH

By Aaron Brophy 1/30/18 | www.samaritanmag.com

(L to R): Wayne Catania, Dan Akroyd, Kieron Lafferty — photo courtesy of the Phoenix Concert Theatre.
There's going to be a Blues Brothers party in Toronto to combat the blues. More specifically, The Official Blues Brothers Revue, featuring Kieron Lafferty as the 1980's film character Elwood Blues and Wayne Catania as his partner Jake Blues, will headline the Out Of The Blues fundraising concert at Toronto's Phoenix Concert Theatre on Feb. 28 to support the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Foundation's Gifts of Light program.

The Official Blues Brothers Revue members were hand-picked by original Blues Brother Dan Akroyd; Judith Belushi Pisano, the wife of late Blues Brother John Belushi; and Paul Shaffer, the Blues Brothers' musical director, to carry on the legacy of the comedic blues-soul-R&B revue.

The theme of the concert is combating the "winter blues." The winter blues are a real thing, known clinically as Seasonal Effective Disorder.

"The 'winter blues' or Seasonal Effective Disorder (SAD) is a form of depression that effects up to 20 per cent of the population," said Gifts of Life chair Donna Slaight in a statement. "One of the best strategies for counteracting SAD is getting out of the house and interacting with people. Out of The Blues is both a fundraiser, and an opportunity for people to get out after a long, dreary and cold winter."

CAMH's Gifts of Light program is designed for mental health patients who often don't receive gifts during the holiday season because they are too far away from loved ones or, many times, ostracized from family.
Gifts of Light provides "practical, meaningful gifts that meet the unique needs of mental health and addiction patients at CAMH." These include emergency needs kits with things like clean socks and toiletries to lessons on how to cook healthy meals and scholarships to help improve patients' skills.

General admission tickets will start at $40 with VIP tickets priced at $125. Tickets are available via Ticketweb.
 

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