BLOWUP RADIO.COM TO PRESENT ANNUAL SPONDYLITIS BENEFIT ON SATURDAY NOV. 12

The show takes place on Saturday, November 12, starting at 7pm sharp. The list of artists that are performing reads like a who’s who of local talent, both up & coming artists and familiar names you know by heart. There’s a $10 cover but 100% of the proceeds goes to The Spondylitis Association of America.

The Lineup: Black Wine/ Eugene Roberts (Dr. Void & The Death Machine/ J. Orellana (The Tea & Whiskey)/ Jay Mazzeffect (The Break Evens)/ Jim Testa/ Jon Caspi/ Jonathan Andrews/ Joshua Van Ness/ Pete Jager (The Extras, Inc,)/ Scruff (The Tea & Whiskey)/ Val Emmich

The Spondylitis Association of America (www.spondylitis.org) is a national nonprofit organization founded in1983, it is the only patient advocacy organization in the US dedicating 100% of its resources to meeting the needs and improving the lives of the Spondylitis community.

What is Spondylitis?
Spondylitis is the term used to refer to a group of chronic, inflammatory diseases that generally strikes young people the ages of 17 and 35. Typically, Spondylitis causes pain and stiffness, and in most severe cases, can result in a total fusion of the spine and/or neck leading to disability. Although spondylitis primarly affects the spine, it is not uncommon for the disease to impact the joints of the shoulders, hips, knees and feet, as well as cause inflammation of the eye.

Q: How many years have you both been putting on the Spondylitis shows now?

Lazlo: This is the fifth year that we’ve been doing it. This is the second year that we’ve done a live show. Five years ago was the first live show that we did at Buddies Tavern, than we did three Webathons, and this year we’re back doing the live show at Buddies Tavern.

Naomi: And possibly a Webathon this coming spring.

Q: How did that first show go? I remember being there, and it was a lot of fun, and a lot of bands for a good cause.

Lazlo: It did well overall, because we did three days, and on Saturday and Sunday we started at noon, and went until, like, midnight! There were pockets where it was less crowded than other times; that’s why we narrowed it down to one evening this year. Instead of doing a full weekend of stuff, where you don’t get to see everyone, because no one’s going to hang around for the whole weekend. But if you start a show at seven o’clock and you’re running until 12:30 you might want to hang out for an evening and catch 5 ½ hours of music.

Q: At the first show you had a silent auction (they’re not having one this year)?

Naomi: Yes, the first one was the silent auction. Since then anyone who made a donation to the Spondylis Association got music as a ‘thank you’ for their donation.


Black Wine will be one of the dozen or so acts performing at this year's benefit.


Q: How did the Webathons go?

Lazlo: We didn’t raise as much money as the live show but we had more people tuning in. So there were more people learning about the disease, more people listening to the music, but not necessarily more donations. Although, the economy at the time kept getting worse and worse. I think that’s part of it.

Naomi: We were also told (by the Spondylitis Association of America), that we were among the best fund raisers they ever had! So, take that into consideration too.

Q: When was the first case reported?

Naomi: The first known case was dignosed in the 80’s, and that was a nurse. That was the first time I had heard of it. That’s when they came up with the term “Spondylitis,” to diagnose the different symptoms.

Q: Do you want to go into more depth?

Naomi: Well, it will vary from person to person. For me it affects my spine, my ribs, and there are times where the pain is so bad that I’d be hunched over, and either not moving at all, or rocking to try and distract myself from the intensity of the pain. In men, they tend to have less pain, but their back and spin fuse together much faster than in women. The information says that it takes about 15 to 20 years for a woman to have the first part of the spine fusing, where as in men it’s a matter of months, but women have more pain than men.

We talked a little more about the disease, than we got a little bit more into the history of the Webathon, and the upcoming shows at Buddies Tavern.

Q: For the Webathon, how many bands would participate?

Lazlo: The Webathons would run from Friday evening, until Sunday evening. There were at least 50 bands involved. Some bands pre-recorded their sets, particularly ones who were out of state, or out of the country. We had more well-know acts that were involved that would send along sets like Marcy Playground, Miles Hunt of The Wonder Stuff, Verve Pipe…acts like that, who weren’t going to be in town that weekend, but wanted to be involved. Then there would be others who would come and play here (Lazlo’s Den) and it was interspirsed with prerecorded stuff and live stuff throughout the weekend.

Q: The upcoming show at Buddies Tavern is on November 12 starts at 7 o’clock?

Lazlo: 7 o’clock sharp!

Q: You’ve been sharing shows at Buddies with Mike Grau for a while now. (Mike organizes the live music at Buddies and annual puts on his own benefit, the Christmas Dogs of War show at Buddies Tavern.)

Lazlo: Well, I wouldn’t say sharing equally, because it’s Mike Grau’s thing, and I just do one show a month there.

Q: How long has Mike been doing the shows there?

Lazlo: It’s got to be about six years now, or more. It started about a year after The Broadway Central Café in South Amboy closed.

Q: I think over the years since you and Mike have been running the shows at Buddies,
it’s been a lot like the scene Mike and Wayne (former owner of the BCC) created.

Naomi: I think in general Buddies is a really good for the independent music scene, in giving a variety of artists from different backgrounds a chance.

Lazlo: That’s one of the great things that Buddies does is that, other than the benefit where there will be a cover charge on November 12th, they don’t generally charge a cover, except if it’s going to charity. But they will still pay the bands part of the bar (other than charity shows. All the bands that are playing at the Spondylitis Charity show are donating their talents). So, they’re really band-friendly, but also audience-friendly. By saying look, you’re coming out to see a band that you’ve probably never heard of , we’re not going to charge you ten bucks, or eight bucks, or even more, like some of the bars are charging to get into shows…

Naomi: And they’ve got great food!

Q: I was just going to bring up their thin-crust pizza!

Naomi: Absolutely!

So if you what to see some of the best bands from around these-here parts, and help the Spondylitis Asscciation of American, and possibly eat your way into oblivion, when stop by Buddies Tavern (for directions check: blowupradio.com), on November 12, from 7pm on!