WESFEST 8: Over $19,000 of $25,000 Goal Reached to Benefit the Wes Wehmiller Endowed Scholarship at Berklee College of Music

This year’s WESFEST 8 line-up features the live debut of headliner BRENDON SMALL’S GALAKTIKON! The attraction of such a huge, unique concert experience combined with this important scholarship benefit has drawn the attention of music fans far and wide – so much so that Berklee College of Music has almost reached its 2013 scholarship fund goal of $25,000! The fund is currently at $19,000 – only $6,000 away from the projected goal! For directions on how to donate to the fund and buy tickets to WESFEST 8, visit www.weswehmiller.net/wesfest/wesfest-8/.

WESFEST 8: A Concert to Benefit the Wes Wehmiller Endowed Scholarship at Berklee College of Music will take place on March 3, 2013 at The Roxy in Hollywood, CA. The show marks the live debut of BRENDON SMALL’s GALAKITKON, the critically acclaimed side-project of Brendon Small – the creative mastermind behind the smash-hit animated [adult swim] TV show Metalocalypse and the band Dethklok.

The live band required to pull off the multi-layered music of BRENDON SMALL’S GALAKTIKON will contain four guitarists, including L.A.-based guitarist and former Musicians Institute Guitar Program Director Jude Gold (Jefferson Starship, Billy Sheehan), Mike Keneally (Dethklok, Frank Zappa, Joe Satriani), Rick Musallam (Ben Taylor, Carly Simon), and Small himself. Additional band members include keyboardist/guitarist Walter Ino; bassist Bryan Beller (Dethklok, Steve Vai, The Aristocrats); drummer Tim Yeung (Morbid Angel); and vocalists Ben Thomas (Zappa Plays Zappa), Kira Small (Peter Frampton, Martina McBride), Ali Handal (Neil Young, Paul Williams) and Jude Crossen (Patti Austin, Lee Ritenour, Phil Perry). This year’s line-up also features Derek Frank, Ali Handal, Janet Robin, Joe Travers & Friends, Colin Keenan, and Danny Mo & The Exciters (featuring 2012 Wehmiller Scholarship winner Jed Lingat).

WESFEST 8 advance tickets are available through March 1 for $35 per pair of tickets or $20 per single ticket. Tickets are $30 each at the door.

WESFEST 8 is a benefit concert whose net proceeds go to benefit the Wes Wehmiller Endowed Scholarship at Berklee College Of Music. The scholarship fund honors Wes Wehmiller (1971-2005), a Berklee graduate (’92) and highly accomplished bassist, athlete and photographer who died of thyroid cancer in January 2005. Established by his family and friends, the Wes Wehmiller Endowed Scholarship is awarded annually to a continuing student at Berklee who best exemplifies the excellence and grace Wehmiller showed as a bassist and as a human being. The WESFEST concert series and related fundraising drive has raised more than $150,000 over the past seven years. This year, the goal is to raise $25,000.

The event is sponsored by Gallien-Krueger Amplification, Mike Lull Custom Guitars, D’Addario Strings, Epiphone Guitars, and Studio Instument Rentals (S.I.R.).

WESFEST 8 recently announced that sponsors Epiphone Guitars and Gallien-Krueger are giving away some awesome gear to two lucky attendees of the WESFEST 8 benefit concert. Fans can win an Epiphone “Thunderhorse” Explorer Guitar or a Gallien-Krueger MB 500 Lightweight Bass Amp. To win, all you have to do is buy tickets to WESFEST 8, show up, and you’ll automatically be eligible to win one of the two following items. For more information and contest details, visit www.weswehmiller.net/wesfest8geargiveaway/.

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