The Board of Support Act Limited (SAL) would like to thank all those concerned for allowing Support Act Limited to run a fundraising raffle prior to the commencement of this year’s Hall of Fame Awards.

With a generous donation from ARIA of a Table for 10 at the upcoming ARIA Awards and 5 tickets donated by APRA for the 2008 APRA Awards, the prize amounted to approximately $5,000.

Cheer leaders from the Melbourne Storm mingled with guests selling tickets and the lucky winner announced on the night was Domenic Carosa, CEO, Destra Corporation.

On the day of the Awards, The Debonairs (the Entertainment Industry Lunch Bunch) hosted a lunch for Support Act Limited to celebrate the induction into the Hall of Fame of two of their founding members, Brian Cadd and Wilbur Wilde. The lunch was well attended and included members of the Sydney SAL Board, Rob Potts and Phil Payne (Entertainment Edge), John Evans (Destra Entertainment), Ed Nimmervol, David Flint, Keith Colias, Paul Thorn, Angela Batties (Channel 7), Alison Taylor (Reality Illusion Productions), Michael Whyte (Freemantle Media), Nigel Davis, Sara Hood (Australian Music Association), Sue Gillard (SAL Victoria), Adrian Barker, Rolf Popp and Mary Renshaw along with the usual suspects.
View photos from the Hall of Fame Lunch.
View photos from the Hall of Fame Awards.

We would like to thank all these people for their generous support for SAL and the people it is assisting in their time of need.

The Victorian Debonairs (The Entertainment Industry Lunch Bunch) will be holding a special pre-ARIA Hall of Fame Awards Lunch to celebrate that two of their founding members, Brian Cadd and Wilbur Wilde (as part of the original line-up of Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons) are being inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame

Formed nearly three years ago and named after that famous old vaudeville joke, the lunch club was designed simply to facilitate the getting together of music industry people who kept saying “we must have lunch sometime” but never seemed to get around to it! From an original group of 12, the club has grown to around 150 members and the concept is so successful that several members who have since moved to Sydney have started a Debonairs lunch club in Sydney.

On Thursday 17th of May 2007, South Australian jazz pianist; Ritsuko lost her brave battle against cancer and the Australian Music Industry, in particular the jazz community, lost a great composer and fellow musician.

Ritsuko graduated with Honours from the University of Adelaide Elder Conservatorium of Music after briefly studying in London. In 1994, she co-founded band etypejazz and until falling ill in 2006, actively performed, toured, arranged and composed with the band, as well as with her independent act; The Ritusko Quartet.

During her career she has performed to thousands of people, toured Australia, and performed internationally with Etype as well as independently with her quartet. She rubbed shoulders with the rich and famous and left her mark on the Australian music scene with her exquisite, melodic playing.

During the last difficult months of her life, Ritsuko received the support of a benevolent organization called Support Act Limited (SAL). SAL provides small pockets of financial support to Australian musicians in hardship, due to debilitating health issues.
More info on SAL can be found at: http://www.supportact.com.au/

It was Ritusko’s wish, had she beaten the cancer and survived, to support other musician in similar circumstances through supporting SAL.

On the eve of his induction into the ARIA Hall of Fame, Brian Cadd has joined the Board of Support Act Limited, the music industry’s benevolent fund. Brian was invited to fill the vacancy left by Billy Thorpe’s untimely death and he takes on this position in addition to heading up the Support Act Victorian chapter.

“We are delighted to welcome Brian to the Board. He brings an enormous amount of enthusiasm and expertise to the existing team and we look forward to working closely with him” said SAL Chair Meryl Gross. “Brian has put together a great SAL committee in Victoria and we are very impressed with their professionalism and their exciting plans for that State”.