Friends of Ritsuko, the South Australian jazz pianist who lost her battle with cancer in May this year, held a tribute concert to this much loved musician on August 12th, 2007.

It was Ritusko’s wish, had she beaten the cancer and survived, to support other musicians in similar circumstances through supporting Support Act Limited, and “Jazz & Jamm – A Tribute to Ritsuko” was organized as a fundraiser by a group of South Australia’s top jazz bands and musicians for this special music industry charity designed to assist music industry participants who have fallen on hard times or are in need of assistance.

The stellar line up included performances by: Deanna Djuric Trio, Trace Canini, The Marmalade Trio, Dave McEvoy Trio and Etype. The highlight being a jam session led by Bruce Hancock, with a little help from Ritusko’s friends: Damien Eldridge; George Grifsas; Chris Soole; Peter Raidel; Laine Jamieson; Frank Fragomeni; Luke Thompson; Liz Chehade; and James Sked.

It was a wonderful event and the organizers were very pleased to present Support Act with a cheque for $6,057.

Congratulations to everyone concerned.

The Board of Support Act Limited would like to thank Michael Gudinski and Frontier Touring for the opportunity to collect donations in the foyers of the venues where the Countdown Spectacular concerts featured nationally. A special thanks to Gavin Wood for his wonderful Support Act message during the concert which alerted everyone to the Support Act charity.

A team of dedicated volunteers in each State rattled the Support Act buckets during interval and after each show and patrons of the event generously dug deep with donations ranging from 5cents to $50 bills.

We would like to thank everyone for their contribution to Support Act and are pleased to report the total sum collected was $12,500.

The Australian Entertainment industry has rallied in support of one of Australia’s biggest rock stars of the 1960s and 1970s, Max Merritt, who has fallen on hard times since being admitted to a U.S. hospital after suffering kidney failure.

A Benefit “Concert For Max” has been confirmed for Sunday 21 October at the Palais Theatre in St Kilda. The 3000 seat venue will play host to a string of artists who have donated their time in support of their good friend Max Merritt including Ross Wilson, James Reyne, Kevin Borich, John Paul Young, Swanee, Peter Cupples, Dinah Lee, The Delltones, Doug Parkinson, Wilbur Wilde and Spectrum with more performers sure to be announced prior to tickets going on sale through Ticketmaster somewhere around the 10th of September.

Speaking from his home in suburban Los Angeles, Max said “I am finding it very difficult to adequately express my appreciation for the help and support during my time of extreme personal need. Your help is absolutely overwhelming”.

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”.

Bon Scott Celebration Concert raises $50,000 for charity.

The Bon Scott Celebration Concert has raised enough money for a statue of the Australian music legend; as well as an additional $50,000 that has been donated to Support Act Limited (SAL), the Australian music industry charity.

“We are incredibly grateful to the organisers of the Bon Scott Celebration Concert for this generous donation - raised through the efforts of fellow musicians performing to honour one of the greats,” said Meryl Gross, Chairperson of Support Act Limited.

The family of Lobby Loyde and Support Act Limited (the music industry benevolent fund) wish it to be known that following the Lobby Loyde benefit concert initiated by Billy Thorpe and set up and managed by Amanda Pelman, Michael Chugg and Billy in Melbourne on 28.8.06, net funds were placed in trust through to Support Act Limited to distribute to Lobby as required. The benefit raised in excess of $80,000 and Billy Thorpe and Lobby worked out a payment schedule covering Lobby’s regular overheads, medical costs and weekly out-of-pocket expenses. Written instructions were provided to Support Act Limited by Billy detailing the agreement and up until Lobby’s death, all payments were made by Support Act as proposed.

FACT: As the baby boomer population grows older, so do our heroes and their contemporaries and many of them are doing it extremely hard!

Support Act Limited (SAL) was formed as a national registered charity in 1997 by a group of concerned music industry veterans who could see that there was a definite need for an organization to assist members of the industry who were in need or suffering hardship. The Board comprises up to 12 members, with four of the positions permanently available to representatives of music industry peak bodies AMCOS, APRA, ARIA and PPCA.