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.

March 2007 - On March 24th Perth hosted a Battle of the Old Rockers concert at the Civic Hotel orangized by an enthusiastic group of volunteers. With 7 bands featuring many of the legends of Perth pub rock 60s and 70s, the night was a great success and they donated the profits of $3,500 to Support Act Limited. Our sincere thanks.

BILLY THORPE WAS MORE THAN JUST A GREAT ARTIST - HE WAS A HUMANITARIAN. SEVERAL MONTHS AGO BILLY WROTE TO THE SAL BOARD AS SET OUT BELOW

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.