When you are a celebrity and want to give back to your community there's no better way than to gather up a few close friends and throw a party...and then invite the community to attend. Over the last two days, Jason Blaine did just that in Pembroke for the Second Annual Celebrity Charity Golf Classic and we were thrilled to have been part of it.
The two day event which wrapped up earlier today with a fun golf tournament at the Pembroke Golf Club kicked off last night with a gala musical event & auction at the Pembroke Memorial Centre. This year's event featured performances by the award winning Western Swing Authority (who also doubled as the house band), Ben Rutz (of Johnny Reid's band), Chad Brownlee, Tim Hicks and of course Jason himself.
This wasn't your average concert though, there was something much more special about this event. No one really played a set, it was more like a bunch of good friends getting together and having a jam session...in front of a few hundred people.
Among the star studded performances were a few special moments. One of my personal favourites was when Jason was joined on stage by his son, Carter, to perform a song they had written together "Play with My Son". The song is a great reminder to all of us parents with busy lives that we need to take the time to play with our kids, while we can. We had recorded a clip of the performance but unfortunately it was cut off, hopefully we will be able to track down a recording and share it with you soon.
The night was filled with many highlights and performances including Chad and Jason teaming up for Chad's newest single "Thinking Out Loud" a cover of the smash Ed Sheeran hit. If you have Periscope you can watch the full performance here.
Tim Hicks took to the stage in true Tim Hicks style and started things off with his latest hit "So Do I"
Throughout the evening special items were auctioned off, including the celebrities (they were auctioned off as golf partners for Wednesday's tournament). One of the items auctioned off was a guitar signed by all of the evenings performers, it sold for a whopping $6500.
As the evening slowly came to a close, Jason took a moment to pay tribute to three very important people. First up was Peter "Sab" Sabourin, Sab was an integral part of the music community in the Ottawa Valley and Eastern Ontario for many decades, Sab performed with Jason at the 1st Annual event but sadly passed away after a battle with cancer earlier this year. Jason announced that he would return to perform at the event that Sab founded, SabStock in Pembroke, this July.
Next on the tribute list was a couple that Jason has paid tribute to in every show I have had the pleasure of attending, his grandparents with the song he wrote for them "They Don't Make Em' Like That Anymore". The first time I saw him perform the song was at the Capital Hoedown in 2011, that time his grandparents were present in the audience. You can catch the video on our Facebook page and later this week on our YouTube page.
The night was capped in perfect style with a group performance of "Friends of Mine" by Jason, Chad, Tim, Ben, The Western Swing Authority and Jason's committee we captured the full performance on Periscope, download the app and watch it here!
The concert was followed by a meet and greet and each of the three celebrities stuck around, in true Canadian style, until each fan got their selfie with them, including this one! We were lucky enough to get invited to the after party graciously hosted by the Best Western in Pembroke, it was a fitting end to an incredible night to have the time to get to know some of these gents on a more personal, less formal side.
Early the next morning it was off to the Pembroke Golf Club for phase two of the event...the golf tournament. Open for anyone to play, regardless of skill level (according to Tim Hicks he'd never played golf before, whereas Chad Brownlee enjoys spending some time on the links when he can). We caught up with the stars as they arrived and had a few minutes to chat before they teed off.
Unfortunately a prior engagement meant we had to leave before the tournament ended but we'd like to congratulate Jason and his team on another huge success and thank him for including us in this year's event. We look forward to playing an event bigger role in 2016! Special thanks to Bell Media Star96 and New Country 94 as well as the Best Western in Pembroke for their hospitality, also thanks to Jason, Tim, Chad and Ben for being such awesome guys it was great to get to know each of you a little better and hopefully we can work with you to promote future events.
Watch for more coverage from this amazing event including more photos from our friends at Sean Sisk Photography who have graciously agreed to work with us this summer and allow us to use some of their amazing shots.
You can catch all 3 artists around Ontario and Canada this summer.
Jason will be performing at Dauphin's Country Fest in a few weeks, he'll be back in Pembroke on July 5 for Sabstock. Check out his website for full tour dates.
Tim Hicks will return to the Ottawa area in a few weeks as well as he headlines the Capital Country Fest @ Spencerville Stampede on July 24. Full tour dates are also available on his website.
Chad Brownlee is in Burlington on June 18, and will reunite with Jason at Dauphin's Country Fest at the end of June. You can also catch Chad and his "When the Lights Go Down" counterparts at this summer's blockbuster Boots and Hearts Festival in August. Full tour dates can be found on Chad's website as well.
Field Service Tech by day, Live Music Nut by night! My family and I call the Thousand Islands region of Ontario home. I'm a blogger, social media geek, tech, and live music fanatic. I founded Sound Check Entertainment in 2010 to help promote festivals and emerging artists from across Canada and the world! I now act as festivals liaison, manage media relations and, of course, cover events in the National Capital region. I'm also a diehard Habs fan but Sens fans fear not; as long as they aren't playing against my Habs I cheer just as loud for the Sens.
