Here’s what’s been playing on musician Shannon Boshears’ mind the last few days: an intimate fundraiser for 300 at the Montage Hotel in Los Angeles last weekend, Sean Penn’s third Help Haiti, Michael Douglas and Charlize Theron and Idris Elba and Kathryn Bigelow - and a surprise performance by U2, its first in four years.
Boshears is a performer. She’s also the director of community and public affairs for Heifer International.
That hotel, the Montage, is where Heifer hosts its longstanding Beyond Hunger fundraiser in Los Angeles. It’s not uncommon to have stars at that event. In fact,it’s expected.
So why not here? And why not a huge rock act?
A BIG GET
Boshears confirmed this week that she has asked Dave Matthews to play the next Feast in the Field this summer. That is, she made the pitch through Matthews’ New York attorney, Elliot Groffman. Matthews hasn’t said yes, yet, but still. This is huge. The first ever Little Rock Heifer fundraiser took place May 18, attendance capped at 300 - partly because the menu was composed of exclusively local food and drink - with Cody Belew of Beebe headlining.
No, Matthews doesn’t have a connection to Heifer, per se, but “he’s very philanthropic,” and “I’m sure he’s heard of it,” and his tour bus driver’s from Benton, and - gnarl the naysayers - “It wouldn’t be a stretch at all.”
The next Feast is slated for May 17, and Heifer expects to expand it to 500, but frankly, if Matthews signs on, planners will have to rethink this event. They could potentially sell a lot more than 500 tickets, but then, what kind of event would it be? Part of the success of the first Feast was that it was intimate, the weather was lovely - it was an exclusive and exquisite picnic in Heifer’s Village.
That could happen again, but not for $75 a head.
Here’s how this ball got rolling.
Toward the end of the summer, Heifer Chief Executive Officer Pierre Ferrari made a trip to Haiti, and one of the fellow travelers was Groffman’s wife, who told the CEO he should meet her husband. Last month, the Groffmans threw a small party in New York for Ferrari, and Boshears tagged along. A band manager for Pearl Jam was there, as was Alicia Keyes, and some of the principals of Red Light Management, who represent a slew of A-list acts.
“They can only say no. I mean, it’s just an opportunity. They pulled us in … have embraced us. I feel comfortable he’ll tell us no if he thinks we shouldn’t pursue it.”
Meanwhile, here’s a bit of kismet. I said Matthews’ tour bus driver is from Benton. His name is Jerry Fitzpatrick. (Incidentally, he published a book last year titled Tales From the Trails of a Rock ’n’ Roll Bus Driver.) Fitzpatrick and Boshears are friendly, and the driver told the singer that he has played her CDs on the bus for Matthews. So, “I’m getting ready to send [Fitzpatrick] an email this week, ‘You gotta help me out with this - I’ve made this request ….’”
I said to Boshears, “You realize if he’s played these CDs on the tour bus with Dave in the back, you two are pretty much destined to do a duet at the fundraiser.”
“No, what that means is he didn’t [dig] my music - I never got a call. He probably thought, ‘Man this girl’s terrible.’”
Then she thought for a moment and considered a more hopeful alternative.
“Or, you know, I could be his secret crush. I’m sure when he hears the name, he’ll know me.”
Earlier this week Boshears flew back from Los Angeles, having met with some publicists she says represent several of the newest Golden Globe award winners. They also “embraced us, [asked] ‘What can we do for you?’”
This move to bring Matthews to Little Rock isn’t a heave from half-court. It’s a shift in entitlement. That is, Heifer’s entitled to approach superstars, and not just in their Hollywood hootenanny but here, in the Rock.
“We’ve got our feet pointed in the right direction, and we’re ready to take off,” she says.
JOYCE TAYLOR
A few months ago Carol Dyer announced she was stepping down as executive director of the American Heart Association-Little Rock. This week, Joyce Taylor, the former executive director of the Pulaski Technical College Foundation for more than 11 years, began as the new director of the association.
Central Arkansas board chairman for the American Heart Association, Sharon Heflin, is also a board member of the college foundation. She has worked closely with the immediate past and now present executive directors of the heart association, and Taylor, she said, is very organized and well-regarded within the fundraising community.
“I think to be an executive director of any kind of fundraising group, you have to be very persevering, which I am not, but both of them are. They will keep calling you, and keep calling you ….”
We wish Taylor luck.
If you care to share your forthcoming event or point out a trend therein, write: bampezzan@arkansasonline.com
High Profile, Pages 35 on 01/19/2014