This past Monday night, the Be Aware Foundation hosted a free Michael Bolton concert at The Grove in Los Angeles, CA with opening act Brian McKnight and a special performance by contemporary jazz artist, Mindi Abair.
Not often do I listen to jazz, but when I do, I love every moment. Even better, I always find a woman playing a saxophone to be so empowering. I can’t explain it really, but I love it. So I was thrilled to see Mindi Abair perform a short set and will check out her latest album, In Hi-Fi Stereo on iTunes.
Brian McKnight performed a slightly longer set and the crowd sang along to his songs…but the majority sang along to his excellent Michael Jackson cover of “Rock With You.”
Michael Bolton is not only a multi-Grammy Award winning artist, but also a contestant on this season’s “Dancing With the Stars.” Monday night was the season premiere of the show. So after performing his heart out in dance over at CBS Studios, he came around the block to The Grove to perform his heart out once more. The crowd went wild and were dancing and singing along. Afterwords, Michael’s DWTS partner, Chelsea Hightower came out to say hello and after that, Michael performed 2-3 more songs before the concert came to a close.
After the concert, there was a silent auction and private after party which I attended. I spotted Derek Hough and Ron Jeremy at the after party. There wasn’t a huge turn out from the rest of the DWTS cast as most of them were partying in the heart of Hollywood. But this event wasn’t about the stars, it was about raising awareness and finances for breast cancer research.
NBC’s Fritz Coleman served as the master of ceremony for the night and if my memory is correct, Michael Bolton gave $15,000 towards the cause. I am unaware of how much was raised that night aside from Michael’s donation, but I am sure that it was a generous amount. Still not enough though, so make sure to do what you can when you can and check yourselves out (both ladies and gents as men can get breast cancer too) before it is too late.
About the Be Aware Foundation
Founded in 2004 by Tanja Cebula, a cancer survivor and Dr. John West, the Be Aware Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to saving women’s lives by ensuring that breast cancer is diagnosed at its earliest stage. The Foundation’s goal is to motivate and inspire women to consistently follow our early detection guidelines. This year the Foundation will be dedicating resources and funds to conduct clinical research with the greatest potential to impact the fight against breast cancer. To learn more, visit www.beawarefoundation.org.