Girl's Brush with Cancer Gets Dad Busy with Bands
Thursday, April 13, 2000
Page: C7
Section: Queue
Byline: Kerry Gold, Sun Pop Music Critic
Source: Vancouver Sun
One man's celebration of his daughter's remission from cancer has become the basis for a concert that features a lineup of veteran Vancouver names.
Doug and the Slugs, Grapes of Wrath, 54-40, Copyright and semi-newcomers Sharkskin (Craig Northey from the Odds doing a Booker-T thing), come together for a charitable cause April 20 at the Rage. The man behind the concert is Anthony Seto, a graphic designer who's designed a few rock T-shirts in his 15 years of business, and whose eight-year-old daughter is celebrating her first full year since ending chemotherapy after a two-year battle with leukemia. Seto, who's friends with many local musicians, is donating proceeds from the concert to the Starlight Children's Foundation, the Walkathon for Kids With Cancer Society, Camp Good Times, and the Help Fill A Dream Foundation.
"I'm hoping the band lineup is strong enough to get a good response,'' says Seto, who's already collected $500 in donations, never mind ticket money. "I knew the bands weren't interested in headlining, so I put together a multifaceted show, where everyone has equal billing as opposed to having a headliner. Over the course of three months, this has come together. And it's gotten bigger than anticipated.''
More than two years ago, Seto's daughter was admitted to hospital with what he and his wife thought initially was a simple infection. When the oncologist was brought in, however, Seto said they realized their five-year-old daughter might be facing something more serious. A few days later, she began chemotherapy, which caused her face to get puffy and her hair to fall out. Today, she's healthy and living like a normal kid.
`"Now, having gone through that, when we see kids wearing hats and stuff we know what they've gone through,'' says Seto. "It's a very personal thing and we thought we'd help some of the charities that we got involved with.''
It isn't the first time Seto has dabbled in the promotion business. He once threw a a fundraiser with Bob Lenarduzzi, Trevor Linden, Neil Osbourne and Doug Bennett called Jock Rock (they designed their own T-shirts and Seto sold them for charity), and he once threw a birthday party for himself at the Penthouse with the Jazzmanian Devils. He's done about seven or eight events, he says. ``This, however, is the biggest,'' he adds, a little nervously.
Tickets for the show are $20 in advance, available at Nonfiction Design, 876-5456, the Children's Hospital, 875-2345, ext. 6477, or Ticketmaster, 280-4444. Tax receipts are available.