2016 Tabfest Charity Jam
Tommy “Tomcat” Patterson
The 2016 Tabfest Charity Jam is an annual Hammond,
Louisiana event partnered with Louisiana Biker
Magazine, The Workshop (a collective of local area
artists), and The Ronald McDonald House Of Greater
New Orleans. The goal of this collaboration is to
provide support for the families of children suffering
from cancer and other life threatening illnesses.
The first Tabfest occurred on Easter Sunday of
2013. The event sprang from the imaginations of
Damien Johnson and jCallender, two local artists and
musicians. It was the request of one of Mr. Johnson’s
co-workers that inspired him to begin saving the
first tabs that were destined to be the beginning of
a charitable enterprise. At the time, The Workshop
strongly supported recycling and had an abundance
of aluminum cans available with the pop tabs
still attached. A gathering of the members of The
Workshop, local musicians and associates was planned
to harvest the tabs from a mountain of cans. To
encourage people to participate crawfish were boiled
and live music was played as everyone took turns
harvesting tabs from the cans. Despite a treacherous
afternoon storm the event was a stellar success.
Numerous local musicians, including LZ Dillon,
Slapface and Troy Bennett, performed at the event.
The following year on Easter Sunday of 2014 a second
Tabfest was planned and over ten times as many tabs
were harvested. The event was once again a stellar
success with the continued support of more local
businesses, artists and musicians. The Hammond Daily
Star featured a prominent write up which included
color photos and a two page article.
Inspired by the previous successes Tabfest was
formulated into an LLC on February 16th, 2015 with
the goal of producing a more substantial charitable
benefit to the local community and beyond. Just two
months later on April, 19th 2015 the third annual
Tabfest was held. Dozens of people arrived bringing
boxes, jugs, bags and cans filled with tabs. About
100lbs of tabs in total was accumulated by the end of
the event. In addition a raffle was held which generated
$800 in cash donations, all of which was donated
to The Ronald McDonald House Of Greater New
Orleans.
Event-goers enjoyed crawfish, gumbo and other
foods prepared by Kevin Cote, Rudy Rodgers, Donnie
Vicknair and numerous volunteers. Music and
entertainment was provided by local artist including
Will Vance, Slapface, No More Beyond, Cappastron,
Little Bird, A Tiny Clack Of Sparks, The Angry 88,
Pale Satan, Struggle, Steve Friedt (of Zync), Redbeard
& 7382, Jo’zef Ciprian, Tommy ‘Tomcat’ Patterson and
Sally.
The 2016 Tabfest Charity Jam was organized by
jCallender, Andrew Kinchen, Sara Ciolino, Sason Black
and Michael Damien DiMattia.
Anyone interested in contacting, saving pop tabs or
participating in the Tabfest event are encouraged to do
so and can find more information at the following web
address:
www.facebook.com/tabfestCharityJam
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