Features
By Emily Viviani
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August 28, 2008
The 1990s rock trio known for putting their tender heart in a blender and watching it spin around to beautiful oblivion was at Toad's Place last Thursday asking the audience to do more than puree their precious organs.
Alex Band, the former lead singer of The Calling, got involved with Donate Life after his wife was diagnosed with a liver tumor and needed a transplant, he said.
That was three years ago, and since then Band said that with the help of his fans he had raised more than $100,000 for the organization.
The show's producer, Denise Mancini Tripp, said that when she began working with Donate Life, she was exposed to the need for organ donations after her son was born.
"I met a mother at the hospital who was waiting for a heart for her son, and right then I knew that I was the lucky one," Mancini Tripp said.
"More than the money," Band said, "it's about getting people aware and getting them to go out to their local DMVs and become organ donors."
The show opened with an acoustic performance from Bandcamp's Matt Bair, who serenaded the audience with lighter-swaying ballads as the room began to fill with college students, middle-aged couples and silver-haired fans, many of whom were wearing fluorescent lanyards to show their support for the cause.
By the time Eve 6 took the stage, the floor was comfortably crowded with fans eager to see the punk rock trio reunited after a three-year hiatus.
University of Richmond senior Maggie Gustafson said she had become a fan of the group around the time they had disbanded in 2004, so she was excited to see them in concert for the first time.
"I loved them in high school," senior Matt Keough said.