Jul 24, 2009
Bridgeport Café To Rock All Night For MS
Sean O'Leary, Communications Specialist
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Bridgeport Café To Rock All Night For MS
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – Since she was three years old, Janelle Falcone has been singing. Her life has been inspired by music.
Falcone is also inspired by her mother, Joanne, who has battled multiple sclerosis since being diagnosed in 1998. So it should be no surprise that she took her two inspirations and combined them to create the annual Music For MS event.
“Despite her illness, my mother has worked for the Fairfield board of education for more than three decades,” said Falcone, who lives in Bridgeport. “However, I’ve witnesses the effects of MS on my mother’s life and I’ve seen it rob her of mobility. I want to do what I can to move research forward to help find a cure for her and others living with MS.”
The second annual Music For MS event is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12, and continues through the night at the Acoustic Café in Bridgeport, where Falcone is the manager.
The funky nightclub features a wide array of musical stylings from bluegrass to hip hop to alternative. Fairfield County Weekly’s reader poll in 2008 honored Acoustic Café with the three titles – “Best Place to Hear Local Music,” “Best Open Mic” and “Best Place to Hear Alternative Music.”
There will be roughly a dozen bands in different music genres that will perform in the daylong gig and proceeds will benefit the National MS Society, Connecticut Chapter. The first event last year raised more than $3,000.
More than 6,000 Connecticut residents, like Joanne Falcone, are diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Multiple sclerosis is a potentially debilitating disease affecting the central nervous system. Symptoms are erratic and can include numbness and tingling in the extremities, difficulties with vision and speech, stiffness, fatigues and, in some severe cases, total paralysis. The progress, severity, and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot be predicted, and there is no cure.
Doors open for event at 3 p.m. and performances begin at 4 p.m. The show will be open to all ages until 8 p.m., when the café kicks things up a notch and guests must be at least 21 years of age. In addition to the performances, the event will features gift and door raffles as well as food and drink special throughout the night. Tickets are $10 per person and available at the door. Acoustic Café is located at 2926 Fairfield Ave. in Bridgeport.
For more information about Music For MS or about Acoustic Café, please visit www.acousticafe.com or call 203-335-3655.
To learn more about multiple sclerosis and the many ways the National MS Society, Connecticut Chapter helps people with MS keep their lives moving forward, please visit www.ctfightsMS.org.
7/24/09
Sean O'Leary
Communications Specialist
National MS Society - Connecticut Chapter
659 Tower Avenue, First Floor
Hartford, CT 06112
tel 860.913.2550, ext. 249
soleary@ctfightsMS.org
www.ctfightsMS.org