Odessa can expect to feel some good vibrations this summer when the Beach Boys perform at the Education Foundation’s annual benefit concert.
The event is July 27 at the Ector County Coliseum and the concert starts at 8:30 p.m.
The Beach Boys are led by Mike Love, who, along with longtime member Bruce Johnston, musical director Scott Totten, Brian Eichenberger, Christian Love, Tim Bonhomme, John Cowsill, Keith Hubacher and Randy Leago continue the legacy of the iconic band. This concert will not feature Brian Wilson, Al Jardine or David Marks.
“This is a very iconic band to be able to bring, especially since Mike Love is still touring with the band,” Education Foundation Director Celeste Potter said. “I actually had the pleasure of seeing them in concert about seven years ago in Lubbock and it was a very, very good show so I’m very excited to have them coming in July.”
This is the sole fundraiser for the Education Foundation, so it’s the funds they raise through this event that allows them to do everything that they do to support the teachers and students in ECISD.
“Historically, they’ve been able to raise enough money in this one event to sustain all of the active programming that they have going on,” Potter added.
People can contribute even without going to the concert.
Potter said the Education Foundation is a nonprofit and they always accept donations.
“Individuals can make donations specific to a program, so if they want to support the Bookworms Literacy program, or grants for teachers they can donate specifically to those programs, or they can just do a general donation to the Education Foundation at any time,” she added.
Immediate Past Foundation Board President and concert co-chair Jay Arrick said they are able to get bands like the Beach Boys because they have contacts with some of the big talent agencies like William Morris and CAA.
Paul Baxter is the concert co-chair.
They see who is available and touring this year, who might be in the right price range and talk through who might be willing to do it given the fact that the foundation is a charitable organization trying to help education, Arrick said.
They also have to find dates that line up with possible venues in West Texas. The Beach Boys turned up as a possibility, which he said was pretty exciting to everyone.
Arrick said they are seeing the universal appeal of the band with table sales and general admission tickets already.
“We’ve been fortunate to be profitable and raise good money … every year they’ve been doing it. We really don’t have a target (amount). We’re just trying to raise as much as possible,” he added.
Arrick said they had tried some different bands the last five or six concerts.
“But this year we really wanted to get someone with mass appeal and the Beach Boys is a great way to do that,” he added.
They have seen ticket sales from Lubbock and the surrounding areas.
“Honestly, we see that every single concert which is nice. Usually our acts are good enough that we pull people from the region,” Arrick said.
They hope to attract 4,000 people to the coliseum.
“We have some changes that we’re doing this year that I think should make it a real fun night, so hopefully everybody in the community comes and joins us,” Arrick said.
He added that the Beach Boys require the decorating to be a “little bit unique,” and they are going to have everything inside the coliseum this year and not using Barn G.
Potter noted that these events are critical to the Education Foundation because it’s their primary source of funding.
“If they don’t raise money through events like the concert, they’re not going to be able to continue to do for very long the things they do to support our teachers and students which makes it very important for the district that this concert be successful because that’s additional funding for teachers. The foundation has been able to give the teachers within the district more than $2.8 million through their grants program alone,” Potter said.
She added that the Bookworms Literacy Program is growing to second grade next year.
“That’s 12,000 books each month that are getting into the hands of students in the district and all of that’s possible through the community supporting events like the concert,” Potter said.
The Bookworms program includes book vending machines that the foundation purchased for the district when ECISD had its 100th anniversary a couple of years ago.
“Each year, the Education Foundation fills those machines at the beginning of every school year,” Potter said.
Sponsorship tables for this event are available by calling the Education Foundation Office at 432-456-7059 or email [email protected]. Reserved seating tickets went on sale April 1 at the Ector County Coliseum box office and may be purchased online at boxofficesolutions.net or at 1-800-514-3849. Tickets prices are $45 and $65 plus a handling fee.
The Beach Boys have sold over 100 million records worldwide and have received more than 33 RIAA Platinum and Gold record awards. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers where also honored at the 2001 Grammy Awards with the Lifetime Achievement Award. With more than five decades of touring under their belts, The Beach Boys have performed more concerts than any major rock band in history.
