Proceeds from concert with 5 local bands goes to cancer research

Five local bands featuring local music veterans come together Friday in a benefit concert for cancer research.

Proceeds from the show go to both the Roper St. Francis Cancer Center and Dragon Boat Charleston, which is a competitive rowing team comprised of cancer survivors.

Everything kicks off at 8 p.m. at the Windjammer on Isle of Palms.

Hosting is Super Deluxe, a horn-based funk band that plays mostly private events in Charleston.

"We want people to dance," said Wilton Elder, the saxophonist and organizer of the band.

Super Deluxe only plays covers, but they'll play anything from old-school hip-hop to Journey.

"When we play, it's a heavy dance groove, so when people walk in the room, they're going to move, whether they want to or not," Elder said. "It's a severely funky band."

So funky, in fact, that one of the band's favorite tunes to play is its own version of "Play That Funky Music, White Boy." Super Deluxe likes to take familiar songs, play the beginning, go off on a tangent to another song, and then come back to the original song.

"We don't play it like it's on the record," Elder said. By essentially remixing songs, there's "room for the musicians to stretch" but the music's still familiar and accessible to crowds, Elder said.

Also performing will be The Fire Apes, Almost Brothers Band, Hed Shop Boys, and Steel Petals.

The concert was organized by Jeff Bateman, a James Island native who's played with PlaneJane and the Frogmoores and now plays with two of the bands performing at the benefit: He is the

bassist for Super Deluxe and guitarist for The Fire Apes.

This is Bateman's second event. In January 2007, he organized a similar night at the Windjammer, the Michele Bateman Benefit.

Jeff's sister, Michele, had brain cancer and died a few months later. The event raised more than $10,000, he said.

The event he put together for his sister was promoted only by word of mouth, but the line to get in the show was out the door, he said.

Since this event is linked with Roper St. Francis Hospital, he said he expects the audience to be not just music lovers, but a good portion of the medical community.

"The more I get involved with this, the more I realize everyone knows someone or is personally affected by cancer," Bateman said. And their father died when Jeff was in high school.

Just a couple of weeks ago, the father of David Stewart, formerly of the Blue Dogs and now with the Fire Apes, died from cancer, Bateman said.

Bateman said he would like to hold a benefit every year.