TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Suncoast Pasco News

Soothing the soul: Band plays to support the troops

Cheryl Bentley/SUNCOAST

The Eddie Coffey Group, Rhonda Stamp, Harold O'Connell, center, and Eddie Coffey, are appearing each Wednesday, Thursday and Friday until mid-April at the Sponge Exchange in Tarpon Springs. The performances aid wounded U.S. and Canadian troops.

ADVERTISEMENT

BY CHERYL BENTLEY

THE SUNCOAST NEWS

Published: March 13, 2009

Updated: 03/16/2009 06:12 pm

The wounded veteran had only one arm and one leg, but his remaining foot kept time to the music.

Harold O'Connell has to fight back tears when he remembers the veteran whom the Eddie Coffey Group encountered while giving a concert at a Veterans Affairs medical center.

The veteran told him, "They try to provide us with the best medical care, but what soothes our soul is music and to know people like you give a damn."

Since 2003, the three-member band has been soothing the souls of veterans and members of the armed forces throughout Canada and the United States. They tour both countries giving free concerts at public and armed forces-related venues.

After all these concerts, one-fourth of all proceeds from sales of their CDs and T-shirts go to the Wounded Warrior Project in this country and Wounded Warriors Fund in Canada. Both organizations provide programs and services to help wounded members of the armed forces.

Harold O'Connell, the band's harmonica and spoon player, estimates in the last month, the band has collected $2,500 for Wounded Warrior. Between May and October of last year, they raised $15,000 for the Canadian Wounded Warrior Fund by giving concerts at Wal-Mart stores in Canada.

They also put one of their Canadian corporate sponsors, Iceberg Vodka, in touch with Canadian Wounded Warriors. In November 2008, Iceberg donated 50 cents of every bottle of their liquor sold that month. That project raised $89,000.

Until the middle of April, they are giving free afternoon concerts three days a week at the Sponge Exchange shopping center at the Sponge Docks in Tarpon Springs and in Pinellas Park.

On a recent sunny afternoon at the Sponge Exchange, a mixed audience of Canadians and Americans clapped their hands and tapped their toes in time to the music. The overwhelming mood appeared to leave out politics but support the troops. In addition to O'Connell, Coffey plays the accordion and Rhonda Stamp, guitar.

"It's like music from home," said Reg Watson of St. Catharines, Ontario.

"Both countries are in Afghanistan," noted Bob Serran, who is from Bradford, Ontario.

Both Canada and the United States have troops in that country as part of an International Security Assistance Force, a security and development mission established by the United Nations Security Council in 2001.

Traditionally, Canadian armed forces have had a peacekeeping role. Their presence in Afghanistan brought the war close to Coffey and his band.

"We thought somebody better get out there to the young men and women who serve not only Canada but also America," harmonica player O'Connell recalled.

The band toured the United States in a 38-foot recreational vehicle for two years. Since 2003 it has entertained at 42 military bases and veterans hospitals, doing an estimated 500 shows.

O'Connell brings out a certificate of appreciation signed by Maj. Gen. Gerald P. Minelli, director of Coalition Coordination.

In his native province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Coffey is a well-known performer who has been playing and writing his Newfoundland-flavored music for 45 years. "It always tells a story," said harmonica player O'Connell and noted it is similar to Irish folk music.

This is the band's first trip to this area since 2006. Their neighbors at the Holiday recreational vehicle park where they stay when here - along with three cats, a dog and two parakeets - welcomed their return, O'Connell noted.

"They said, 'Hey, the Newfies are back with their good music and their good cause.' "

The band will appear every week until mid-April.

It will perform 1 - 4 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at the Sponge Exchange, 735 Dodecanese Blvd., Tarpon Springs.

Donations can be made at the Wounded Warrior Web site, www.woundedwarriorproject.org>.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT