Tickets On Sale Now: 'Bridge to Hope' All-Day Music Festival to Feature Top Artists, Gourmet Food, Art Show, Saturday, September 26th at Fort Mason's Great Meadow

Tickets On Sale Now: 'Bridge to Hope' All-Day Music Festival to Feature Top Artists, Gourmet Food, Art Show, Saturday, September 26th at Fort Mason's Great Meadow

Lazarex Cancer Foundation Presents Event to Raise Funds and Awareness

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- San Francisco's iconic Golden Gate Bridge is the perfect scenic backdrop for the first annual "Bridge to Hope," an all-day music festival set to be held Saturday, September 26th at San Francisco's famous Fort Mason on the Great Meadow from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. The event will also include an art show featuring many of the Bay area's best local artisans, and a selection of gourmet fare from a number of the city's favorite eateries.

A "Bridge to Hope" will feature a stellar line-up of top artists from a variety of musical genres including R&B, jazz, gospel and blues. R&B icon Charlie Wilson, former lead singer of the crowd-pleasing, funkadelic Gap Band, will headline the concert along with multi Grammy-nominated R&B superstar Brian McKnight, urban jazz saxophone greats Gerald Albright and Kirk Whalum (performing their "Sax for Stax" show), A Taste of Honey featuring Janice-Marie, and 70s disco-diva Maxine Nightingale. Blues singer Zakiya Hooker (daughter of the legendary John Lee Hooker), Saint Gabriel's Celestial Brass Band and Orquesta D'Soul are also set to perform. The 50 member Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir will open the concert, getting the festivities off to a rousing start.

Lazarex Cancer Foundation, a Danville-based California non-profit organization, is presenting the concert to raise funds as well as awareness in their quest to change the face of cancer. Lazarex is dedicated to providing financial assistance to defray the costs associated with participation in FDA approved clinical trials for end stage cancer patients who have exhausted all other treatment options. The foundation also helps patients navigate their clinical trial options, and offers community education and outreach services.

Tickets are on sale now. General admission (lawn seating) is $38.00. Preferred tickets are $78.00, which includes seats in the main stage area, a gourmet boxed meal and a commemorative T-shirt. VIP tickets are $185 and include reserved cabaret-style seating in the front stage area, access to VIP parking, a duffel bag, a commemorative T-shirt, two meals per person for a gourmet buffet in the VIP tent and a hosted bar for beer, wine & soft drinks from noon to 6:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at Tix.com (keyword "Bridge to Hope") or at www.bridgetohopelcf.org, or by calling 800 595-4849. All proceeds from "Bridge to Hope" will benefit the patients of Lazarex Cancer Foundation (www.lazarex.org). Lazarex Cancer Foundation will also designate $1 of each ticket sold to serve the prostate cancer community on behalf of Charlie Wilson, who is a prostate cancer survivor himself.

With one of the most distinctive voices in R&B, Charlie Wilson is in a league of his own. His second solo album, Uncle Charlie, released earlier this year on Jive Records, debuted at the top of both Billboard's R&B and pop charts, once again putting him on a career high. His unique vocal style and funky mix of contemporary music with classic R&B continues to ignite audiences wherever he plays. He will perform a mix of his new R&B hits, along with popular selections from the extensive Gap Band catalog.

Having sold over 20 million records worldwide with 7 platinum albums to his credit, R&B singer-songwriter Brian McKnight has earned himself a place in music history. McKnight has collaborated with such superstars as Justin Timberlake, Mariah Carey, Diddy, Christina Aguilera, and Rascal Flatts to name a few. Currently, he co-hosts his own morning show on 94.7 KTWV's "The Wave" in Los Angeles, and is the host of "Soul Session Countdown with Brian McKnight" on BETJ. He will make his debut as host of a nationally syndicated late night television talk show, which premieres the same weekend as the concert.

Veteran contemporary urban jazz sax stars Gerald Albright and Kirk Whalum have been touring throughout the summer to sell out crowds with their dynamic hit show "Sax for Stax," celebrating the enduring legacy of the music from the classic Memphis-based label. Each a star, both Albright and Whalum are considered among the most versatile composers and performers in contemporary jazz, making their pairing a natural evolution of their talents. Whalum's smooth grooves and Albright's soulful style are always a crowd pleaser.

As founder and principal songwriter of the Grammy award-winning group "A Taste of Honey," Janice-Marie first captured the pop world's attention with her disco hit "Boogie Oogie Oogie," which garnered the band a "Best New Artist" Grammy. Currently enjoying a solo career, Janice-Marie's song "Until the Eagle Falls" won a Native American Music Award, and she was inducted into the Native American Music Association Hall of Fame in 2008. Once again she will seduce listeners with her vocal art and musical expertise.

Best known for her 70s pop classics "Right Back Where We Started From," "Love Hit Me" and "Lead Me On," London born Maxine Nightingale is a seasoned vocalist who has entertained audiences all over the world, garnering international acclaim and touring throughout Europe, Asia and Central and South America. In recent years she has returned to the limelight, shifting musical gears from disco and pop to sultry jazz, performing with everyone from Carlos Santana to Boz Scaggs and Lionel Richie.

A Bay Area institution, the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir appears year round at local events such as Oakland's noted Art and Soul Festival and the Monterey Jazz Festival, performing regularly throughout the United States, Europe, Israel and Australia. The celebrated choir has performed with such luminaries as Stan Getz, Lyle Lovett and Joan Baez, and played for dignitaries Nelson Mandela, South African Bishop Desmond Tutu and Mikhail Gorbachev.

Since making her debut performance with her legendary father (blues great John Lee Hooker) Zakiya Hooker has performed with everyone from Etta James, Charles Brown, John Hammond and Taj Mahal. She has recorded four solo CDs, including Color of the Blues and her latest, Keeping It Real. Blues fans who caught her previously at the San Francisco Blues Festival (formerly held the same weekend as "Bridge to Hope") will be happy to see her return to the stage.

Bringing the sounds of the Crescent City to San Francisco, Saint Gabriel's Celestial Brass Band offers a solid, danceable repertoire that spans 100 years of American music. The group has played all over the world with top jazz, blues and Latin stars including B.B. King, Taj Mahal, Buddy Guy, Herbie Hancock, Tony Bennett and many more. Known for their rhythm section, festival-goers will 'feel' this band before they even see them!

Rounding out the lineup is the popular and versatile Bay Area ensemble Orquesta D'Soul. Blending traditional Latin styles of music, salsa, rumba, mambo, ranchera, and meringue with rock, hip-hop and R&B, the group creates a lively, tropical-splashed vibe that simply demands dancing. Trumpeter, band leader and group founder Marina Garza will be joined by singers Liza Jimenez and Nikki O'Shaughnessy, drummers Jason Gianni and Brian Andres, conguero Patrico Angulo and bassist Mike Lazarus, who are sure to rock the house.

"We are very excited about this event. 'Bridge to Hope' gives us a platform to spread the word about our mission while raising much needed funds to support our end stage cancer patients who are clinging to life through participation in FDA approved clinical trials. 'Bridge to Hope' gives Lazarex Cancer Foundation the opportunity to create relationships with new friends while they enjoy great music, food, fun and festivities in the City of San Francisco. They will literally be building a bridge back to hope, dignity and life for cancer patients who have been told they have no more options but who are not yet done with their journey in life. We look forward to this becoming an annual event," said Dana Dornsife, founder of the Foundation.

Lazarex Cancer Foundation was founded in 2006 by Dana Dornsife, who first became involved in cancer patient advocacy when her brother-in-law, Mike Miller, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2003. Dornsife and her family searched for options for Mike that would buy the family some time and found a clinical trial treatment. Mike was treated successfully and lived long enough for his youngest daughter to have real memories of him. Since then, Dornsife has fought tirelessly for improved treatments for cancer patients who have been told they are out of time and options. The foundation helps patients of all ages, from all walks of life and with all forms of cancer take advantage of today's key medical breakthroughs and clinical trials.

Public transportation is available from the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. Check www.bridgetohopelcf.org or www.fortmason.org/directions/ for directions and parking information. Doors open at 11:00 a.m., and the concert begins at 11:30 a.m. and continues until 7:00 p.m. For further information, please call 925 820-4517.

Source: Lazarex Cancer Foundation

CONTACT: Nina Gordon of Nina Gordon Public Relations, +1-310-276-3063,
for Lazarex Cancer Foundation

Web Site: http://www.lazarex.org/
http://www.bridgetohopelcf.org/

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