Photos by JP Cordero
MBee Fest, a fundraiser for Manhattan Beach End Epilepsy, as well as college scholarships for Mira Costa students, was held at Saint Rocke, on Thursday, August 17. Bands included The Radio Rebels, PennyRoyal, The 415s, Orion & The Stars, HB Crue, Moi and Rico of Tomorrows Bad Seeds, The Anti-Groupies, Poppy Harlo and Triple Bueno. The event was sponsored by the Jen Caskey Group and raised $12,000 for a total amount raised cumulatively of $62,000.
Manhattan Beach End Epilepsy was formed by Slater Heidrich and Kat Monk to support not only epilepsy awareness but raise proceeds to help other families impacted by the condition. Slater, a musician, was diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of 10. Epilepsy is a spectrum and so far, he has been fortunate to have modern medicine be able to control his seizures. However, the diagnosis comes with life changing responsibilities and limitations. Thus, music is a great outlet for a person with the disease.
Slater performed with PennyRoyal featuring Salem “Darling” Meade on vocals and guitar, Sean Michael Howe on lead guitar, Slater on Bass and Dax Corcoran on drums. He also played bass for Orion and the Stars featuring Orion Askinosie on vocals, Luke Sehran on guitar,
Jeff Falcone on keyboard, Moremi Kaplan on saxophone and Nate Friedman on drums.
A crowd favorite was The 415s featuring Dave McMillan on vocals and guitar, Chris Warshaw on guitar, Mark Theodore on bass and Matt Muir on drums.
The 415s recently reunited after a hiatus of several decades. “There was something really cool about having bands spanning several South Bay generations all in the same lineup – it’s inspiring to see the young kids just absolutely ripping it up,” Warshaw said. “To play the reopened Saint Rocke, which is so important to the beach cities music scene, was icing on the cake.”
It was the second year for HB Crue to perform, Greg Newman’s band, (owner of the Sharkeez Group) with his son Justin ripping it up on guitar and Perk on vocals.
The silent auction included donations from the community including tickets to Lollapalooza, BeachLife, Kings hockey and Angels baseball.
