Joanne, you are kidding, right? Encourage you? I want the honor of singing with you. At the moment I am laying around with a nasty cough and closed up throat (as you saw after the concert). But one day, my friend.

Here is what Lillian Wauthier, who "instigated" the concert said about it in an email to the participants:

Last night's special celebration, a tribute and memorial to Rick Fielding, was a most incredible and magical concert. It's hard to find the right words to describe it....one of my volunteers said to me "what MADE that night was Rick" and that's absolutely true; it was all about Rick and I think that many of us are where we are today because of him.

A huge, heart-felt THANK YOU to all the phenomenal musicians who gave of their time, talent and generosity to give us an outstanding performance. Thank you to Tony Quarrington Mose Scarlett, Wendell Ferguson, Grit Laskin, Bill Garret, Crabtree & Mills, Eve Goldberg, Glen Reid, D'Arcy Wickham, Chris Coole, John Zytaruk, "Pineapple" Frank Barth, Bill MacLean, Bob Cutler, Marianne Girard, David Woodhead, Liam Jones.

A special thank you to the out-of-town musicians - Ron Jones who came from Vancouver, Mick Lane and Tom Verlin from Michigan and Matt Watroba from New Hampshire. [Editorial note: that should be "Matt Watroba from Michigan" - Mick]

Thank you also to visitors from afar - Patricia Sibley from Vancouver Island -she put together a beautiful collage of photos of Rick and the memories collected from his friends and fans - and Jeri who came from New Hampshire; we heard her beautiful love song for Rick and Heather sung by Mick Lane. I think there were several other out-of-towners in the audience as well.

Thank you to Heather Fielding and Steve Fruitman for their fine emceeing of the evenings proceedings. And thank you to all the committee and volunteers for their hard work and a job well done.

Thank you to Jason LaPrade (Crystal Clear Sound) and Dave Lang for the great sound; they had a huge task and they kept the evening flowing smoothly. Thanks to Paul Mills who wore two hats - performing and recording the whole evenings' event. Thanks to all the photographers capturing the moments- looking forward to seeing some pix soon.

Finally thank you to Tricia Hurst for her luscious desserts!

It was so wonderful to have everyone together making such exquisite music and to hear songs commemorating Rick, as well as Rick's own songs, honoured so lovingly. It was quite overwhelming. How blessed we all are to be part of such a vibrant and caring musical community. Rick was one of the mainstays of this community and revered by his fans and fellow musicians alike. He was a brilliant songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, music historian, story-teller, leather artist...the list goes on. But above all he was a man who embraced life and everything about music; he was a patient teacher,
always giving of his vast knowledge, and he was a keen observer of people. He treated people well and earned everyone's respect and admiration.

And from the funny, insightful and heart-warming memories and stories told, it was obvious that Rick was an extraordinary man and musician who deeply touched, influenced and inspired the lives of a great many people. It was a joyous tribute to a man who was well and truly loved. He would have approved of, and been so pleased with, the synergistic energy and the grand outpouring of love....in fact, I think we heard him chuckling out in the
wings....

Lillian