Danny DeGennaro Foundation Hosting Halloween Bash

Provided by the Danny DeGennaro Foundation:

The Danny DeGennaro Foundation may have pushed pause on the 2019 installment of its annual Creative Inspiration Concert, but that doesn’t mean the nonprofit organization’s October show is lacking in creativity – or rock ‘n’ roll. 

The Foundation will hold its Halloween Bash at The Barn at Snipes Farm in Falls Township on Saturday, Oct. 26. The fundraiser features performances from five bands, including headliner AJ Slick Band; Jim Mitchell and the Repeat Offenders; classic rock cover band All Lit Up; Levittown-based The Fredz; and Teddy Dugan and the Troublemakers. The Foundation’s 2018 and 2019 music scholarship award winners, Bee Niranon and Kieran Corson, respectively, will each perform a set. 

Local musician Casey Welborn will open the concert with an acoustic performance.

“This keeps with our mission of mentoring and creating scholarships with young musicians,” said Ed Mero of the Danny DeGennaro Foundation. 

The Foundation is named for the late singer/songwriter and guitarist, Danny “Rio” DeGennaro, of Bristol Township’s Levittown section, who traveled the world playing with the Billy Squier Band and the Grateful Dead off-shoot Kingfish. The Foundation was established in 2014 to inspire future musicians following DeGennaro’s untimely death in 2011. Since 2015, the Foundation has awarded music and art scholarships to students at Bucks County Community College.

Danny DeGennaro Foundation board member John Mulhern, 66, originally of Bristol, has lived music since he was 14 years old. A long-time friend and collaborator of DeGennaro’s, Mulhern’s focus now is on training music scholarship award winners on how to write songs.

“If you looked at Danny and knew Danny, he just had God-given talent,” Mulhern said. “You couldn’t teach Danny. He already knew it.”

During his life, DeGennaro was known to take young musicians under his wing and show them the ropes. That’s what Mulhern, a producer, engineer and production company owner hopes to do in his friend’s name. Mulhern plans to teach a songwriting master class at Bucks County Community College. He will also continue coaching scholarship winners and young talent that the Foundation is working with – including some of the musicians set to perform on Oct. 26.  

“Danny was really a songwriter at heart,” Mulhern said. “He loved to write songs.”

If you go

The Danny DeGennaro Foundation’s Halloween Bash will be held on Oct. 26 from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. at The Barn at Snipes Farm, 890 W. Bridge Street in Morrisville. Tickets cost $20 and can be purchased through TicketLeap: https://dannydegennaro.ticketleap.com/danny-degennaro-halloween-bash/. Sandwiches, as well as beer, wine and mixed drinks will be available for purchase from Stadium Bar and Grille. One dollar from each drink and food item benefits the Foundation’s mentoring and scholarship mission. Hayrides will be available for $4. Guests can also enjoy a bonfire, raffles and a costume contest. 

To learn more

For more information on the 2019 Danny DeGennaro Foundation scholarship award winners, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmu863rXdA4  or visit http://dannydegennaro.org/.