America’s very first rock and roll concert for breast cancer is on the horizon, scheduled to take place on Oct. 26 at the Virginia Theatre.
The organization Breast Cancer Dollars & Coins combines breast cancer awareness with live music freshly and innovatively.
Kim Schmidt, founder of BC/DC, is a 19-year breast cancer survivor. Schmidt developed the idea for the concert-fundraiser fusion last year at her 40th high school reunion. Sharing the idea with co-founder and longtime friend Randy Brown that night, the two worked together to turn BC/DC into a reality.
“It’s to leverage the power of music,” Brown said. “To heighten awareness of the criticality of early detection and treatment of breast cancer to save lives.”
Approximately one in every eight women will develop an invasive form of breast cancer throughout their life, with 30% of new cancer diagnoses in women being breast cancer as well.
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“If there’s early detection and treatment, the mortality rate is decreased by 40%, so it’s super, super urgent to be early on it,” Brown said. “So that’s where we’re just trying to leverage music to bring that messaging.”
The PINK OCTOBER Live Classic Rock Concert Fundraiser will begin with a digital presentation promoting awareness for early detection, later featuring performances from local bands Modern Day Saints and Head First.
“After people enter the theatre, it will be a performance by the Modern Day Saints, which is a local band that used to play here in the Champaign-Urbana area during the mid-’80s and ’90s,” Brown said.
Head First, a band that frequented former C-U music venue Mabel’s in the mid-’80s, will follow the Modern Day Saints’ performance.
This year will be the inaugural PINK OCTOBER of what will hopefully become an annual performance and fundraising event. However, Schmidt and Brown organized a smaller-scale fundraiser last year at the bar in Monticello where Head First started.
“We held an informal charity event before we were officially a 501(c)(3),” Brown said. “At that concert, we had about 500 people attend, and we generated $10,540 in proceeds that we donated to Breast Cancer Research Foundation, BCRF.”
While BC/DC wasn’t formed officially until 2023, Schmidt has been motivated by the potential for her personal survivor story to work in tandem with rock music for many years.
“I’m a 19-year survivor,” Schmidt said. “Fifteen years ago, I saw the rock group AC/DC, and I just thought of something along the lines of ‘dollars and coins,’ and then put BC/DC with it.”
Schmidt and Brown are focused on supporting the local community this year. All proceeds will be donated to the Carle Health Center for Philanthropy, directly supporting the Mills Breast Cancer Institute in Urbana.
“During our pilot year in Monticello, Kim picked BCRF, and this year, when we thought about this event, we thought it would be even better to give back locally so it supports the local community,” Brown said.
PINK OCTOBER remains wholeheartedly committed to the local effort, with three members of Head First being University alumni. Rhythm guitarist Ross Crotinger, lead guitarist John Laroe and lead vocalist Jeff Harmon all hailed the orange and blue in the ’80s.
Tickets for the 6 p.m. show can be purchased on the Virginia Theatre website. To increase accessibility to University students, ticket costs have been halved for those who use the coupon code “STUDENT.”
“It’s a one-of-a-kind event,” Schmidt said. “Bringing the music in with the fundraising and with the breast cancer — we haven’t seen it anywhere else.”
