Band, hundreds of patrons and supporters raise $10,000
for the Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada
TORONTO — Nov. 4, 2019 — Conrad Black Sabbath are four-time Newzapalooza champs after a stunning original rock/rap opera Friday night before a packed house at The Opera House. The band, stacked with talent from the National Post and its diaspora, edged out last year’s champs, The GIFS Estate from the CBC, The Conflicts of Interest, also from the CBC, and the Toronto Star’s Holy Joe & The Principles.
The winning band — comprised of Kagan McLeod, Lindsay Spindler, Jon Dekel, Jon Rivait and Sarah Boesveld on vocals, Brice Hall on keys, Drew Hasselback and Ron Wadden on guitars, Stewart Bell on bass and Jeff Semple on drums, and some spooky special guests — took home the coveted Jonathan Jenkins Memorial Trophy and bragging rights for another year.
The real winners are the children and youth who will benefit from the $10,000 raised for the Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada, which provides scholarships and supports for vulnerable young people who have been taken into the care of children’s aid societies. Since its inception in 2004, Newzapalooza is just shy of raising $200,000 for the foundation, all thanks to our bands, celebrity hosts and judges, patrons and sponsors.
Thanks this year to our host Siri Agrell, journalistic trouble-maker and executive director of OneEleven, and to our most excellent panel of celeb judges made up of CBC’s Angeline Tetteh-Wayoe, Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission Renu Mandhane, Slate’s chief music critic Carl Wilson and John Tory, mayor of Toronto.
Special thanks to this year’s list of sponsors, which included The Opera House, Long & McQuade Musical Instruments, Toronto Star, Toronto Raptors, Torq, Left Field Brewery, Bandit Brewery and One Academy. Thanks to Cameron Tulk for whipping up the design for this year’s ticket, and to Brent Jolly for his support through the Canadian Association of Journalists.
Lastly, all of us on the volunteer planning committee — Sarah Boesveld, Moe Doiron, Robyn Doolittle, Rob & Natasha Granatstein, Lauren Pelley, Jim Rankin, Graeme Roy, Michelle Shephard and Tanya Talaga — thank everyone who turned out for a terrific cause, and for 15 great years. See you next November!
www.newzapalooza.ca ~ @Newzapalooza ~ Facebook
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