Blues for cancer: The Unknown’s Mark Spafford gears up for a second year

Last July, Mark Spafford and his band The Unknowns hit Van’s Dive Bar for the group’s third performance ever. The reason behind the event was to benefit the American Cancer Society in honor of his mom, Diana, who had been recently diagnosed. Spafford called upon his high school friend, blues man Joey Fender, to come up and perform.

This year, his mom is cancer-free, but the guitarist and singer is ready to raise some more money for the charity. “This all kind of affected us,” Spafford told me. “Obviously it's really disconcerting to get diagnosed with that, so she had, as you can imagine, had a hard time dealing with it. You're always afraid of that anyway, even after you go through the treatment.”

This year, he’s set up two concerts for August 18th: one at the Mug-Shot Saloon in Wasilla, the Big “M” Memorial Benefit at 2 pm and then back to Van’s Dive Bar for an all-night show featuring The Unknowns and local blues harmonica superstar, Harp Daddy. If you hang out for a while, too, Spafford says the evening will evolve into more of a blues jam, so bring your kit and be ready to rock out.

He’s giving the benefits this year as another way to honor his mom and grandmother (who passed away from cancer in 2003), but also because he’s been nominated as a local representative for the Real Men Wear Pink campaign. “What's changed a little bit this year, and why I thought it's a really good idea to do it again, it's not only for the cause, but also I got nominated. They nominated 12 different men around the community. You're supposed to wear something pink every day for the month of October. They give you a page on the American Cancer Society site and you kind of tell your story. You use that as a venue to do fundraising.”

Spafford was nominated by one of the doctors that helped his mom deal with her diagnosis, Dr. Eric TKTK who Spafford went to high school with. “He was the first guy that I called when my mom called me, so that he could sit down with her and kind of map everything out for her and go, ‘Calm down. It's not a death sentence.’ Also, he wanted me to do it because he didn't want to have another doctor do it.”

Van’s will have an American Cancer Society table set up, said Spafford, to take donations while the music happens. “Last year, we raised something like $1800,” he said. “I was really surprised. We had a great turnout, obviously. My moms got a lot of people she knows and obviously it's a cause that's worthwhile to support.”

HarpDaddy & The BackCountry Mojo’s Darren Smith got involved after Spafford approached the blues man at an Anchorage Alehouse gig. Smith has ties to cancer, too — as do we all.“My maternal grandmother passed away from cancer,” he told me. “I travelled often to Rochester NY as a teenage with my mom taking her to treatments. Her name was Lillian Brustad. I also lost an auntie, Marilyn Williams, here in Anchorage. She was an incredibly vibrant and lively lady. One of my favorite people ever.”

Further still, Smith spent some time around other people with the diagnosis. “I worked selling wound care medical devices and spent a lot of dime with patients and seeing what they go through on a daily level,” he said. “It affects the entire family. The support teams go through incredible measures and need support themselves. I'm honored to give my time to help support those that help those in need.”

Plus, said Smith, dancing to music is good for you. “If we can get supporters out on the dance floor and kick up their heels and dance,” he said, “it's therapy for all.”

Local drummer Ron Brown from Rebel Blues will sit in with Spafford and bassist Gregg White at the Big M Memorial Benefit in the valley, while The Unknown’s regular drummer, Joel Ramert, will play with the duo at Van’s.

Smith will play a set at Van’s, too, though he might have a different backup band that night. “Darren got involved because I reached out to him,” Spafford said. “Just thinking of blues on the scene and he had a pretty active social media presence, and I obviously pay attention to who goes where. I just went and stalked Darren a little bit. He had a show at the Anchorage Alehouse, so I reached out to him and he said, ‘Yeah, meet me here.’ So I went and talked to him and he said he was definitely down with doing it. So it's really cool.”

In addition to playing the blues around town, Spafford hopes to call on his professional contacts to raise funds, as well. He’s the General Manager for the Department of Solid Waste Services at the municipality. “It's a politically appointed position. It's a real fun job, really cool. Gets in the way of music,” he joked, “but you gotta pay the bills.”

“I wear pink for my Grandmother Bertha LaRosa who died in 2003 from breast cancer,” Spafford writes on his Real Men Wear Pink fundraising page (http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/?fr_id=90482&pg=personal&px=47786781). “I wear pink for my mother Diana Henderson who was diagnosed with an aggressive stage two breast cancer in December 2016 and fought through the pain of chemo and radiation and wanting to quit all together, and came out the other end tougher and more healthy than ever. Where pink for the thousands of women (and some men) in this world who are struggling and battling breast cancer right now, my heart is with all of you. Lastly, I wear pink to remind myself and everyone around me that breast cancer will not stop until we find a cure for this terrible disease and that we can all help out!”