Fairfield Theatre Company Hosting Benefit Show For Alzheimer’s Association 3/15

Band Together, a gathering of musicians performing for a good cause, will play a show benefiting the Alzheimer’s Association of Connecticut. (Handout Photo)

As a musician it could be a problem when you forget the right chords. As a music fan it seems impossible to forget your favorite song, or where you were when you first heard it.

But imagine if you forgot all that. Or even forgot the faces of the people you love.

It’s a sad reality that Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia impact a huge number of people, with even more expected as baby boomers hit the ages where symptoms become more apparent.

To help fight the disease, Fairfield Theatre company is hosting a benefit concert for Alzheimer’s Association at StageOne on Friday, March 15, featuring Band Together. “I look at that night as offering caregivers a several hour respite, a time away from the troubles of caring for/being worried about their loved one who is slipping away from them,” says Kristen Cusato, the Southwest Regional Director for the Alzheimer’s Association. “Forget about it all and get lost in the music.”

Band Together is a group of musicians led by Jerry Vigorito and Rob Fried who get together and perform to benefit various causes.

Cusato, a music buff and former News 8 anchor, lost her mother two months ago to Lewy Body Dementia. She described the disease as having some of the same symptoms as Alzheimer’s but also with tremors and hallucinations. The mother of Band Together founder Jerry Vigorito suffers from Alzheimer’s as well, Cusato says (as did two of this writer’s grandparents).

Proceeds from the $35 ticket goes toward the Alzheimer’s Association and its research. The show starts at 7:30 p.m., with food and drink at a pre-party included, starting at 6:30 p.m.

Last year’s event sold out. Band Together performed then, as well as Kristen’s brother, Mike Cusato.

Tickets are still available for the benefit through the Fairfield Theatre Company’s site, by clicking here.

For more information on the Alzheimer’s Association click here, or call their 24 hour helpline at  1-800-272-3900.