



by BRIAN NADIG

A "battle of the bands" charity fund-raiser featuring members of the Chicago Police Department and the Chicago Fire Department will be held on Saturday, Sept. 7, at the Copernicus Center, 5216 W. Lawrence Ave.

The "Rock The Badges" event will feature six bands, three of which have at least one police officer and the other three with at least one firefighter. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation, which supports the families of officers who die in the line of duty, and the Ignite The Spirit Fund, which helps firefighters who have fallen on hard times due to an illness or other family problem.

The event organizer is 16th (Jefferson Park) Police District lieutenant John Garrido. "We’re hoping to raise $10,000," Garrido said. "At a recent retirement party for a police officer, we were talking how there is a lot of police and firefighters who perform in bands and we figured why not pit them against each other for a good cause."

The three fire bands are the Differents, Imposter Radio and Northside, and the three police bands are the Jenny Rockis Trio, Pimp Slap and It’s About Time. Each band will perform a 25-minute set, with a final battle between the two top bands.

Garrido said that the Copernicus Foundation has waived its rental fee for its 1,900-seat auditorium and that RAS Communications, which is owned by a police officer, is handling publicity.

Garrido said that Fort Knox Studios, a recording facility, is arranging the audio amplification equipment, as the bands will be sharing the same set of drums and amplification equipment in an effort to save time between performances. "We’ll be able to have each band come on stage, plug in and start playing," he said.

The doors will open at 5 p.m., and the event will conclude at 1:30 a.m. following an "after party" performance by Red Rebel County, which has representatives of both the departments.

Tickets cost $20 in advance and $25 at the door, and they can be purchased at www.rockthebadges.com.

For more information, call 312-499-8899.



