It was indeed a "One in a Million Night" on September 7th when over 750 people joined together at the Royal Oak Music Theatre for an evening of live and silent auction bidding and, of course, great music.

Overall, the night pulled in nearly $70,000 for the University of Michigan's Adrenal Cancer Research efforts, bringing the total contributions in Spencer's name since his passing last December 3rd to over $80,000!!! An amazing number thanks to the generosity, love and caring of so many amazing people.

Eli Zaret was terrific as the emcee for the night and infused the evening with great energy, while keeping the tight schedule on course. Moreover, Eli conducted a lively auction for five special items which generated a lot of interest and resulted in about $13,000 for the cause. Thanks a million Eli!!!

The evening began when the doors opened at 6:30 p.m. with people streaming in to preview and bid on the many silent auction items that were so generously donated by the likes of Eminem, personal friends, restaurants, businesses and more. It, truly, was an astounding array of silent auction items. By the end of the evening those items would generate another $12,000 for University of Michigan Adrenal Cancer Research.

At 7:30 Eli and a host of volunteers help to herd the crowd into the Theatre where he introduced Anita David to start the evening with her beautiful singing voice. Included in her set was a wonderful rendition of the Sting song, "Fields of Gold" and one of Spencer's original compositions - performed with Stevedores guitarist Jake Miller - called "The Stars Are Mighty Bright Tonight". Anita's great performance set the stage for a wonderful night of music and celebration.

Lee Pantel followed Anita with a special tribute performance of Spencer's beautiful and original song, "Tourist". Lee sang the song with his own unique style and interpretative talents and absolutely nailed it.

Plugged into the evening at this point was a four-plus minute tribute DVD under Spencer's voice singing "Tourist" which was created by Dr. Donna Learmont (Lahser High School) and a handful of very special students (including Patrick Kerrigan, Mike Tully, and Martin Michalek). It included a wonderfully edited collection of photographs and videos of Spencer and his brother Brady over the years. (Incidentally, Donna and her crew were easily among the last to leave at the end of the evening - about 1:00 a.m. - as they documented the entire evening through video and sound recording. They are now working on a very special presentation of the evenings activities in the Lahser studios, which we're anxiously awaiting). No one worked or continues to work harder on behalf of Spencer's memory. In fact, Patrick and Mike are taking over this website for us as we write this!!!


View photos from the concert...

Following Anita's set, Eli introduced "Shemy" Shembechler - son of Millie and famed Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler to address the audience. Millie had succumbed to Adrenal Cancer back in 1992. Following that tragedy Bo set upon a seven year drive to draw attention to the incurable disease and to raise funds to establish the Millie Schembechler Memorial Foundation at the University of Michigan's Comprehensive Cancer Center. That intitial effort helped to establish the Adrenal Cancer Research Clinic as it exists today. Shemy continues to carry that torch and was a terrific addition to the evening's line-up.

Dr. Gary Hammer, M.D., Ph.D., is a medical endocrinologist specializing in the treatment of adrenal diseases at the UofM and is the foremost expert on adrenal cancer. Dr. Hammer spoke to the crowd and provided an update on current efforts to land a field test drug to treat people in the early stages of the disease. He graciously thanked everyone who had worked so hard to bring attention to Adrenal Cancer and to bring the Spencer Bell Memorial Concert to fruition.

Following Gary Hammer, Lee Pantel returned with his full band and really kicked off the concert portion of the evening with about a half-hour his original music. Lee and his band were terrific.

Then came Double Scale with their high energy covers of Motown favorites. All attending the concert enjoyed the very tight performance of many of their favorite songs from yesteryear. These guys can blow!!!

Following Double Scale's great set was a very special tribute performance of Spencer's song, "Violin" by Ben Johnson (Stevedores) and Spencer's good friend Natalie LaBute. "Violin" is one of Spencer's compositions that is honestly destined to be a classic and Ben and Natalie did the music justice...and more, as they harmonized beautifully.

The Stevedores' keyboardist, Shawn Fernando, next perrformed an original Spencer composition called, "Certain". Shawn was wonderfully soulful in his delivery of the song and his passion for the lyrics was evident in each note. Great, great performance.

Then the Stevedores began their group performance full speed. Songs performed from the album, Tamuawok - recorded originally with Spencer as the front man - were beautifully performed, as were a couple of the group's newer compositions. It was an energy-charged performance while simultaneously very emotional for those in the audience who missed Spencer's presence as well. The Stevedores were wonderful.

Finally, the Howling Diablos - our headliner band - took the stage and performed their Detroit-rockin' music as only they can. The Diablos have been around town for many years and shared the stage with many a rock legend - and it's very evident that they're easily one of the best bands around.

As the last guests left the building and the evening wound to a close, one could see the host of volunteers- many with bloodshot eyes and sore, aching backs and feet - breaking down tables, gathering up linens and borrowed, loaned or rented items, piling up garbage and loading trucks and personal vehicles until nearly 2:00 a.m. Many of these people had been involved in the project from its genesis back in January this year. They met regularly and pulled together everything to make the evening a success - while they held down their regular jobs and took care of their own families as well. We call that devotion and love. We call that friendship.

We can't name everyone here, but here is a partial listing of those who did so much to make our dream of honoring Spencer's memory a reality:

Committee members:

Patti Aberlich, Rhonda Angelo, Janet Ankers, Mari Barnett, Ann Bechtold, Vicki Bockart, Danyelle Burkart, Betsy Clark, Anita Dauch, Renee Guidobono, Michelle Kelly, Val Morianti, Jill Slocum, Cindy Stevens, Susan Thomas.


Other tireless volunteers:

David Addison, Sally Cole-Misch, Angela Dolehanty, Jessie Gainer (our Royal Oak Theatre coordinator), Tim Heaphy, Joe Johnson, Craig Jolly, Marney Rich Keenan (Detroit News journalist responsible for the astounding article about Spencer's life and legacy), Patrick Kerrigan, Debbie and Kevin Kleinhomer, Dr. Donna Learmont, Tim Maniaci, Patty Martin, Martin Michalek, Suzi Miller, Suzanne Mozal, Paul Slocum, Tim Travis, Mike Tully, Linda Raiskin, Tracy and Curtis Vincent.


Unbelievable. Unforgettable. Deeply, deeply emotional.

Thanks all,

See you next year?



If you have any questions, comments, or just want to chat email: sdbmemorial@yahoo.com