Flight to Mars orbits Seattle for good cause (Photo Slideshow)

Flight to Mars at Showbox @ The Market (Photo by Arlene Brown)

This past Friday, May 11, Showbox at the Market opened its doors to the 11^th Annual Flight to Mars Benefit concert for the CCFA’s, Crohn’s and Colitis Federation of America, Northwest Chapter.  Local band Poor Moon opened the night and warmed the crowd up with their Reggae/rock feel.  The smooth voice of lead singer Christian Wargo was complimented well by the rest of the band. (Check these guys out at Capital Hill Block Party in July.  You don’t want to miss this rising band.)

Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready, who has lived with IBD for 25 years is CCFA’s most vocal advocate. He then introduced Star Anna.  Singing a couple moving songs, she mesmerized everyone with the sheer power of her voice. Keyboard genius Ty Ballie provided solid accompianment.

How can you keep Mike McCready off the stage from playing?  You simply can’t. After a bunch of raffle tickets were sold and some prizes were handed out, McCready was joined onstage by Andrew McKeag of PUSA, Loaded’s Jeff Rouse, special guest star David Coalter, members of Lazy Susan including Kim Virant’s ever powerful voice (the band split 9 years ago,) Carrie Akre, Star Anna, and many more friends. McCready even dedicated one of his own songs to the memory of friend Jennifer Jaff, who advocated for patient’s rights and started a nonprofit called Advocacy for Patients.

After nearly 2 hours of rock, soul, and just plain amazing music, how do you wrap up the evening?  With two more hours of even more chest pounding, ear piercing rock music with Flight to Mars, a tribute to 70s band UFO.  Featuring Mike McCready (guitar,) Tim DiJulio (guitar,) Gary Westlake (bass,) Mike Musberger (drums,) Ty Bailie (keyboard,) and Paul Passereli (vocals.)

CCFA is fortunate to have such an amazing and passionate advocate in Mike McCready.  And even more fortunate to be supported by all his friends and fans who attended the show.

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