Lawlapalooza Rocks For A Good Cause

Photo Credit: Saman Jaffery

Mathew Johnson, Andrew Zabrovsky and Joanna Si of the House Band rock the Alehouse at Lawlapalooza on March 20, 2007.

Queen's Law rocked out and shared some laughs at this year's Lawlapalooza on March 20th, 2007. The night of music and comedy was very well attended and enjoyed by students, faculty and staff alike.

"I'm stunned by the number of people who came out: tickets sales went far beyond our wildest expectations," said Lawlapalooza Committee organizer Mathew Johnson, Law ‘09. The evening's festivities raised almost $2,750 for the Kingston Youth Shelter and Trillium Camp for Kids. The funds raised for the Kingston Youth Shelter will go towards offering support and emergency shelter to homeless youth, while the contribution to the Trillium Camp will provide fall, winter and summer camp programs for children with cancer and their families.

Lawlapalooza has evolved over the years from a skit show to the current music-oriented format. Based on the performances at this year's show, Queen's Law has no shortage of creative, talented students. Over time the night has become less of a talent competition and more of a chance for people to get together for a night of entertainment before exams to celebrate the year and graduation. "There are two main goals of Lawlapalooza - first, it's a charity show, designed to raise money for worthy causes, and to give law students another way to give back to the community," said Mathew. "The second goal is to give the law school community a final event to end the year with, to let them relax before finals start, and to give students and faculty an opportunity to share their talents with each other."

With impressive dance routines from the Queen's Law Dancers (Alex Kingston, Emily Schatzker, Jody Therriault and Jess Young of Law ‘09) and Laura Kraft, Law ‘08, to stirring ballads from Elle Morris, Law ‘08, Laura Pringle, Law ‘08, and Linda Versteeg, Law ‘07, to exciting anthems from the House Band (Peter Maund and Andrew Zabrovsky of Law ‘07, Megan Murphy and Kevin Wight of Law ‘08, and Mathew Johnson and Joanna Si of Law ‘09), the night would not have been possible without the incredible talent of the MCs and performers.* Just as important to the evening however, were the support and generosity of the Lawlapalooza Committee composed of the House Band members, Saman Jaffery, Law ‘07 and Courtney Petch, Law ‘09, and the assistance from the event's videographers and judges, as well as Kingston Sound Works, the Alehouse and sponsoring law firm Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP.

"We had amazing support - over 320 tickets were sold, which is over 2/3 of the law school student community," said Mathew. "We had great videos that had hours of work go into them, acts that were well prepared and well received, we had an enthusiastic and loud crowd...The energy of the night was fantastic. It was a great feeling."

The audience reception was warm and supportive and the acts were energetic and impressive. It was a fun and playful night for fans and performers alike, and the money raised by the event will go to very worthy causes. It was the perfect way to celebrate a wonderful year.

* Other performers included Law ‘09 students Warren Ng, Scott Southward, Paul Sharp, Chris Girardo, Dylan Kerr, Nicholas Staubitz and Mike Swindley, Law ‘08 students Sarah Conlin and Shirin Mirsaeidi, and Law ‘07 students Kim Broome, Ryan Treleaven, Erin Dann, Gwen May, Sean Chambers, Cameron Clark, Teresa Buchanan, Oliver Davies, Bruce Blain, Jon Fuller and Clarke Tedesco.