Local musicians honor Kelly Thomas

By now, the beating of Kelly Thomas has made national news, and the Fullerton Community is still waiting for the six police officers, who allegedly beat Thomas to death in July, to be held accountable. The community's outrage towards the Fullerton PD was channeled towards benefiting the homeless and the mentally ill, Saturday.

Fullerton punk rockers, Sederra, organized and headlined The Kelly Thomas Memorial Concert and Canned Food Drive to raise awareness of the homelessness problem in Fullerton.

Supporters from all over Orange County came to show their support on a beautiful afternoon to honor Kelly Thomas, donate food and clothes to the homeless, and enjoy performances put on by local musicians.

There were performances by John Paget, Julian Porte, New Skool Kings, Mr. Mirainga, Robert Guta, Sederra, and 80 Proof.

Donations continued to come in all through out the event. As more people showed up, so did the donations. Some of the local homeless that showed up were given donations right on the spot. They were given everything from food and clothes, to deodorant and toothpaste.

The event was held at the Fullerton Downtown Plaza off of Wilshire Avenue.

Sederra’s Eric Bootow was the one who thought of the event. “I want to help out the homeless,” said the bassist. “Orange County is the number two per capita in the United States for having the most homeless. That’s over 45,000 people and 22,000 of them are kids,” he said.

I recognized many faces at the event. I have covered a few of the protests, for the Daily Titan, that take place every Saturday in front of the Fullerton Police Station and many people at those protests, of course, came and showed their support at the concert / food drive.

All the performances were very entertaining. My personal favorite was Julian Porte. His style of music makes me think of a modern Bob Dylan. He performed an original song called The Ballad of Kelly Thomas, which I found very catchy. It can be watched here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrJhUSXY3Ns

At the event, the Kelly Thomas Memorial Fund was also selling T-shirts at the event. Some of which read, "JUSTICE 4 KELLY THOMAS" and "KELLY'S ARMY." All the money goes to help the homeless and mentally ill all over Orange County.

All in all, Bootow feels that the event was a big success, "I'm very happy just to know that I made a little difference. At least we were able to open people's eyes to the situation. That's what I'm most stoked about," he said