Concert to Benefit Scholarship
When Marilyn Van Scoyoc, a music teacher at East Hampton High School, thinks of her former student Gregg Rickards, she recalls a young man playing his beloved bass.
Mr. Rickards, who grew up in Amagansett, died in August after a recurrence of cancer. He was 23.
A member of the high school’s orchestra and jazz band, Mr. Rickards graduated in 2006. He then attended the State University at Oneonta, receiving a degree in music in 2010.
On Friday, Feb. 1, a memorial concert will take place at 7 p.m. in the school’s auditorium. While admission is free, donations at the concert will help establish the Gregg Rickards Memorial Scholarship Fund. Following an audition, a $500 scholarship will be awarded each spring to a college-bound East Hampton High School senior planning to major or minor in music.
“Music was a real joy in his life,” his mother, Teresa Rickards, said. “That’s really what Gregg was about — his love and his passion for music.”
Crossroads Music in Amagansett is sponsoring the event and supplying sound equipment. It has also donated a practice amp and a custom-designed Tom Bono guitar, both of which will be raffled off at the concert. Dell Cullum, a photographer, has donated a framed photograph, and organizers are soliciting donations from other businesses.
“He was a good customer and that’s why I asked to be involved,” said Michael Clark, the owner of Crossroads. His eldest son graduated from high school the same year as Mr. Rickards. “I would see him on a weekly basis, coming in for strings and buying several guitars.”
Besides Mr. Clark, Mr. Rickards’s aunt, Patty Collins Sales, Ms. Van Scoyoc, and Liz Pucci, an East Hampton School Board member, are among the organizers.
The East Hampton High School’s jazz band, which Ms. Van Scoyoc directs, will open the concert, joined by other student bands. Later, local professionals will play, including Peter Martin Weiss and Jane Hastay, the Jet Set Renegades, Casanova Frankenstein, Little Head Thinks, Third Estate, Steven and Jackson Clark, and Mama Lee and Friends, among several others.
Anyone wishing to make a donation can also write a check to the Greater East Hampton Education Foundation, noting that the money is to be designated for the Gregg Rickards Memorial Scholarship. The address of the foundation is P.O. Box 4175, East Hampton 11937.