9th Annual Dustin Mele Memorial Concert brings Community together for Suicide Prevention

The 9th Annual Dustin Mele Memorial Concert is coming to Brown’s Revolution Hall in Troy on March 25th, and local favorites Emerald City, Soul Sky, and Super 400 will be performing along with many guest musicians and vocalists. World-renowned musician and music producer Robert Etoll will be flying in from Los Angeles for a special reunion of the Bob Etoll Band.

The Bob Etoll Band is led by Robert (Bobby) Etoll, a longtime resident of Los Angeles, where he founded the successful and widely acclaimed Q-Factory Music library. This boutique catalog of high-end music and sound design serves hundreds of clients worldwide in the motion picture and television advertising industry.  Robert is one of the world’s leading composers and music producers of trailers, documentaries, TV theme songs, and animated series.  Check out Robert’s bio and see more about Q-Factory at qfactorymusic.com.

Bobby grew up in Troy and is thrilled to return to reunite with his old bandmates Peter Iselin (keyboards), Chris Garabedian (drums), Joe Montarello (bass), Frank Rossi (vocals), as well as some notable special guests, in support of the Dustin Mele Memorial Concert and alongside Bobby’s lifelong friend Joe Mele.

A veteran of more than 40 years on the local music circuit, Dustin’s father, Joe Mele, rallied the area’s elite musicians to raise awareness of the growing suicide problem.  Dustin’s friends and family believe that by erasing the stigma of depression and making proper mental health care more easily available, lives can be saved.  Suicide is at epidemic proportions and touches more and more lives and families every day.  Over the past 9 years, the Memorial Concert event has gone above and beyond to try to bring awareness and assistance to those who are struggling in the Capital Region.

Over the past 8 years, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) credited the Dustin Mele Memorial Concert as the top fund-raiser in upstate New York for AFSP’s largest annual event, Walk for R.I.T.A., which raises money for suicide awareness, suicide prevention, and family support programs.

This year’s Dustin Mele Memorial Concert event is sponsored in part by Brown’s Brewing; The Catholic Monument Design Center; DrywallXchange; Fagan Associates; Guth DeConzo Consulting Engineers, PC; Modern Press; Nippertown; RadioRadioX, Screen Designs Inc., and Verrillo Motor Car Co.

Online donations can also be made to any or all 3 benefiting organizations:

Catholic Charities Dustin Mele Memorial Fund: https://fundraise.givesmart.com/e/_1rZ2g?vid=x2ayh

AFSP Dustin Mele Memorial Concert: https://supporting.afsp.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donordrive.team&teamID=311739

NAMI Capital Region: https://namicapitalregionny.org/get-involved/donate/. Don’t forget to mention the Mele Memorial Fund so we can add it to our Fund list and send a thank you!

On behalf of Dustin’s family and friends and all those who will be helped through this year’s benefiting organizations, we hope to see you on March 25th at Brown’s in Troy, and thank you for your support!