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December 1, 2006 Former Doobie Brother, President of World Bank, and Ambassador Rock for the Fire Brigades –Over $30K Raised for Firefighter Heroes
The Embassy of Hungary turned into a rock club for one evening: the Ambassador’s rock band gave a charity concert honoring firefighters in Hungary and in the United States on December 1, 2006.
Ambassador of Hungary András Simonyi’s band, made up of American diplomats and security experts, is called The Coalition of the Willing. The musical director of the band is Jeff “Skunk” Baxter (guitar), a rock legend formerly with the Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan, and now an advisor on counter-terrorism and national security issues, working for the Pentagon. Simonyi and Baxter play in the band with Lincoln Bloomfield (bass), president of the international business advisory firm Palmer Coates LLC, and former Assistant Secretary of State; Daniel Poneman (guitar), a principal with the Scowcroft Group, and former presidential aide; and USWIB Executive Director Dan McDermott (drums). In abstentia from the band is current US Ambassador to Seoul, Alexander Vershbow.
Rockin’ for the Fire Brigades was a charity concert to raise funds for the families of three Hungarian fire fighters who died tragically during a rescue operation in Budapest this past August. The concert will also be the Embassy’s and the band’s way of honoring fire fighters in Hungary and in the US. Firefighters from Washington DC, Los Angeles, New York and Hungary will be attending the event.
The concert was co-sponsored by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum; Attorney Andrew Friedman, Los Angeles City Fire Commissioner; Los Angeles Fire Department; Fire Department of Kiskunfélegyháza, Hungary; Washington DC Fire and EMS Department; Delta Airlines; Anheuser-Busch, the producer of Budweiser; Sunoco, Inc.; and the Center for a Free Cuba.
Mrs. Náda Simonyi introduced the event and the band. She paid tribute to the memory of the three firefighters, Ákos Horváth, Károly Reppman and Gábor Pintér, who had died in the accident last August. Mrs. Simonyi also emphasized the role of firefighters in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks five years ago. The President of the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz, greeting the audience, praised the outstanding service and sacrifice of firefighters, and thanked Hungary for its friendship towards the United States.
The concert raised funds for the families of the three deceased firefighters. Those attending the concert were kindly requested to make a donation. The organizers also held a silent auction. The members of the audience bid on roundtrip Washington-Budapest Business Elite plane tickets (donated by Delta Airlines), an electric guitar signed by the band, a porcelain vase from the renowned Hungarian “Herend” manufacture, a bottle of Hungary’s famous dessert wine (Tokaji), and other items. The President of the Hungarian Federation of Employers, Sándor Demján, offered a personal donation of $5,000 to each of the families of the three firefighters who had died in action. Many individual donations were received and the amounts bid in the auction added to this amount as well, totaling at over 30,000 dollars.
The band’s repertoire included songs from The Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, Byrds, Jimi Hendrix, Traffic, Yardbirds, The Beatles and Animals. Many in the audience were dancing to the classic hits and they were “rockin’ for the fire brigades.”
Those attending the concert included Mrs. Lidia Demján, wife of Sándor Demján, the President of the Hungarian Federation of Employers; Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank; Professor Charles Gati of Johns Hopkins University; Ambassador Cynthia Schneider, currently Professor at Georgetown University; Robert Bauerlein, Vice-President of Boeing; Debra Cagan, Senior Advisor at the Pentagon; Dr. Cyrus Katzen, the founder of American University’s new Arts Center; John Parkerson, General Attorney of Delta Airlines; the Ambassadors of Denmark, Guatemala, Japan, Malta and Russia; and others as well as members of the American and Hungarian media.
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