On Sunday, former Yass local Garry Pollack mesmerised the crowd at the Crisp Galleries with a performance of songs from the 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s.
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The concert was held for a dual purpose; to raise money for Can Assist and to celebrate his mother’s 80th birthday.
“Originally I wanted to have the concert to honour my mother’s 80th birthday,” Mr Pollack said.
“And then I thought she’s quite a shy, humble person, so I wouldn’t promote it as that.
“Rather, I’d just do songs from her era.”
This included songs from such legends of swing music as Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, along with other artists such as George Gershwin and Irving Berlin.
Interwoven with the songs was a story told by Mr Pollack, about his time growing up in Yass and his mother.
Mr Pollack’s decision to donate the proceeds of his concert to Can Assist was also intensely personal.
It related to his father, who passed away four years ago, and of whom Mr Pollack said Can Assist was “a wonderful support.”
Roughly 70 people attended the concert, many of whom were family or old friends of Mr Pollack.
Having so many familiar faces around him, said Mr Pollack, exacerbated the nerves of performing, which were quite severe in the days leading up to the concert.
“I hadn’t done a solo concert in eight or nine years,” Mr Pollack said.
“I didn’t sleep very well the two days before.
“I think also when you’re performing to people you know it’s almost harder than performing to people you don’t know.”
However, Mr Pollack’s nerves had eased by the interval, and they were replaced with a welling of emotion due to the poignance of the event.
“When you’re in your home town and you’ve got friends, family … just being surrounded by people I had grown up with, it was emotional walking into the room,” he said.
President of Yass Can Assist, Geoff Frost was unable to attend his concert, but his wife Jean was present and gave Mr Pollack a glowing review.
“Oh yes he’s great, he’s very competent,” Mrs Frost said.
“He’s very talented, and the pianist that accompanied [Steven Kreamer] him was fantastic.”
Mr Frost spoke further about the importance of events like Mr Pollack’s and the positive impact they have on Can Assist locally.
“It’s really important for us,” Mr Frost said.
“We’ve got a fairly active fundraising group that does a lot, but given the size of the problem, we really need to have funds coming in from across the board.
“[The] community’s always been really generous … and individuals like Garry, it’s just fantastic when they do something like this for us.”