Sandy West Tribute!

[gus danger]

Check out the Sandy West Monument, Cherie recently finished. It's beautiful and the perfect companion piece for the Mermaid Tribute to Sandy!

Sandy West's Monument Photo Gallery - Photo 17 of 18 by Cherie Currie - MySpace Photos

Sandy West's Monument Photo Gallery - Photo 18 of 18 by Cherie Currie - MySpace Photos

You can look at the entire gallery on MySpace too, in order to see the process, from start to finish! These photos should be added to the Sandy West Tribute photo album on her ChainsawChick.Com site soon.

As for Cherie....she is loaded up and leaving tomorrow for Sandy West's Memorial Tribute on Friday, June 26th, 1 pm at "Kenny's Music Store", 24731 La Plaza, Dana Point, CA.

I sure wish I could be there for the official unveiling ceremony!
Rock on Cherie!
:2thumbsup:
Gus

[The Canadian Wolverine]

Cherie you are something else, you continue to give
you are my idol you really are.

Warren

[gus danger]

Today is the day!
Here's a cool article about it:

Thursday, June 25, 2009
Runaways drummer Sandy West gets memorial in Dana Point

A sculpture by singer Cherie Currie will be unveiled Friday in her honor.

By PETER LARSEN
The Orange County Register
Comments 1| Recommend 3

At times, Cherie Currie tells you, the proximity of roaring chain saw and massive hunk of Sequoia redwood made the rock-'n'-roll singer turned wood sculptor a tad nervous.
"It was extremely dangerous getting as close to the saw as I had to do to get this," says Currie, who found fame in the Runaways, the punkish band of teenage girls who made a splash in the last half of the '70s.
"But me and Sandy were so close," Currie says of Runaways' drummer Sandy West, who grew up in Huntington Beach and died three years ago of lung cancer. "And I have no doubt that Sandy was with me, and working on this with me."
The project on which Currie worked, feeling West's presence beside her throughout, is a sculpture of a mermaid playing an electric guitar, a piece commissioned by Kenny's Music Store in Dana Point in tribute to West.
Currie talked about the project on Wednesday, as she drove from her home in West Hills to Dana Point to deliver both the sculpture and a memorial pedestal in which she inlaid a pair of West's drum sticks.
The statue and monument will be unveiled on Friday at the store, with a concert to follow in a small park across the street.
For Currie, the experience has left her feeling close once more to West, a best friend since their teenage days in the Runaways, whose primary members also included Joan Jett and Lita Ford.
(A Runaways biopic starring Dakota Fanning as Currie and Kristen Stewart as Jett is currently in the works. A relative unknown, Stella Maeve, who you may have caught on "Gossip Girl," is slated to play West.)
"Sandy was one of a kind," Currie says. "I know we use those words loosely, but I meant that sincerely. She was a tough girl. She could be scary. But she was a sweet as you could be."
As she worked on the statue, Currie says she felt her hands and her chain saw guided by her old friend.
"This carving to me had to be perfect," she says. "I could not make a single mistake, and let me tell you, getting that saw up in between the hands and the guitar, it was tough."
Both the statue, which includes a seal and a sea turtle on its base, and the monument are adorned with shells and shiny baubles. Most precious to Currie, though, were the drum sticks West's family gave her to include in the monument's base.
"I wanted a pair of sticks that she had played with," Currie says. "I wanted something that had her energy and her incredible beautiful soul had passed through."
Kimberly Williams, who with husband Kenny Williams owns and operates Kenny's Music, said her husband came across a chain saw sculpture by Currie online ? a Laguna Beach doctor's commission for woman in a yoga pose ? and contacted Currie.
"Kenny said, 'Wouldn't it be neat to do a memorial for Sandy?'" Kimberly Williams says. "And she went, 'Oh my gosh, that's a wonderful idea!'"
As plans for a ceremony to dedicate the work took shape, Williams eventually decided to expand the celebration into a benefit concert for the son of friends who is fighting leukemia.
The lineup now includes players such as Ian Mitchell of the Bay City Rollers, Martin Gerschwitz who played keyboards for Iron Butterfly and the Animals, and the Raymies, a Runaways-styled band of teenage girls from San Clemente around whom considerable buzz is building.
Gretchen Bonaduce, ex-wife of Danny Bonaduce, a friend of Currie's and current star of her own reality TV series, will also perform.
But most of all the day is a celebration of West, one of the first female drummers in rock.
"This one is like nothing I've ever done before," Currie said the special place these pieces hold in her heart. "As much work as it was, it was a pleasure for me, and I felt Sandy with me always."


Statue in honor of Runaways drummer Sandy West comes to Dana Point | currie, west, says, sandy, saw - Entertainment - OCRegister.com

Have fun out there Cherie!
:2thumbsup:
Gus

[Sportyfan]

It would be so cool to be able to attend this! Wish I could be there. There's no better way to honor Sandy than a concert since music was her life. Hard to believe its been three years though.

[gus danger]

Friday, June 26, 2009

Friends and fans remember Runaways drummer

Sandy West is memorialized with a statue in Dana Point.

By PETER LARSEN
The Orange County Register
Comments 1| Recommend 1

To those who came to remember and celebrate her, Sandy West was a daughter or a best friend, a sister or a rock star.
In a ceremony in Dana Point on Friday, the former drummer for the Runaways was honored with the dedication of chainsaw-sculpted statue of a mermaid playing an electric guitar and a monument inlaid with a pair of her drumsticks, both pieces created by Runaways singer Cherie Currie.
"When I think of the word friend, no one that I've known owns that word like Sandy," Currie told a crowd of a hundred or so gathered outside Kenny's Music Store, which commissioned the work.
"Sandy was an example of human greatness," she said, pausing as she fought back tears. "And I'm honored that I had her in my life."
Following Currie to speak was Jeri Williams, West's mother, who came from her home in Palm Desert and was joined by other daughters and relatives at the ceremony.
"It's been hard," she told the crowd of losing her daughter to cancer that spread from the lungs to the brain. "I miss her every day."
Moments later, when the tarps covering the sculpture and monument were removed, Williams gasped and put her hand to her mouth, moved by the beauty of the scene.
"She suffered so much," Williams said after the ceremony ended. "Cancer is so awful, as we all know. But she's in a better place now. She was a believer, so that helped."
Williams remembered how when West reached the age her older sisters had taken up string instruments she signed her up to learn the violin at her elementary school in Long Beach.
"Well, she took it for two weeks and then she said, 'Mom, that's not for me, but I found out I could be the first female drummer in elementary school!'" Williams said.
And that was that. West played the drums all throughout school, including the marching band at Edison High School in Huntington Beach, with which she played the cymbals in the Rose Parade one year, her mother said.
When the Runways took off (the teenage all-girl band is set to be the subject of a movie starring Dakota Fanning as Currie and Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett), Williams said she knew it was a big deal, but she really didn't understand how good her daughter was until after she died.
"I knew she played the drums, and played them well," Williams said. "But I have a scrapbook now filled with letters I received from all kinds of different people after she died, telling how wonderful she was as a drummer."
Currie said after the ceremony she was pleased that so many had come to honor her friend, turning a sadness into something joyful for the day.
"The feeling of loses comes, but the joy of having known her is a blessing," Currie said. "And I do believe she's here with me."
Peggy Foster, who played bass for the Runaways in one of their earliest lineups, came from her home in Palos Verdes to the ceremony, paying tribute to the friend with whom she reconnected for the last two years of West's life.
"Sandy spent a lot of time with me the last few years of her life," Foster said. "I was at the NAMM show (in Anaheim) and somebody told me the Runaways were looking for me, so Sandy got in touch with me and we were like twins after that.
"She'd come over to my house to hang out and gossip, or we'd go on road trips to see Joanie (Jett) play," she said. "We rehearsed in my garage, too. She wanted to get the Runaways back together."
Among the fans in the crowd was Sunao Tobaru, a 47-year-old from Berkeley who saw a notice on Currie's MySpace page and traveled down to the ceremony on Friday.
As a 16-year-old growing up in Japan, he says he fell for the Runaways as soon as their first album reached Okinawa where he lived.
"The first album, all the songs were so simple, but easy to relate to, even for people who don't know American music that well," Tobaru said. "The most attractive thing was they were all-female, young, and with a bad-looking attitude."
And West, most of all, seemed to him the ideal of an American dream girl.
"Sandy had that typical, healthy California surfer image," Tobaru said. "I fell in love with Sandy's smile."
After the ceremony ended, the crowd migrated down the block to La Plaza Park, where Kenny and Kimberly Williams, owners of Kenny's Music Store, had also organized a concert as a benefit for a friend's son who is fighting leukemia.
That, too, greatly pleased Williams, she said.
"I'm very touched by that," Williams said. "It would make Sandy very happy, and it makes me very happy, too, because we've got to conquer this terrible disease."


Friends and fans remember Runaways drummer | williams, sandy, currie, ceremony, west - Entertainment - OCRegister.com

:2thumbsup:

[dlaw]

Having been there on Saturaday with my kids, I can tell you it was a true celebration of life. The sculpture is breathtaking and it is in an area of high visibilty. The music was wonderful and Cherie, as usual, was her graceous self, posing for pics all afternoon with sis Marie (and mom Marie, too), signing autographs. For Cherie it was truly an act of philanthropy since the time and energy she devoted to this project was nowhere near the compensation she received, but isn't that the way she is? Much of the time was devoted to raising $$$ for a friend of Kenny and Kimberly's son who is suffering from leukemia.

BTW, I hear that Tatum O'Neal is playing Cherie's mom. Also, Cherie said that the death of Michael Jackson and Farrah has touched the cast of the Runaways movies, since Lisa Marie Presely's (ex-wife of Michael Jackson) daughter and Ryan O'Neal's daughter are cast in the movie.

[gus danger]

Thanks for the review Doc. I'm so glad you could make it!
It sounds like it was wonderful time, for sure!

Kenny has uploaded 287 pictures, from the event, to his MySpace page!

Here's my favorite:
STATUE UNVEILING AND CRAIG BRANDMEIER BENEFIT CONC Photo Gallery - Photo 10 of 287 by Kenny's music - MySpace Photos

And here's the main link to the album:
Kenny's music's STATUE UNVEILING AND CRAIG BRANDMEIER BENEFIT CONC Photo Album - MySpace Photos

All I can say, besides I wish I'd been there, is WOW!!!
:2thumbsup:
Gus

[gus danger]

Cherie has GREAT pictures, like this one, on her MySpace now!!!

Check 'em out! You'll love them!
Cherie Currie 's Sandy's Memorial Day in Dana Point Photo Album - MySpace Photos
:2thumbsup:
Gus

[NewYorkJettster]

You're right, I love them

[gus danger]

Kenny's MySpace Buletin today!

Jul 5, 2009 1:30 PMSubject: CHERIE CURRIE STATUE ON KOCE TELEVISION THE REAL ORANGE DON'T MISS CHERIE AND KENNY'S MUSIC ON THE REAL ORANGE ON KOCE TELEVISION. IT PLAYED ONCE TODAY ALREADY AND HAS BEEN PLAYING ALL WEEK. THANKS EVERYONE FOR ALL THE SUPPORT. NEXT YEAR WE WANT TO FIND ANOTHER NEEDY FAMILY TO HELP BY PUTTING ON ANOTHER BENEFIT CONCERT.

KENNY'S MUSIC
24731 LA PLAZA
DANA POINT, CA. 92629
949-661-3984

Wish I got that channel. Maybe it'll show up on YouTube?!?!

GD