Music	The Wild-Eyed Boy Called Freeland by Donny Kutzbach

Everyone remembers the first time they met Mark Freeland.

Since his untimely death in June following a long, secretive battle with throat cancer, it’s been de rigeur for the iconic Buffalo rock-and-roller and artist’s friends, fans and colleagues to share their tales of how this beautiful freak came into their orbits.

“It was 1980 at a Pegasonics gig at McVans,” recalls Bud Redding. “He invited me backstage and introduced me to the band. A couple years later when his keyboard player, Steve Trecasse, was looking for a keyboard player for his solo act [Trelaine], Mark suggested me, and I got the gig because of Mark’s recommendation. I didn’t really even have to audition. Mark spoke, and I was in.”

Redding—who played with Freeland in bands like Erectronics, Funk Monsters and colossal funky punks Electroman—admits it wasn’t the first or last time that the irrepressible performer and raconteur would change his life.

“I would not have become the promoter that I am, the musician I am, or the person that I am with out Mark’s direction, suggestions and guidance,” says Redding.

“I know that when I was laid off a few years ago,” he continues, “I was really at rock bottom. He’d tell me, ‘Fuck the corporate world, they didn’t care about you. Go make some music and forget about all that.’”

Redding is returning the favor to his friend with this Saturday’s A Tribute to Mark Freeland at Town Ballroom, which he was central in organizing.

This concert not only serves to celebrate the legacy of one of the area’s most inspiring artists—keeping his unique music in people’s ears—but also aims to keep his other artistic endavors alive, as it will benefit the preservation of Freeland’s body of paintings and other visual artworks.

The lineup of acts—positing the years from the 1970s through the 1990s alongside a handful of new bands—is as across the boards and hard to contain stylistically as Freeland himself.

Among the lineup are those who played with Freeland through the years, including the Fems, David Kane, Kent Weber and Industry of Life Divine; long-lost bands reunited, like the Enemies, the Jumpers and Paper Faces; and acts that Freeland inspired along the way, like Veil and Anal Pudding. And then a shuffled deck featuring everyone from Buffalo’s #1 cover band Party Squad, pure punks the Painkillers, garage blues badboys Handsome Jack, jam band Rhubarb and superstar side project Amungus featuring Robbie Takac.

“I think Mark would love the eclectic lineup,” Redding says. “It was one of my goals for the show and I keep thinking that Mark is up there, smiling at what we have put together.”

Redding says that every band was asked to pick a song or two from Freeland’s wide and varied catalog, but he was careful not to impose any rules on the affair.

“Mark was never big on rules,” he laughs, “but I know that 90 percent of all the acts are going to do some of his material. Veil was including ‘Potatoes and Corn,’ Paper Faces are doing ‘Go, Go, Go,’ my band, Shock and Awe, is doing ‘Cowboys of Scotland.’”

The response to participate was so overwhelming that a handful of bands and artists had to be turned away because the event simply couldn’t facilitate it. “We could have done a Woodstock kinda thing and played for three days,” Redding admits.

Still, the one-night concert is likely to feel like a lot more than that. It’s bound to be an evening that Freeland would have loved: packed with tons of musical acts, various types of art on display and being created, multimedia presentations, food vendors and plenty more surprises. Redding points out that all are donating their time and services for free because Mark had touched all of their lives. “He just had that effect on people, bringing out their creative sides, no matter if it was music, art or whatever,” Redding says.

The response and the enthusiasm for the concert is proof positive that while Freeland himself has gone, his generous artistic spirit, his unique perspective and his unwavering cool and attitude will continue to live on.

“He was just an amazing person, and I think about him everyday,” Redding says. “I miss him, but I know that Mark and his late brother Jimbo are now raising hell in heaven, rocking out.”