By all accounts, Terie Colecchi would not have wanted his life remembered with some fancy dress-up affair.
And so when Mike Blotzer decided to do something to celebrate the life of his friend – as well as raise some money for an 11-year-old boy left tragically fatherless after Colechhi’s death last week – he knew it needed to involve music and a laidback good time.
On Thursday night, a lineup of four rock bands will play at Brixton on the Redondo Beach pier in a show benefiting Colecchi, the legendarily big-hearted bouncer who was beaten to death by two men outside Pat’s Cocktails II in the early morning hours of June 2.
All the money raised by the show will go directly to Colecchi’s son, Jack. Blotzer said the show is shaping up to be exactly the kind of night Colecchi would have appreciated.
“Terie wouldn’t have wanted some kind of suit-and-tie gala,” Blotzer said. “This is exactly the way Terie would have wanted it. He’s looking down smiling right now.”
Colecchi served as more than a bartender at Pat’s Cocktails, the neighborhood bar in South Redondo where he had become an icon of sorts working the front door. He possessed an ability to befriend and look after the bar’s regular patrons. Blotzer said the last time he saw Colecchi a few weeks ago, he’d gone to the bar feeling blue with the intention of drowning his sorrows.
Colecchi took one look at his friend’s face and approached him.
“Hey man, is everything alright? Do you need to talk?” he asked Blotzer.
Blotzer regrets now that he didn’t take Colecchi up on the offer. But he said this act of kindness and concern was the thing that set Colecchi apart.
“That was the kind of guy Terie was – if you were having a bad day, he would listen to your troubles,” Blotzer said. “I’ve toured the world over and grown up with my dad being a barfly. I’ve seen a million and one bar guys, and a million of them could be jerks. Terie was the one who didn’t ever act that way. He was the one.”
Blotzer said he came to know Colecchi both inside and outside the bar, giving his friend drum lessons and sharing in his passion for music.
“He was just an amazing guy, and that is why we are doing this – it’s exactly the way he would have wanted it,” said Blotzer, who plays in two of the bands who will be on the bill Thursday night. “Have some fun, and at the same time do it for a reason – to make money for his kid. There is no reason an 11-year-old kid should lose his dad to violence just for doing his job.”
The suggested donation for the night is a minimum of $20. Four bands will play, starting with The Supplements at 7:30 p.m. and continuing with Carothers Brothers, Dive Bar Stickup, and Valhalla, featuring Bobby Blotzer of RATT. Several items will be raffled, as well.
The event was originally scheduled for Dive, the bar adjacent to Brixton, but owner Dennis Needleman said that when he saw the magnitude of the event that was coalescing and learned more about Terie Colecchi, he moved it into the larger Brixton. Needleman is donating the venue and all staff time for the event.
“I wasn’t going to go cheap on this – we wanted the best sound, lights, and experience for anyone who comes, just out of respect for Terie,” Needleman said. “Because he deserves the best.”
Colecchi’s death has stunned the tight-knit community around Pat’s II as well as the larger South Bay community. He was sweeping cigarettes from the outside of the bar near closing time when two men tried to force their way inside. According to reports, they kicked him to the ground and continued kicking; he died before reaching the hospital of blunt force trauma to the head.
Needleman said that Thursday night’s event is being hosted both out of respect for Colecchi, as well as for front door men everywhere, who he compared to firemen insofar as 99 percent of their job is relatively routine and then that other one percent erupts “and all hell breaks loose and you have to be on your game.”
“We are proud to host this event for Terie, just out of respect and appreciation for the hard work and dedication the security teams put in at all cocktail bars, clubs, and concert venues,” Needleman said. “Their work goes without thanks, and sometimes they are put in harm’s way. They are not appreciated enough. This is just a moment in which we should all step back and thank them when we go in the doors of establishments.”
Doors open at 7 p.m. tonight, June 14, at Brixton, located on the Redondo Beach Pier. ER
