Sticking it to cancer and the cold

First winter Angiepalooza event raises money for cancer patients

From left, Ashley Abbotte and JQ's restaurant owners, John Johnson and Quinten Rice, serve pulled pork nachos and sandwiches while chatting with Tim Tinnin, who started Angiepalooza, and John Breeden of the band Five Turn Knot. They were at The Millbottom on Sunday for Angiepalooza Winter Luau, a fundraiser for cancer patients.
From left, Ashley Abbotte and JQ's restaurant owners, John Johnson and Quinten Rice, serve pulled pork nachos and sandwiches while chatting with Tim Tinnin, who started Angiepalooza, and John Breeden of the band Five Turn Knot. They were at The Millbottom on Sunday for Angiepalooza Winter Luau, a fundraiser for cancer patients.

Since 2013, Tim Tinnin has used the annual Angiepalooza fundraiser to stick it to cancer, which claimed the life of his wife, Angie Capps-Tinnin. Now, he's also using Angiepalooza to stick it to Old Man Winter at the same time.

"They all know how bad I hate winter. I loathe winter," Tinnin said.

So he organized the first Angiepalooza Winter Luau, which was Sunday night at The Millbottom. It featured music from Blues Deville and Five Turn Knot, as well as tropical drinks from Shrunken Head Lounge and smoked pulled pork dishes from new restaurant JQ's.

By early evening, it also featured a growing crowd expected to sell out all 400 tickets by the end of the night. Tinnin said based on that, he hopes to make it an annual event, just like the summer Angiepalooza.

Ticket prices were $5, and all proceeds are used for local cancer patients. Tinnin said he believes in cancer research but specifically wanted to do something for the patients.

"There are three hospitals in town that do cancer treatments: JCMG, Goldschmidt and Tamara Hopkins' clinic, and we try to do stuff for all them. And we're trying to launch some new stuff, and it will help us do all that," he said.

Tinnin also encouraged cancer patients to attend, free of charge. "If you're fighting cancer, the party's on us," he said.

Lindsay Hess is one local woman who took him up on the offer. She has previously attended Angiepalooza events and now finds herself fighting breast cancer.

She said she was weak from her treatments but was looking forward to the evening.

"You never know how much you need events like this until it happens to you," she said.

Tinnin scheduled the event for an evening before a state holiday, since some people likely wouldn't attend if they had to work the next day. "It's like a having second Saturday," he said.

Alexandra Gibler came with a group of four, including boyfriend Anthony Hutson.

"We showed up because tomorrow is his birthday," she said. "We plan to be together for awhile, like the rest of our lives. Making this a tradition would be a good thing, because it's for a good cause."