When Tim Tinnin lost his wife Angie Capps-Tinnin, to colon cancer in 2012, he said he was "free-falling into a grief I didn't know existed" until the idea of Angiepalooza struck him about four months after her death.
The upcoming sixth Angiepalooza is a charity concert that supports those who have fought and survived cancer and honors individuals who have died from cancer. The concert will be at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 30 in downtown Jefferson City.
"If I couldn't have found something positive to come from her death, just look at it as a random murder - cancer murdered her - I don't think I could have handled it," Tinnin said. "I had to find something positive. I needed to direct that pain into something positive."
The concert will feature four bands: Blues DeVille, Burning Down The House, Kricket Alley and Disengaged. Tinnin said there will also be a surprise during the concert.
The concert will also feature two bells - a battle bell for those currently fighting cancer and a war bell for individuals who beat cancer.
"When you take your last treatment, you kick cancer's ass and you ring that bell," Tinnin said. "I also knew that Angie would have never gotten to ring that bell, though, because she was never going to beat it. If the only win you celebrate is the win of beating cancer, you miss a lot of wins. When you walk out of a treatment, that day you kicked its ass. It may get you in the end, but that day you win; and you need to celebrate those wins."
There is no fee to attend the concert, but concert-goers can donate, with proceeds going toward helping those fighting cancer. Tinnin buys "war and battle" bells for hospitals so cancer patients and survivors can ring them, along with stress balls and bandanas. He also purchases iPads for people going through chemo treatment so they have something to occupy themselves.
Tinnin said he thinks the concert attracts so many people because of how much cancer impacts everyone.
"This isn't just about Angie; it's about everybody," he said. "Everybody knew somebody. Everybody's got their rock star. Everybody has someone in their lives that they have lost to cancer and the dirty secret is if you don't have, you will have, because cancer affects everybody."
He said the concert will go on rain or shine unless there is lightning or strong wind.