Benefit planned for beloved bouncer
ROANOKE - It is hard to be above the age of 21 in this Valley and not know Bear.
Michael “Bear” Russell, 51, has been a bouncer since he was 19. In Roanoke he is the most well-known bouncer. Bear has worked in most every well known venue there is, or has been, in Roanoke.
For the past couple of decades he’s been the guy manning the door: getting lots of hugs and kisses from the women, and making sure that nobody slips by him without paying. If you’ve been to see a band in Roanoke, been to a bar that charged a cover, you’ve likely handed money to Bear at some point in your life.
Of course, that money didn’t go to Bear. Now, the much beloved Bear is in need, and Awful Arthur’s Towers, where Bear has been a fixture for the past eight years, is asking you to come out and, this time, donate money that will go to Bear.
“He’s a very private man,” said Barry Caldwell, General Manager at Awful Arthur’s, of Bear, “and he’s not telling us much” of what all is wrong. “He had to go into the hospital three months ago to have surgery on his feet because of stress fractures. There were complications” he said. “He’s currently at Friendship Manor, going through rehabilitation, learning to walk again after the surgery. He keeps calling us saying he’s coming back.”
On Saturday October 8 from 3pm – 11pm Awful Arthur’s Towers will host “Bearstock” – A Benefit for Michael “Bear” Russell. This time there will be no cover charge; all Caldwell is asking for is donations. “We’re certainly not going to require it, but we really hope people will come out and donate” he said. The money will go to help “cushion some of the blow of the hospital bills.”
It will be an event Bear would surely love to be at, they’re having some of his favorite bands playing in his honor. According the Facebook page for Bearstock “playing the benefit will be Elmer Coles Funktet, Juice, The Elderly Brothers, COWBOY, Cory Hunley, Half Moon, The Illbotz, and more.”
