All You Need to Know About Saturday's High School Booster Bash

The South Pasadena High School Booster Club’s second annual Booster Bash on Sept. 7 is known as the best new party in South Pasadena—with live music by the Grateful Dads, dancing, casual food, beer and wine—all at the beautiful home of Therese and Mario Molina. 

It’s a chance to catch up after a long summer, see old friends, have something to eat, maybe do a little dancing—all in a relaxed, backyard atmosphere. It’s also a chance to bid on some tempting silent auction items, including four field-level tickets to see the playoff-bound Dodgers on Sept. 27; makeovers for prom, homecoming or Rose Queen try-outs at Studio 55 in Pasadena; a sports or special event photography package by Shoal Hollingsworth; five group workout sessions (adult or child) at CATZ Sports Performance Center in Pasadena; and a weekend stay at a Catalina condo.

Hometown favorite the Grateful Dads—the quartet whose members’ impressive resumes includes gigs with Linda Ronstadt, Booker T, Ray Charles, Chaka Khan, and Van Dyke Parks, to drop just a few names—will be bringing their horn section, vocalist Debra Dobkin, and an eclectic set list that can segue from Daft Punk song into Billy Idol, with a Santana or Curtis Mayfield song thrown in for good measure.

But the fundraiser has a serious side as well, as the Booster Club seeks to build its membership and diversify its sources of revenue beyond Saturday Night Bingo to be able to continue its 50-year-old tradition of supporting extracurricular activities at the high school.

“When people hear Booster Club, they think sports,” says Booster Club President Linda Louie. “But the reality is the Booster Club supports just about every other high school extracurricular program including science, instrumental music, theater, journalism, pep, virtual business—you name it.” 

Most SPHS students benefit from Booster Club funds, Louie points out. “We want to make sure that everyone realizes that support of the Booster Club means critical support for the extracurriculars that are such an important part of the high school experience—the kind of things that make South Pasadena, schools so attractive,” she says.

Tickets for Booster Bash 2013, scheduled from 6 to 11 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 7 at the Molinas, 1311 Chelten Way, are $40 per person ($50 at the door). They can be purchased online at http://boosterbash.eventbrite.com/. Questions? Contact Linda Louie at lindalouie888@gmail.com or at (626) 441-5530.

Jim Tranquada, director of communications at Occidental College, is on the board of the South Pasadena High School Booster Club.