“Jamming for Jimmy” was held in honor of the late Marquette Alumnus, James “Jim” Foley, on Saturday, Oct. 13, at the Pabst Theater in downtown Milwaukee. Foley graduated from Marquette in 1996 and was most notably known for his work in foreign freelance journalism.
ISIS beheaded Foley in August of 2014 after he was being held in captivity for just under two years. Family, friends and the Marquette community heavily mourned his death. This past August marked 10 years since his passing, and friends and family created “Jamming for Jimmy” to honor and celebrate his life.
In 2014, 10 weeks after Foley’s murder, a concert in his honor was held to create the James Foley scholarship at Marquette. Tom Durkin (Marquette Alumnus ‘96 and research and grant coordinator at the center for peacemaking at Marquette), a close friend of Foley’s, helped create the idea of a second concert to honor Foley’s life and legacy. This time, Durkin, friends and family wanted the concert’s energy to be different.
“The first concert was very much about mourning Jim. There was this happy night, but it was so close to when everything happened,” Durkin said. “This time, we’re doing it more as a celebration of Jim’s life.”
About 10 months ago, Durkin was given the idea of a second concert by one of his friends, Vinny Michalski (Marquette Alumnus ‘96). The original concert, held in Chicago in November 2014, was headlined by the BoDeans and featured The Predictors, Vinny’s band from Marquette. Michalski’s encouragement to Durkin sparked the organizing of a second concert.
“Vinny reached out and said, ‘We should do the concert again, a 10-year anniversary concert.’ So, we reached out to the BoDeans, and they said they would be in, along with Vinny’s band, the Predictors,” Durkin said. “Almost ten months ago, we started going, ‘Can we do this? Can we pull this off?’ And so, we put our heads down and started putting a concert back together. This time, we figured we’d do it near Marquette in Milwaukee.”
Unlike the first concert in 2014, all proceeds from “Jamming for Jimmy” went to the Foley Foundation instead of the James Foley scholarship at Marquette, and additionally the Thriftones also performed. People came from all over the country for the concert, and Diane Foley, Jim’s mother, spoke about Foley’s ability to bring people together.
“He [Jim] was a really loving guy. He was the big brother but still an ordinary kid. There was something about Jim that inspired coming together. He was always a lot of fun and a great listener,” Diane said.
Three weeks after Foley’s murder, the Foley Foundation was created in honor of him. The foundation aims to work with governments, NGOs, the press, hostage families and other influential individuals/groups to help with U.S. hostage prevention and release. Foley’s ability to connect with and help people shone with the foundation’s creation, and Diane spoke about the support she and others received while creating it.
“As an American, I thought, ‘We could do better.’ Jim’s friends, the goodness of so many people and the Holy Spirit really gave me the courage to say, ‘We can do better,’” Dianne said.
At the concert, the connection Foley created with people was evident from the beginning to the end of the night. Before the concert, people stood in line in the lobby to purchase “Jamming for Jimmy” merchandise, which they wore with pride for the night. During the concert, there was not a dull moment all night, and it was not because of the music.
People were dancing in the aisles everywhere you looked, constantly moving around the theater to start new conversations and say “Hey!” to old friends. It was evident that a strong community had surrounded Foley, as many people came from around the country for the one person they had in common, Jimmy Foley.
“It’s thanks to a lot of the good people who stood up after Jim’s murder that a lot of the work of the Foley Foundation has endured Jim’s legacy,” Dianne said.
This story was written by MaryKate Stepchuk. She can be reached at [email protected].
