Music Festival 2004 - Norman Brown

Highlights of the 10th Annual Music Festival for Mental Health

September 11, 2004

Norman Brown jams on "After the Love."

Under cerulean skies during harvest at the Staglin Family Vineyard, more than 400 donors and friends came together to raise $1.7 million for the Tenth Annual Music Festival for Mental Health. Garen Staglin, co-host of the event, announced that the Festival’s ten-year total, including new grants from the National Institute for Mental Health, has now reached over $25 million.

“We are engaged in a major effort to find the cures for mental illness, which continues to affect more than 20 million Americans annually, costing our country over $150 billion each year,” said Shari Staglin, co-host of the event. “This festival was conceived ten years ago as a celebration of life. The real stars are those who suffer from and struggle every day with mental illness."

The $1.7 million raised continues the Music Festival’s record as the highest grossing fund-raising event related to wine without an auction. With 100 percent of the expenses underwritten by its sponsors, all proceeds go directly to scientific research through NARSAD (National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression) and several other research and treatment programs, including those at UCSF, Stanford University, UCLA, University of Southern Florida, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center plus Aldea, Inc. of Napa and Sonoma.

Margrit and Bob Mondavi with Drs. Regina Casper and Thomas Insel.

Shari Staglin added, "Having an event of this quality helps to raise awareness and reduce the discrimination and stigma associated with mental illness. Too many victims of these illnesses go untreated because they are afraid to come forward and seek help or are unaware of the treatments available.”

The program for the Music Festival began with a scientific symposium at which Dr. Thomas Insel, Director of the National Institute for Mental Health, provided a fascinating presentation on Psychiatry in the Genomic Era. The lecture described the progress made in the last decade to understand the functioning of the brain and shared Dr. Insel’s view to the next decade about “discovery and translation” of this science into powerful and effective new treatments. Copies of his presentation are available in PowerPoint format on request. Dr. Sam Barondes, Director of the Center for Neurobiology and Psychiatry at UCSF, moderated the lecture and the question and answer session that followed. 

The party in the caves.

An afternoon reception held in the Staglins’ 24,000 square feet underground winery caves featured fine wines from 70 ultra-premium wineries in Napa Valley, Sonoma, and Washington, including rare “cult” Napa Valley wines. Hors d’oeuvres by Chef Cindy Pawlcyn of Mustards Grill and Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen were served – including grilled hoisin lamb chops with Chinese mustard. Guests reassembled later in the afternoon for the infectious, high-energy jazz of Norman Brown, GRAMMY Award winning guitarist, and his band. High points included a dynamic solo by drummer “Scooter” Powell and an interactive “scat” session in which Norman had the 450 guests join in.

Chef Michael Schlow with Garen and Shari.

Rounding out the program was a four-course dinner under the stars prepared by Chef Michael Schlow of Radius, Via Matta and Great Bay restaurants in Boston. Volunteer sommeliers, led by Wine Director Michael Greenlee of the Gotham Bar and Grill in New York, provided wine service, featuring the library wines of Staglin Family Vineyard. The evening concluded with donors contributing additional financial pledges for laps swum in the Staglins’ pool by Napa luminaries Margrit Mondavi, wife of winemaker Robert Mondavi, California Congressman Mike Thompson and others, bringing in another $135,000 for mental health research.

 

Learn more about 2008's upcoming Music Festival for Mental Health