Local musicians will come together to support local tattoo artist Joe Stamp in a benefit concert for Stamp and his family at Newby's Wednesday night.
An accident involving a car and a motorcycle on Southern Avenue and Houston Street three weeks ago sent Joe Stamp, the driver of the motorcycle, to the hospital with severe injuries.
Since then, he has begun to mend and was released from the hospital Sunday night. While he had the lower portion of his leg amputated, none of his injuries will disable him from returning to his job as a tattoo artist at No Regrets Tattoo Emporium.
Stamp will be making a public appearance at the benefit show in his honor.
Newby's, which is hosting the show, will be opening doors at 7:30 p.m. and won't close until 3 a.m.
Ed Harris, the promoter of the event, has high hopes that the event will sell out. With tickets at $10 and a maximum capacity of 1,000 occupants, the event could potentially raise $10,000 for Stamp and his family.
"It's a huge party if you like the Memphis music at all or if you're just a tattoo enthusiast," Harris said.
There are ten bands on the lineup for this 18 and up show, all of which are local.
"It's basically a college block party, and it all goes to help out Joe," Harris said.
Stamp has anywhere from six to eight months before he is healed enough to return to work.
"Since the tattoo industry doesn't provide health insurance, the money and donations from this show will be to make sure his kids can eat," Harris said.
Admission to the show is $10 at the door, but attendees should bring extra cash for the raffles and t-shirts.
"We're raffling away thousands of dollars worth of things, like a custom acoustic guitar from Guitar Center signed by Joe Stamp," Harris said.
Jase Harshman, a vocalist in This Tragic Day, did not know Stamp personally but was close to fellow musician Harris since he was a recording drummer on an album for his band.
"We've all been keeping up with it over the news but I'm covered in tattoos so I'm a big fan," Harshman said.
This Tragic Day will be playing at 11 p.m.
Another band playing is Surrender the Fall, which will be headlining the concert.
"Surrender the Fall is from Memphis but considered a national band because they've toured with countless big bands," Harris said.
Jared Cole, the vocalist of Surrender the Fall, was also called by their friend and former drummer, Harris.
"We all will be hanging out until they lock the doors," Cole said.
Surrender the Fall was filled in on the situation and eagerly jumped on the lineup as the headlining band.
"We are always down to help out, especially with our Memphis family," Cole said.
Cole has had tattoos from No Regrets, but none from Stamp ... yet. "You never know when it could be you on the flip side of the coin - humanity has responsibilities and I think everybody should reach out and be a part of something huge for somebody else," Cole said.
