The Outback‘s annual winter fundraiser, “All in for the Outback” will be held on Saturday, March 7th, starting at 7 pm at the Willows Lakeside Lounge at 920 Oakridge Commons in South Salem N.Y.

This year’s event – A casino night featuring a Las Vegas-style evening including a Texas hold’em poker tournament, blackjack, slot machines, craps, and roulette- will be accompanied by appetizers, cocktails, desserts, and live entertainment by local musical talents, including the Verticals, the School of Rock house band, and the featured band of the evening, Lost & Found.

Pictured above, the Verticals consist of lead vocalist James Hilton, a 14 year old freshman at Darien High, lead guitarist Erik Cohen, a 14 year old freshman at New Canaan High, bassist Nevan McCann, a 17 year old junior at AITE, and drummer Jimmy Conroy, a 15 year old sophomore at Darien High. The band was formed at Giuliano’s Summer of Rock Program in the summer of 2014. The Verticals have been working on a four song EP at Outback’s recording studio with Lonn Bologna, studio manager for the past few months. The band is looking to release these songs in the very near future. The first single, Murky Green, has taken off in the local high school scene, and the band hopes to see the rest of the tracks receive similar attention following the release of the EP.

The School of Rock house band is comprised of truly talented and hardworking rock music students 10 to 18 years old from New Canaan and nearby towns. They are considered the “all stars” of the school with a playlist that is a combination of classic and modern rock. The house band has performed in multiple festivals and community events such as SONO Arts Festival, Westport’s Blues Views & BBQ, Gathering of the Vibes, New Canaan & Wilton’s Sidewalk Sales, New Canaan’s Halloween Parade, among others.

Additionally, the evening will feature Lost & Found bringing their acoustic/electric brand of rock & roll to the event. Fronted by powerful vocalist Deirdre Mannix and featuring local New Canaan and Fairfield County musicians, L&F mixes guitars, harmonica, keys and rhythm to create a rich and textured sound with a hard rockin’ edge. Their set list ranges from roots music of Taj Mahal, melodic rock of Fleetwood Mac to hard rocking Zeppelin, Chili Peppers and newer artists such as Coldplay. Band members include Matt Bavoso, guitar and bass, Greg Smith, guitar, Peter Houlahan, guitar and harmonica, Chelsea Honeyman, acoustic guitar and backing vocals,. Luis Ferreira, drums and vocals and Adam Weiss, drums and keyboards

The event is made possible by the generosity of our event sponsors—Baron Capital, Inc. as a Royal Flush sponsor, William Raveis Real Estate, Mortgage & Insurance, School of Rock of New Canaan and The New Canaan Advertiser as Full House sponsors and our Blackjack sponsors, Carnegie Pollak, Silver Thread Creative Solutions, WFL Real Estate Services and Russell Speeder’s Management Company, LLC. Tickets are still available for the event – reserve online at www.newcanaanoutback.org or call 203 594 3075 for more information.