Bruce Allen Backs Rocket Norton’s Latest F-*-*-K Cancer All-Star Benefit

Bruce Allen has stepped in as co-producer of the Rocket Norton-driven Vancouver all-star Wheaton Fuck Cancer concert that takes place on Oct. 21 at the city’s Centre for the Performing Arts.

In 2021, Norton, the former drummer in the multi-platinum band Prism, was diagnosed with rectal cancer, and during his treatments, a package arrived from friend and former manager Bruce Allen. It was a black tee shirt with bold white letters that screamed out F-*-*-K C-A-N-C-E-R. Norton took it as a battle cry and went on to organize a benefit concert for the BC Cancer Foundation that raised $344K with an all-star cast of friends and peers.

Norton decided to do something for the cause and called up a who’s who in Vancouver’s rock elite to perform gratis at a concert last October. In an interview earlier this year, he told journalist Alex Browne that “When somebody tells you you’ve got six months to live…I thought about it and decided I’m going to keep on doing all the things that are important to me.”

The six months have come and gone and he has no idea what his timespan is now, but he’s pressed on and enlisted a long list of acts that will support him in this year’s charitable endeavour that include members of Chilliwack, Doug & the Slugs, Headpins, H.U.N.N., Jeff Neill, Jim Byrnes, Lee Aaron, Loverboy, Powder Blues, Trooper (now called Hot Shots), and, of course, Prism.

The event is co-produced with Vancouver entertainment czar Bill Allman with Beedie Capital and Wheaton Precious Metals and two unnamed people underwriting all of the production costs for the concert extravaganza.

More details, including ticket information, can be found here.