50th Anniversary Celebration

For 50 years, Seattle customers have enjoyed biting into freshly made burgers and sipping old fashion milkshakes beneath the orange overhang at Dick’s Drive-In. A burger sells for a buck and a chocolate shake costs only $1.50.

“There’s a lot of great food in the world, but there will always be a place for good old American burgers, I hope,” said Jim Spady, vice president of Dick’s Drive-In Restaurants, Inc.

But Dick’s Drive-In is not just a place to buy a good cheap burger.

In celebration of 50 years of business, Dick’s Drive-In Restaurants underwrote Music for the Children, a series of concerts starting last week, featuring the Russian Chamber Orchestra and 17-year-old acclaimed pianist and composer Nathan Bello of Portland. All proceeds from the concerts go to the Seattle Children’s Hospital & Regional Medical Center, the Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital & Health Center in Tacoma and the Kursk Regional Children’s Clinical Hospital in Russia.

“This is all about promoting international relations,” Bello said. ”Music is the universal language that bridges that gap.” The orchestra and pianist played in an hour-long free concert on Saturday at the food court in the Seattle Center. Friday night’s concert at the Benaroya Hall in Seattle sold 225 tickets, bringing in over $5,600, and a silent auction raised $800 that night from artwork made by children in a hospital in Kursk.

Richard Spady, cofounder, president and the “Dick” of Dick’s Drive-In restaurants, came up with the idea for the benefit concerts. He visited the Kursk Regional Children’s Clinical Hospital a few years ago and realized it is the only hospital in that region that treats children with blood diseases, including leukemia, and it was in need of funds.

“People said to Dick, ‘Why don’t you just write a check to the children’s hospital?’ And he said, ‘No, that’s not the point,’” said Nora Muller, executive assistant of the Northwest Chamber Orchestra and an organizer of “Music for the Children.” “Basically, Dick’s thing is all about building community.”

Using his own community involvement, Spady encouraged his fellow members of the Bellevue-Overlake Rotary Club and the Kursk Rotary Club to co-sponsor the concert series. While Friday night’s concert required a minimum donation of $25 a ticket, the free concert on Saturday broadened the community involvement to include the general public.

The concert began around 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, when Nathan Bello stepped to the microphone to announce his first piece, “Crash Collision March,” composed by Alain Jehan. Bello’s fingers began dancing across the keys. People wandered over to empty seats, tapping their feet to the beat, smiling with their eyes closed.

A little girl with pigtails turned in circles, giggling to the sound of Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag” emanating from the upright piano as Bello performed on the stage just above her.

“So far we’ve had a tremendous response,” said Chris Bello, Nathan’s father and piano teacher since he was six. “We just hope that it spawns something in public awareness and support.”

Spady sat in the center of the front row, his white hair tufting out beneath a gray hat. He gave Bello a standing ovation after every one of the five pieces he performed.

“He must be my biggest fan,” Bello said.

Spady discovered the immense talent of the young pianist about six months ago, when he and his wife attended a concert in Portland where Bello was performing. “It was magical,” Spady said of Bello’s music. “Just magical.”

Bello’s magic has gained him many achievements. In 2001, he won the Russian American Music Association’s International Festival of Young Virtuosos and had the honor of performing in Carnegie Hall. At 14 years of age, he placed first in the National Federation of Music Clubs with his composition, “Etude Tempestoso.”

Bello will graduate from Gladstone High School this year and has already received a scholarship to the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. However, he said he might postpone starting college. Bello is traveling to Russia with the Russian Chamber Orchestra this October.

The founding conductor of the Russian Chamber Orchestra, Maestro Sergei Proskourin, wants Bello to study at the Russian Conservatory in Moscow.

“I just need to learn Russian!” Bello said.

With Proskourin conducting, the Russian Chamber Orchestra performed six arrangements, the rich sound of nine violins, two violas, a cello and a contrabass filling the food court. In the middle of the “Pizzicato Polka,” Proskourin turned to the audience and encouraged them to clap to the beat. People put their hands together, laughing out loud as they participated.

He then pointed at Spady in the front row and gestured for him to climb up on stage. Spady began conducting the orchestra in place of Proskourin, who sat in a chair in the audience. Spady’s hands moved awkwardly across the air in his best interpretation of the conductor, while the audience hooted and hollered.

The final concert in the Music for the Children tour takes place at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma. The concert is free to the public. People are invited to attend a question and answer session with the Russian Chamber Orchestra at 5:00 p.m. Spady said the evening is dedicated to his deceased friend and fellow cofounder of Dick’s Drive-In, Warren Ghormley.

Betsie Rayner
Journalism Student
University of Washington
February 7, 2004