Friday’s Alzheimer’s Music Festival at the Buckhead Theatre will feature Drivin N Cryin and Arrested Development for a cause that has personally impacted most of the performers who will appear.

The festival will raise money for the Dementia Spotlight Foundation and awareness about the condition and its pernicious, wide-reaching effects. Also appearing will be Cracker, Kurt Wheeler, Guru Fish and Zangaro.

The evening’s promise of an enthralling, upbeat concert belies the reality of the condition that the Dementia Spotlight Foundation seeks to confront. For patients the world over, Alzheimer’s is a merciless disease that quietly and systematically reduces its victims to hollow shells of their former selves and leaves a path of devastated families, loved ones and caregivers in its wake. (I’ve observed that beast in action as it has taken its toll on my family and left me with the haunting awareness that I may one day be its casualty.)

“My father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s about 10 or 11 years ago,” says Dementia Spotlight Foundation co-founder Whitney Oeltmann. “At that time my mom and I were devastated and looking for support. The whole experience is really tough. When my dad was diagnosed, it was like all of a sudden he was no longer a person. Even though he was the same person he was when he came in, all of the talks were to me and my mom. They said, ‘This will be the hardest thing you’ll ever do.’” READ MORE