A funny thing happened on the way to Michael McGrath’s “Death Party” on Friday night: Good news. A modicum of hope.

McGrath, a beloved local rock photographer who has been chronicling live music in Denver since the late 1980s, was diagnosed in January with stage 4 bile-duct cancer. Since then, he and his family have gotten everything that generally comes with that kind of catastrophic news in a country with a broken health-care system: A tsunami of love, support … and unending medical bills.

If you think it’s expensive to live in America, just wait till you find out how much it can cost to die.

Since March, McGrath’s wife, Amy, has been organizing Friday’s benefit concert, which she cheekily billed, “Still Loud: A Celebration of Michael McGrath.”

Let’s not mince words. McGrath’s doctors hit him with a grim diagnosis in January. As in, “Get your affairs in order,” he said. Months, not years. This party was going to be about raising $20,000 for the family, sure. But it was also going to be an opportunity to say goodbye in a way we rarely get: With a party. With music and laughter. With a loved one who is still breathing.

But the family recently switched to UC Health, where a new team of medical professionals has reviewed McGrath’s case. “And they think that his tumor is operable,” said Amy, “which would radically change the outlook. Those doctors think that Michael can live – and should live.”

But here’s the catch, added Amy, a teacher at Denver School of the Arts: The change in doctors means a change in insurance companies. “And it’s going to be a third of my salary to insure us next year on this new health-care plan,” she said.  

So while the contrasting prognosis lightened the mood at Friday’s already lighthearted death party, it also underlined what remains at stake: A man’s life, and a family’s sustenance.

It’s all about the music

About 400 people gathered at the Oriental Theater in northwest Denver for what amounted to two family reunions: The extended McGrath family, and the Denver music family dating back 30 years. They came to hear music, reconnect, tell stories, drink and dance. They came to look McGrath in the eye and tell him that they love him. Perhaps most impactfully, most left with a  McGrath concert print or two from a mini-marketplace set up by his nieces and nephews. They chose from classic prints spanning Buddy Guy to Johnny Depp to Yoko Ono. (One of McGrath’s snaps was included in a career retrospective of Ono’s work titled “Infinite Universe at Dawn.”)

As each band played, the cinema-sized screen behind them played a slideshow of photos McGrath has taken of them over the years. Veteran songwriter Erin Roberts of Porlolo called them her baby pictures.

McGrath personally curated Friday’s lineup, which included Rowboat, Porlolo, Peter, Paul & Gary (wait for it!) and Pink Mountaintops. That last one is essentially Stephen McBean, a longtime staple of Vancouver’s indie-music scene. His renowned collective has gone through about 30 members since 2004, with McBean as its only mainstay.

And while it was lovely to see Porlolo, a fixture in Denver and Fort Collins for two decades, giving up a paying gig on a Friday night to help McGrath and his family raise some money, and to see Andy Monley of The Czars make a surprise musical cameo, the story of why and how McBean came all the way to Denver from Los Angeles for Friday’s show tells you all you need to know about McGrath’s enduring place in Denver’s music community.

Back in 2019, another McBean musical project called Black Mountain was headlining that year’s Underground Music Showcase (The UMS) – which takes place every July. McBean asked Colin Bricker, the UMS’ go-to sound engineer, if Black Mountain could come into town a few days early to work in a new singer at Bricker’s studio, Mighty Fine Productions. He said sure, but he was ears-deep into setting up 18 separate sound systems for the upcoming music festival.

“I told Stephen, ‘I can’t babysit you guys,’ Bricker said with a laugh. So he called his sister, who happens to be … Amy McGrath … to, you know, babysit. Fast friendships were made.

Fast-forward four months, and Black Mountain was back in Denver to play at the Bluebird Theater on the Friday after Thanksgiving. “Amy said, ‘Hey, do you guys want to come over for Thanksgiving?’” Bricker said. And with that, the whole Black Mountain touring party – a group of about 10 – joined the Bricker/McGrath family feast.

McBean was more than happy to come back and give back at Friday’s show.

From the start, the bands channeled their positive energy McGrath’s way like it was reverb from their guitars. They spoke their love through songs, not sentimental speeches. This was a shindig, not a send-off. But there was musical meaning to all of it, starting with the Denver band Rowboat’s opening song, “Rise Up.” And it was no accident that Roberts ended Porlolo’s set with “I Don’t Want to Lose You.”

“I have always thought of that as a really fun, upbeat song,” Roberts said after the show. “But I did this tour with Karl Blau, and he said to me, ‘That’s the saddest song I’ve ever heard.’ But he was thinking of a friend he’d just lost as he listened. And so, when we were preparing tonight’s set, I thought about the song in that context and how it struck him in such a deep and impactful way. And so I wanted to put that song last.”

(And it was seriously upbeat.)

Roberts said it was one of the honors of her life to be considered for Friday’s bill.

“I think some people live outside the expectations of society,” she said. “Michael is one of the few people I know who does things because he truly loves to do things. He’s at so many shows. His endurance is insane. He truly loves music, he truly loves taking photos, and he’s just joyful. He has a joie de vivre that is unparalleled.”

The crowd was a who’s-who of local legends, outcasts and misfits. There were more than 30 McGrath relatives. A sister flew in from San Juan Capistrano. A dozen or so youngsters formed a cool-kid collective to one side of the stage, most of them friends or cousins of the two McGrath children. There were musicians, fans and fellow photographers spanning David Thomas, DU’s “Professor of Fun,” to Andrew Novick, member of the band Warlock Pinchers and self-described “prolific provocateur of wackiness.”

This eclectic mix had me thinking back to my own origin story with Michael McGrath. A million years ago, I played a tiny part in helping my colleagues and friends Ricardo Baca and John Wenzel launch a briefly glorious Denver Post concert-review website called Reverb. McGrath was a rock among Reverb photographers. Like most in the trade, he rarely got paid for it; instead gladly accepting assignments for the tickets that came with them.

As a journalist, I have noted countless examples over the years of how the Denver music community shows up when one of its own is in need. But here was an example of the music community rallying around one of us – a chronicler, not a vocalist. That seemed uncommon to me. But Roberts was surprised at the suggestion of a distinction.

“Whether you are a journalist or a musician, these are all the people in your neighborhood,” she said. “It takes everyone to make the system go round. We form deep relationships with sound people, with club owners and with chroniclers, and those relationships are just as true as they are with other musicians. Michael is out there creating so much content for all of us, and with every photo, he’s encouraging you to come to our shows. I’m grateful to everybody who’s out there chipping away.”

The legendary Erica Brown said she was there Friday for one reason: “Michael McGrath.” McGrath captured the photo that she used as the cover art for her first CD under the Erica Brown Band name (“I AmErica”).

“He caught me in a moment with that photo,” she said. “I’m literally leaning back. My hands are up and there’s a small American flag right over my head. We didn’t plan that. But, wow, you have to have a special talent to nail that shot. And the thing with Michael is that he knows I never stand still in my shows. But the really great photographers will just wait on the shot. It is an art just like anything else. That’s the 10,000-hour rule.”

Or in McGrath’s case, the 3,500 rule. That’s about how many concerts he’s shot while perfecting his craft.

A man and his cameras

The sweetest part of the night was simply watching McGrath watch the show. Rather than get pulled into a never-ending receiving line of well-wishers, McGrath took his place where it has been at every concert for decades: Front and center, cameras strapped to both shoulders, a Patti Smith hoodie covering his strikingly long and white locks. Snapping away, fully focused on the music.

When I asked how he was processing all of the love, he responded simply: “It’s a little overwhelming. Yeah.”

Usually, clubs set up a narrow barricade in front of the stage called “the pit” to allow working photographers room and mobility to take pictures from the best possible angles. That wasn’t necessary Friday. Four hundred is a lot of people, but the Oriental can hold 700. So there was room to spread out a bit.

But what’s interesting is that no one crowded right up to the edge of the stage, as they almost always do at any concert. Instead, they hung back a few feet, as if to create, consciously or not, an unmarked pit just for McGrath to do his work unimpeded. It was really kind of special.

McBean’s mellow, meaningful vibe was backed by a cohort of local musicians who would soon steal the show and run away with it. They are collectively known as Peter, Paul & Gary – and they are nine, not three – and only one of them is named any of those names (Gary Schillinger). PP&G, which includes Bricker, is celebrating its 30th year as a stupidly fun cover band that has been brazenly described as “unoriginal in every way. Intentionally.”

Talk about meaningful song titles: PP&G took to the stage wearing red Hip Hop King track suits, tube socks, fishing hats and studded neck chains to the tune of The Final Countdown.”

Molly McGrath, the couple’s 24-year-old daughter, drew tears when she emerged near the end of the night and sang the Pogues’ “Rainy Night in SoHo.” That song had been the first dance at her parents’ wedding.

And then PP&G ended the evening just the way Michael wanted it, with the perfectly chosen “Don’t Fear the Reaper” as an audience participation song. Bricker handed out 100 tiny cowbells, because, you know … more cowbell.

Talk about laughing in the face of death.

It was a picture-perfect ending to the night.

How you can help

• Purchase a print: The family is selling prints of Michael McGrath’s concert photos to offset the cost of his oncology treatments. Check out mcgphotos.com, or Audiovore on Facebook or Instagram. To order a print, email mike@mcgphotos.com. Available sizes: 11x14s for $150, 16x20s for $200 and framed 16x20s for $250.

• Make a donation: At the McGrath family GoFundMe campaign page