Stars and Rock the Cure partner for Breast Cancer Awareness Night

•Rank Strangers to play pregame concert
•Stars to wear commemorative pink jerseys
•Auction to benefit Rock the Cure

The NSC Minnesota Stars will be adding touches of pink and punk to its August 27, 2011, match-up versus the Montreal Impact at 7:00 p.m. at the NSC Stadium in Blaine. In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Night, the Blaine-based soccer club is partnering with Rock the Cure and Brave New Media to host an evening of events kicking off with a Rank Strangers concert at 5:30 p.m. Festivities will also include silent auctions and special pink Stars apparel available for purchase.

“The NSC Minnesota Stars fully support Rock the Cure and the energy with which it helps combat and raise awareness of women’s cancers. We greatly admire the enthusiasm the organization brings to its events and believe it’s a perfect fit with the high-energy, exciting atmosphere of professional soccer,” Stars CEO Djorn Buchholz said.

Admiral Sportswear has donated a set of pink kits for the game, which Planet Soccer will print with custom graphics for the match. The game-worn jerseys will be sold through a silent auction during the game. The Stars’ merchandise tent on the stadium concourse will have a variety of pink Stars and Rock the Cure merchandise.

“The color pink has become a powerful symbol of strength and courage in the past decade, representing the women and men who are diagnosed and treated for breast cancer,” said Angie Hanzel-Palomo, president of Rock the Cure. “When professional athletes like the Stars take the field in pink jerseys, it really helps the public embrace this cause. Soccer is such a family sport, and when breast cancer strikes a parent, the whole family goes through the experience together. There will undoubtedly be children in the crowd at this game who will see their soccer heroes in these jerseys, and will feel a sense of unity with them.”

Bringing an element of rock and roll to the awareness-raising evening is Rank Strangers, a local indie-rock group who is appearing thanks to the generous sponsorship of Frattellone’s Ace Hardware. “Selecting Rank Strangers to headline this event was a no-brainer,” shares Brave New Media president Damian Petrou. “Rank Strangers provided their track ‘Never Work’ as the punk anthem of the Stars’ Shine On web video series.” Professional soccer in Minnesota has a long history of connection to the local punk rock music scene, solidifying the great fit of this band and this particular event.

General admission tickets for the game are on sale for $5 for youth and $10 for adults through a link at RocktheCure.org. Half of all proceeds from tickets sold through this link go directly to Rock the Cure. Tickets can also be purchased at the discounted rate with proceeds going to Rock the Cure by calling the Stars’ ticket office at (763) 792-7355 and mentioning Breast Cancer Awareness Night.

About Rock the Cure

For the past 10 years, Rock the Cure has been dedicated to the fight against breast cancer. Through our annual concert events, merchandise sales and third party fund raisers, we have proudly donated over $150,000 in Minnesota. We cannot thank enough our generous sponsors who cover our event costs so that 100% of the money we raise at our events will be donated directly to our charities.

About Rank Strangers

The band was born in the spring of 1990 in East Lansing, Michigan before moving to Minneapolis that August. They released their first album, Far Cry From Here, in 1993 under the Crackpot Records label. From there, the band went on to release several more albums including Target, in 1997, which was awarded a Minnesota Music Award for Best Rock Recording that year.