August 22, 2024 • 11 mins
We spoke with Bradley Hoffman, Owner/President of Hoffman Auto Group, about the upcoming Michael Simmons Music Festival, a fundraiser in support of “Friends of Michael," the foundation that Bradley and Kathy Hoffman set up for their son, Michael.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thank you for listening to Community Access. I'm Allison Demurz today.
My guest is Bradley Hoffman, chairman of the Hoffman Auto Group.
How are you.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I'm doing great, Alison. How about yourself?
Speaker 1 (00:11):
I'm doing great too. We have a wonderful event that's
coming up and it's about a special person named Michael.
Tell us about him.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
So, Michael, you know, was just a great, great guy
who's a great son, a great friend, a great brother,
and unfortunately his life was tragically cut short at the
age of twenty six due to a double pulmonary embolism.
(00:41):
And you know, we miss him greatly every single day.
But in his twenty six years he certainly had everything
but length of years. And he was very passionate and
dedicated to everything that he did. It was just in
his DNA. He loved music, play the guitar. He got
(01:02):
quite good, very loud in the house, I may add,
but oh yeah, he was. He was just really good.
And you know he's also passionate about stage acting. And
I remember it was funny he went from the acting gig,
he went to Suffield Academy and went from acting to production.
(01:26):
And I remember saying to Michael why are you doing production?
It didn't seem to make sense to me, But he
actually really enjoyed that aspect as well. Went to n
YU as an undergrad, and then Brooklyn Law and had
just passed the bar in New York and was going
(01:46):
into bankruptcy law. And he was really an avid, avid reader,
loved the law. And again something I used to joke
with him about I couldn't understand as well. But but
those were the things he really enjoyed the most. And
we really, you know, after a pretty hard grieving period
(02:08):
for sure, we were trying to figure out how to
honor his life the most, to meet this thing head on, Alison, you.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Know, and I have to say, what a handsome kid,
my goodness, an overachiever, like a teddy bear. You just
want to hug him. You could just say how amazing
he actually is.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
I left the parts out about fine wine, food, cigars
and Martsi's but yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
I'm so sorry for your loss, but I know that
this is going to be a celebration of life to
honor him.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah, we you know, after he passed, As I was
saying a little bit earlier, the first thing we did
was created a foundation the Michael E. Simmons Foundation, and
then my wife and I just said, you know, where
can we support the world. Michael definitely understood philanthropy as well.
(03:07):
He grew up around it with our family, and so anyway,
we took took that and said, well, obviously you know music, stage,
and the law. That's the top three categories which I mentioned.
So we created this music festival. As I mentioned, Michael
went to Suffield Academy and the school's been just wonderful.
(03:30):
They have land behind the school. It's almost like Woodstock.
I'm not kidding you. It's very scenic and the rolling
hills of Suffield and on a fall day it looks
just magical. So this is the third year we're doing
the concert, but the money that we raised with the
music Festival goes to a program that we started in
(03:55):
his memory at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Hartford.
These are kids from the city who have never even
seen a guitar before, and so we're now up to
fifty children playing guitar at the clubs, joined by the
Heart School of Music. So the best teachers in the
area and the kids have their own guitars. They take
(04:17):
them home and they'll be playing actually the night of
the show on September seventh, how Special, along with five
other bands.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Tell me, what is the web address? Because I went
online and I saw the kids playing the guitars yep.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
And so the web yeah, the web address. Yeah, the
web address is Friends of Michael dot com. And and
it's really about you know, going online, and obviously the
event itself is dominating that, but also there's several videos
(04:55):
and write ups about Michael himself. All these kids in
the guitar lessons. They've had several recitals that we've attended
at the South End Club over the past couple of years.
It's just wonderful to see.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
So the mission supports artistic growth of Hartford youth that
provides opportunities for the arts. And I heard that you're
going to give away five hundred tickets to a Christmas
Carol at Hartford Stage yep.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
So that was the add on. You know, we're trying
to grow the foundation as much as possible. We've certainly
raised a lot of money, but there's no limit to
what we can do. So we've sort of got to
what I'll call step two of a thousand. If we
have our dream come true and our family and as
(05:42):
so many other families have supported the Hartford stage for
many years, and we spoke to them. They've done a
Christmas Carol, which is legendary and Hartford for I don't know,
twenty five years. Lease and Michael loved going to that
every year. We took them from the age of five
or six on, so they already had what i'll call
(06:06):
ten performances, but we wanted to add one more and
I say ten performances for different groups in the city
and schools and stuff, but we added actually one additional
performance where five hundred kids who would not be going
we'll be seeing it with the actual task in December.
(06:26):
I don't know the exact date, but that's all because
of the foundation, so I'll definitely be there. I'm really
excited to see their faces when they see this. I'm
sure most of these kids have never seen a play
a lett alone.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
With that performance, it is amazing when you see their
faces and the things that come out of their mouth,
it's so fabulous.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Oh yeah, it's hilarious and great.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
So tell me about the event that's coming up.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
So September seventh, Saturday, from three pm to ten pm.
As I mentioned, earlier in Suffield, Connecticut. I don't have
the address in front of me, I'm sorry, but it's
on the Friends of Michael dot com website and I
mentioned the address because well I have. Okay, Okay, if.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
You want, we'll just let the people know it's say
it right now, would be great.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
It's the Friends of Michael Third Annual Michael Simmons Music
Festival at September seventh from three to ten at one
eighty eight Hill Street. It's rain er shine, free parking
and you could bring chairs and blankets.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Yeah, and the ticket price includes food as well, so
we've got I don't know five six, seven of the
best food trucks in Greater Hartford that show up too,
so it's all sorts of food, drinks that's included in
the price, and five vans. We actually had a fifth
(07:50):
band this year, so there's a you know, just to
point out a few of them. Jeff Pittell, who's pretty
top performer, and the Connecticut guy his band John long
Over the cool Heads big horn section. We've got a
Creeden's clear Water tribute band, which they came for the
first time last year and they were amazing. H and
(08:13):
then I would say that the Dead band Michael loved
the Dead, so there's a grateful Dead Shakedown is playing
their Dead tribute band. A lot of people know them
in the area. They're playing a set, and then then
the fifth band. I added this year, this could go.
This will be interesting. I went to babs and College
and there was a Southern rock band called Grit and
(08:36):
you know, it's a lot of outlaws and Marshall Tucker
and that kind of music.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Awesome and there.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
So hopefully they'll still sound good. They sounded great forty
years ago, so they're they're coming, as you know, as
a tribute and all all my old fraternity brothers and
Michael's fraternity brothers. He was in a frat at NYU
as well. So it's pretty well attended and its It's
just a great day, it really is. It's a great
(09:05):
time of year ago too.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
And I have to just have to go back to
the food vendors for a second. Latavola pizza truck. I
grew up with Nicky Mancini, who's the owner of Latavola. Right,
you're already going.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Ah, God, they are so good, so good.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
The food, Greek and out, what a great it's Greek
food they're greeking out, what a great name for that.
Many Mounth sliders, and the blue Chip Creamery the best
ice cream ever. And the drink vendors Thomas Hooker Brewery,
Omar Coffee you can get coffee, and the mobile pub
where they just pull in right there for you. So
(09:38):
it's an absolutely amazing event to honor and celebrate the
life of this beautiful man.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Well, I really appreciate it, Thank you, Alison. I hope
to see a lot of people there. And you know,
it is a public event now. So the first year
it started out where it was sort of just like
private and close friends and family what not. And then
we just open this thing up so there's no limit
how many people can come, and there's plenty of space.
(10:08):
Last parking provides parking as well, so it's it's really
an easy in and out and you can show for
an hour, you know. That's that's what's great about it.
You don't have to stay for seven hours. It's but
you could. Last year we had to. Last year we
had to tell people to leave at some point. I'll
leave it at that.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
So tell me again, what is the ticket price and
where can people get tickets.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Yeah, so Friends of Michael dot com is where you
can purchase the tickets. They are one hundred dollars. But
again remember that includes food and the parking and and
everything else, so it's you know, the value is great
if you look at it that way. There are sponsorships
available and donations because again the money all goes directly
(10:56):
to the foundation, which is currently supporting and Girls Clubs
of Hartford and Hartford Stage. And again we're looking to
branch that out even more to help the community as
much as we possibly can in Michael's memory.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
I'm speaking with Bradley Hoffman, chairman of the Hoffman Auto Group.
Thank you so much for sharing your story. We will
continue to honor and celebrate the life of Michael and
tell everybody who wants to listen, we will tell them
all about him. Again. It's the Friends of Michael third
annual Michael Simmons Music Festival. It's September seventh, from three
to ten pm. It's one eighty eight Hill Street in Suffield, Connecticut.
(11:35):
Held rain or shine, free parking and bring chairs and
blankets and don't forget about the food and the drinks
and all of it. Going to an amazing cause, thank
you so much for being here today. Appreciate you, well.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
I really appreciate it. Thank you, Alison,
Thank you for listening to Community Access. I'm Allison Demurz today.
My guest is Bradley Hoffman, chairman of the Hoffman Auto Group.
How are you.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I'm doing great, Alison. How about yourself?
Speaker 1 (00:11):
I'm doing great too. We have a wonderful event that's
coming up and it's about a special person named Michael.
Tell us about him.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
So, Michael, you know, was just a great, great guy
who's a great son, a great friend, a great brother,
and unfortunately his life was tragically cut short at the
age of twenty six due to a double pulmonary embolism.
(00:41):
And you know, we miss him greatly every single day.
But in his twenty six years he certainly had everything
but length of years. And he was very passionate and
dedicated to everything that he did. It was just in
his DNA. He loved music, play the guitar. He got
(01:02):
quite good, very loud in the house, I may add,
but oh yeah, he was. He was just really good.
And you know he's also passionate about stage acting. And
I remember it was funny he went from the acting gig,
he went to Suffield Academy and went from acting to production.
(01:26):
And I remember saying to Michael why are you doing production?
It didn't seem to make sense to me, But he
actually really enjoyed that aspect as well. Went to n
YU as an undergrad, and then Brooklyn Law and had
just passed the bar in New York and was going
(01:46):
into bankruptcy law. And he was really an avid, avid reader,
loved the law. And again something I used to joke
with him about I couldn't understand as well. But but
those were the things he really enjoyed the most. And
we really, you know, after a pretty hard grieving period
(02:08):
for sure, we were trying to figure out how to
honor his life the most, to meet this thing head on, Alison, you.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Know, and I have to say, what a handsome kid,
my goodness, an overachiever, like a teddy bear. You just
want to hug him. You could just say how amazing
he actually is.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
I left the parts out about fine wine, food, cigars
and Martsi's but yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
I'm so sorry for your loss, but I know that
this is going to be a celebration of life to
honor him.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah, we you know, after he passed, As I was
saying a little bit earlier, the first thing we did
was created a foundation the Michael E. Simmons Foundation, and
then my wife and I just said, you know, where
can we support the world. Michael definitely understood philanthropy as well.
(03:07):
He grew up around it with our family, and so anyway,
we took took that and said, well, obviously you know music, stage,
and the law. That's the top three categories which I mentioned.
So we created this music festival. As I mentioned, Michael
went to Suffield Academy and the school's been just wonderful.
(03:30):
They have land behind the school. It's almost like Woodstock.
I'm not kidding you. It's very scenic and the rolling
hills of Suffield and on a fall day it looks
just magical. So this is the third year we're doing
the concert, but the money that we raised with the
music Festival goes to a program that we started in
(03:55):
his memory at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Hartford.
These are kids from the city who have never even
seen a guitar before, and so we're now up to
fifty children playing guitar at the clubs, joined by the
Heart School of Music. So the best teachers in the
area and the kids have their own guitars. They take
(04:17):
them home and they'll be playing actually the night of
the show on September seventh, how Special, along with five
other bands.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Tell me, what is the web address? Because I went
online and I saw the kids playing the guitars yep.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
And so the web yeah, the web address. Yeah, the
web address is Friends of Michael dot com. And and
it's really about you know, going online, and obviously the
event itself is dominating that, but also there's several videos
(04:55):
and write ups about Michael himself. All these kids in
the guitar lessons. They've had several recitals that we've attended
at the South End Club over the past couple of years.
It's just wonderful to see.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
So the mission supports artistic growth of Hartford youth that
provides opportunities for the arts. And I heard that you're
going to give away five hundred tickets to a Christmas
Carol at Hartford Stage yep.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
So that was the add on. You know, we're trying
to grow the foundation as much as possible. We've certainly
raised a lot of money, but there's no limit to
what we can do. So we've sort of got to
what I'll call step two of a thousand. If we
have our dream come true and our family and as
(05:42):
so many other families have supported the Hartford stage for
many years, and we spoke to them. They've done a
Christmas Carol, which is legendary and Hartford for I don't know,
twenty five years. Lease and Michael loved going to that
every year. We took them from the age of five
or six on, so they already had what i'll call
(06:06):
ten performances, but we wanted to add one more and
I say ten performances for different groups in the city
and schools and stuff, but we added actually one additional
performance where five hundred kids who would not be going
we'll be seeing it with the actual task in December.
(06:26):
I don't know the exact date, but that's all because
of the foundation, so I'll definitely be there. I'm really
excited to see their faces when they see this. I'm
sure most of these kids have never seen a play
a lett alone.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
With that performance, it is amazing when you see their
faces and the things that come out of their mouth,
it's so fabulous.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Oh yeah, it's hilarious and great.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
So tell me about the event that's coming up.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
So September seventh, Saturday, from three pm to ten pm.
As I mentioned, earlier in Suffield, Connecticut. I don't have
the address in front of me, I'm sorry, but it's
on the Friends of Michael dot com website and I
mentioned the address because well I have. Okay, Okay, if.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
You want, we'll just let the people know it's say
it right now, would be great.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
It's the Friends of Michael Third Annual Michael Simmons Music
Festival at September seventh from three to ten at one
eighty eight Hill Street. It's rain er shine, free parking
and you could bring chairs and blankets.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Yeah, and the ticket price includes food as well, so
we've got I don't know five six, seven of the
best food trucks in Greater Hartford that show up too,
so it's all sorts of food, drinks that's included in
the price, and five vans. We actually had a fifth
(07:50):
band this year, so there's a you know, just to
point out a few of them. Jeff Pittell, who's pretty
top performer, and the Connecticut guy his band John long
Over the cool Heads big horn section. We've got a
Creeden's clear Water tribute band, which they came for the
first time last year and they were amazing. H and
(08:13):
then I would say that the Dead band Michael loved
the Dead, so there's a grateful Dead Shakedown is playing
their Dead tribute band. A lot of people know them
in the area. They're playing a set, and then then
the fifth band. I added this year, this could go.
This will be interesting. I went to babs and College
and there was a Southern rock band called Grit and
(08:36):
you know, it's a lot of outlaws and Marshall Tucker
and that kind of music.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Awesome and there.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
So hopefully they'll still sound good. They sounded great forty
years ago, so they're they're coming, as you know, as
a tribute and all all my old fraternity brothers and
Michael's fraternity brothers. He was in a frat at NYU
as well. So it's pretty well attended and its It's
just a great day, it really is. It's a great
(09:05):
time of year ago too.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
And I have to just have to go back to
the food vendors for a second. Latavola pizza truck. I
grew up with Nicky Mancini, who's the owner of Latavola. Right,
you're already going.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Ah, God, they are so good, so good.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
The food, Greek and out, what a great it's Greek
food they're greeking out, what a great name for that.
Many Mounth sliders, and the blue Chip Creamery the best
ice cream ever. And the drink vendors Thomas Hooker Brewery,
Omar Coffee you can get coffee, and the mobile pub
where they just pull in right there for you. So
(09:38):
it's an absolutely amazing event to honor and celebrate the
life of this beautiful man.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Well, I really appreciate it, Thank you, Alison. I hope
to see a lot of people there. And you know,
it is a public event now. So the first year
it started out where it was sort of just like
private and close friends and family what not. And then
we just open this thing up so there's no limit
how many people can come, and there's plenty of space.
(10:08):
Last parking provides parking as well, so it's it's really
an easy in and out and you can show for
an hour, you know. That's that's what's great about it.
You don't have to stay for seven hours. It's but
you could. Last year we had to. Last year we
had to tell people to leave at some point. I'll
leave it at that.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
So tell me again, what is the ticket price and
where can people get tickets.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Yeah, so Friends of Michael dot com is where you
can purchase the tickets. They are one hundred dollars. But
again remember that includes food and the parking and and
everything else, so it's you know, the value is great
if you look at it that way. There are sponsorships
available and donations because again the money all goes directly
(10:56):
to the foundation, which is currently supporting and Girls Clubs
of Hartford and Hartford Stage. And again we're looking to
branch that out even more to help the community as
much as we possibly can in Michael's memory.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
I'm speaking with Bradley Hoffman, chairman of the Hoffman Auto Group.
Thank you so much for sharing your story. We will
continue to honor and celebrate the life of Michael and
tell everybody who wants to listen, we will tell them
all about him. Again. It's the Friends of Michael third
annual Michael Simmons Music Festival. It's September seventh, from three
to ten pm. It's one eighty eight Hill Street in Suffield, Connecticut.
(11:35):
Held rain or shine, free parking and bring chairs and
blankets and don't forget about the food and the drinks
and all of it. Going to an amazing cause, thank
you so much for being here today. Appreciate you, well.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
I really appreciate it. Thank you, Alison,
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