Ethan Ostrow doesn’t remember when he first discovered his love of music — probably because it wasn’t long after he was born.
“There are definitely pictures of me as a baby playing a toy piano,” the 13-year-old says with a laugh. “It’s just always been part of my life.”
Recently bar mitzvahed, Ethan will be putting that passion to work for a good cause on Mother’s Day, May 8, when he throws his first fundraiser, “Mutts, Moms & Music,” for the Berkeley–East Bay Humane Society. The evening’s main entertainment will be Ethan’s jazz band, the Jack London Quartet, featuring the seventh-grader and his friends Avi Peltz, Matthew Stoloff and Eli Mizock.
Using one’s natural gifts to help repair the world is something Ethan grew serious about over the past year, as his bar mitzvah day came and went. As a student at El Cerrito’s Tehiyah Day School, Ethan spent time talking with teachers and students about the best ways to follow through on your ideals.
Ethan knew that mitzvah projects leading up to one’s ceremony were popular, but he wasn’t content to leave it at that.
“My bar mitzvah teacher really stressed the importance of the tikkun olam project following my bar mitzvah, so we were talking a lot about what was going on in the world and how to help out,” Ethan says. “We eventually came to the issue of animals on the streets without homes, and how much pleasure it gives families to have a pet.” After years of him begging his parents, Ethan’s family finally got a dog — a golden Labrador retriever named Abby — a few years ago, and he realized firsthand how much a pet could bring to a person’s life.
Ethan and his parents, who live in Berkeley, set about researching different organizations in the area before settling on the Berkeley–East Bay Humane Society. The well-known no-kill shelter has been struggling since a May 2010 fire devastated its main facility.
“We were glad to be able to help them, so they can get back on their feet and help others,” said Ethan, who has already donated a significant amount of his bar mitzvah gift money to the cause.
The fundraiser’s ticket price includes dinner and a live performance by the Berkeley-based Vaudevillians Stage Troupe, in addition to the Jack London Quartet. For the event location, the Ostrows picked Café Leila, a family favorite in Berkeley. It’s also where Ethan’s family dinner the night before his bar mitzvah turned into an unplanned dance party, with an eight-piece jazz band playing “Hava Negillah” for him.
Ethan only hopes his own band will inspire the same kind of goodwill.
“We’ve had gigs, but they’ve never really meant anything like this one has,” he says. “It’s always fun to play music, but it’s great to be able to do something bigger with it too.”
“Mutts, Moms and Music” will take place May 8 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at Café Leila, 1724 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley. Tickets are $25, with all proceeds going to help rebuild the Berkeley–East Bay Humane Society. Information and tickets: www.muttsmomsandmusic.com.