Phil Accardi's Chalice

Hailing from the state of New York, this hard rock band formed in 1988 and was actually a project of vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Phil Accardi. Although only one album was released in 1989, Accardi continues to do work under the Chalice moniker. Accardi tours the eastern United States with his band, Chalice, but arenas and concert halls aren't his typical venues. Instead, the band sets up in dimly lit school auditoriums and plays for schoolchildren.
Accardi's message is more than music, however. A tragedy in his own life has led him on a path unlikely to result in limos and Rolling Stone covers: when the music stops and the rest of the band leaves the stage, Accardi tells the story of a childhood friend addled by dope and killed in a motorcycle accident.
So don't do drugs; don't drink alcohol, he exhorts his young listeners. It's a message they've heard a hundred times, from parents, teachers, pastors, maybe even other motivational speakers.
But none of them had streaky shoulder-length hair, an electric guitar and an amplifier cranked all the way up.
"It's a little different than the usual school assembly because they're getting the message from rock musicians instead of the usual," Accardi said.
Brought up on Long Island in New York, Accardi played music with his friend, Jim, from elementary school days until high school. His friend veered away from music and into drugs to gain access to the popular teens and ended up dead.
Faced with the same peer pressure, Accardi stuck with music, playing mostly in nightclubs, until he reached a spiritual crossroads, he said. The nightly parade of heavy drinkers and carousers he encountered turned him off. "I wanted to do something that would help people," he said.
As a musician, Accardi has an immediate advantage with children because music is a language they listen to and understand.
It helps that he has a compelling and true story to go with it.
"He's inspirational and he's a pretty good leader," said Austin Cross, a 13-year-old seventh-grader.
"He has a really, really good story," said Angela Martin, also 13 and in the seventh grade. "People who would think about using drugs wouldn't want to die like that."
Before the band played, the children watched a short film produced by Accardi that portrayed an adolescent's descent into drugs and eventual death.
The technique, movie, music and message, really connected with the children, said Anna Rogers, a teacher at Verity.
While the music was loud, the students themselves were relatively quiet at first, she noticed. A smattering of polite applause met the band's first appearance on stage. But Accardi loosened the children up and gained their trust when he encouraged them to shout and clap and jump out of their seats. "First he gained their trust and then he sent the message," Rogers said.
Accardi said sometimes after his shows children will share their own stories and that some of them are tragic. "I get confessions right then and there," he said. Other children will swear not to touch dope.