By A Sun Staff Writer - June 20, 2003

Billed as the "biggest little music festival in Baltimore," Iampsfest kicks off at Power Plant Live! at noon tomorrow, with 20 bands playing consecutively on two stages for 14 hours -- and raising money for a serious cause.

After three years in Catonsville, this is the festival's first time in downtown Baltimore -- and it managed to land a prime spot in the city's hottest entertainment corner.

Given its rock-festival nature, many of those attending Iampsfest might not realize that 33-year-old Steve Iampieri ("Yahmp" to his friends) planted the seeds for this event after the suicide of one of his best friends. William "BJ" Chupka Jr., 24, killed himself in November 1999..

"Whatever happened, we'll never know," says his father, Bill Chupka, of Westway Auto Parts in Catonsville. "And this was my son, someone I worked with every day for seven years." Iampieri's family has long owned a bar across Edmondson Avenue from Bill Chupka's automobile parts store.

Iampieri saw his friend the night before his death, in Iampieri's Bar, having a few drinks, playing video games. Chupka apparently shot himself the next morning and lived for three days on a hospital life-support machine.

Recovering from the shock and sadness of his friend's death, Iampieri, who works in sales and marketing, wanted to do something to honor Chupka, to raise awareness of mental illness and, specifically, suicide among young people.

He wanted to establish a scholarship fund in his name, and raise money for ReVisions Behavioral Health Systems, the Catonsville-based agency that helps adults with mental health problems find their way to jobs and the mainstream of life. So in 2000, he came up with the idea of a music festival -- not something that Chupka's parents readily accepted, and something that still gives them pause.

Chupka loved to party, and he consumed a lot of alcohol, his mother, Becky Killebrew, said.

She did not attend the first Iampsfest, held in Catonsville in conjunction with Iampieri's Bar, because she was still "numb" from her son's death and because she was conflicted by the idea of a music-and-beer party to honor him.

Bill Chupka, who says he supports "anything that will help prevent what happened to my son," has mixed feelings about a music bash in memory of him. "But that's what [he] loved to do -- to party and have a good time," his father said. "At some point, you have to accept it and move on. I've come to see this as a celebration of my son's life. I say let's have a good time but not forget what brought all this on."

"The fact that kids under 12 are admitted for free makes it more of a family affair," says Iampieri, who notes that he has invested $40,000 of his money in the festivals. "The bands and most of the folks that knew Bill really stress the scholarship fund, as well as ReVisions, being the beneficiaries, and we don't require that people drink. It is more for us to reflect on some of the issues and let people know that there are outlets to problems other than committing suicide."

Killebrew spoke at last year's festival, and she may do so again tomorrow. Since her son's death, she has raised money for the American Federation for Suicide Prevention and hopes to start a group for suicide survivors in Maryland. "I think what Stevie [Iampieri] is doing is an act of love for my son," she said. "Stevie has always been sweet and sensitive to me. He knows BJ was the apple of my eye, the love of my life." And she supports Iampsfest -- as long as the message behind it gets out.

"We have to support families and kids," she said. "There can be something really troubling a young person, something strong hidden inside. I think that, during a person's life, we have to show them that we love them. That's true friendship -- to cut them off [from drinking]. That's how you show them love.

"I think we have to do the right thing for people while they're alive. Lend a hand. Talk to them. Listen if they have a problem."

All-day tickets for Iampsfest '03 are $25, and available at Record and Tape Traders, Lucille's Cajun Grille or online at www.iampsfest.com.

Copyright © 2003, The Baltimore Sun

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