Byrne memorial benefit concert planned for Petaluma

<p>A benefit concert is being planned for Feb. 23 in memory of Alyssa Byrne, a Petaluma junior college student who died while attending a South Lake Tahoe music festival last week.</p><p>The rap concert will be held at the Phoenix Theater in Petaluma, with proceeds going toward a memorial bench in honor of Byrne, 19, and the Polly Klaas Foundation, according to friend and organizer, Jay Donnellan.</p><p>“We're hoping for a sellout at this event,” he said.</p><p>Donnellan, who graduated from Casa Grande High School with Byrne in 2011, was attending the three-day SnowGlobe Music Festival in Tahoe with Byrne and several other friends when she disappeared, prompting a frantic three-day search.</p><p>Her lifeless body was found in the snow Jan. 4, about a half mile from the festival grounds.</p><p>Donnellan, a music promoter, had secured a concert date at the Phoenix before “things turned out the way they did,” and has since booked seven Bay Area rap artists to appear.</p><p>Details are still being worked out, and the ticket price had not been set yet, Donnellan said.</p>