A humble appeal

I was just chatting with ChiTom about this and his concern and generosity encouraged me to post this thread.

Here in San Antonio we have a guy named Ron Wilkins. Ron is a jazz legend, a fantastic teacher, a nurturer of young [and not-so-young] talent, and a really sweet and loving guy. He's also a middle-aged African American man and, like many others who fit this demographic, prone to high blood pressure.

Over Thanksgiving, Ron developed food poisoning and went to the emergency room for some treatment. While there, it was discovered that his bloodpressure was in the stratosphere. By the time they got it under control, he'd lost most of his kidney function. The good news is that it IS under control and, after cutting back his schedule significantly, he's back to performing. The bad news is that, like about half the working people in this area, Ron doesn't have health insurance to cover the medication he'll be on for the rest of his life.

Many of us here in the SA music community have rallied around Ron, as have the congregations of several churches where he has performed over the years. The Tim and Bob Show have designated all our tips for our January gigs to Ron. Our first two gigs have netted more than $200, and we're hoping for more tonight. Additionally, we are the only non-Jazz act performing at a January 27th fundraiser. Here's the lineup for that do:

Featured performers for this all-day event include The Jazz Protagonists, Ken Slavin, Small World, Joan Carroll, The Standing Few, Jade Esteban Estrada, Ben King, The Tim and Bob Show, Los Rokmantix, D.C. Bloom, The Hard Bop Project, Morgan King, John Magaldi Quartert, Bett Butler, Danielle King and SkudR Jones, the Regency Jazz Band, and the Ron Wilkins 4-TET.

I'd never ask you guys for anything, but at our first two gigs, complete strangers were dropping 20 dollar bills in our tip jar just to help out somebody they never heard of. As old as I am, I'm continually amazed at the basic generosity of people. So, if you want to help out, here's some info:

You can send a check payable to Ron Wilkins [please mark "for deposit only" on the back] and mail it to Randolph Brooks Federal Credit Union, PO Box 2097, Universal City, TX 78148.

If you're curious about Ron, here's his website: http://pages.prodigy.net/rnrwilkbeek/

You can also find out about what we're doing by clicking on the link in my signature line and checking out "upcoming gigs" and, after the fundraiser, our blog.

Thanks for listening, guys.

 

Mo, it's both. The prolonged hi blood pressure due to the original emergency room visit wrecked the kidneys. So he's getting meds to take care of both problems.

If the schedule on his website seems still busy, consider that before the hospitalization he was teaching at two colleges, getting his master's degree, teaching private students [I was once one of those], and playing up to four gigs on a weekend. He's realllllllllly backed off now.

Also, thanks for the comments and concerns.

 

We had another gig last night, but the crowd was small [35 degrees and rain is NOT what we consider good driving weather in our part of the world]. So the tip jar wasn't filled as much as the other two January gigs. Still, considering how few folks showed up, they were generous.

Appreciate all the good words and the "pledges."

You guys are great.

 

Well, the gig is Sunday, and several members of Tim and Bob Nation have pledged to come out, pay the cover charge of 10 bucks and listen to a whole bunch of jazz surrounding 30 minutes of what HatterMom likes to call "Geezer Rock." Here's a San Antonio Express-News article in the local entertainment pullout "The Weekender".

http://www.mysanantonio.com/entertainme ... 23541.html

We'll miss some of the early performers as we have some "I Gottas" to perform on Sunday afternoon, but we'll hang out to the end. Sometime before Tuesday, we'll post something on the Tim and Bob Show website blog, and I'll cut and paste a copy here.

Thanks for your interest, concern, and good wishes on this. You guys are aces!

Note: Some of you who have contributed may have gotten a note back from RBFCU asking you to provide an account number on future checks. Don't worry about it, your check got to where it was supposed to go. Some of the tellers just didn't get the word.

 

Okay, the fundraiser was yesterday, and here's our blog entry on it. Thanks again to those of you who wished us well and those who sent checks. I won't be bombarding you with this all the time; just wanted to drop the final shoe.

January 28, 2008

Good Music for a Worthy Cause -

Yesterday, January 27, The Tim and Bob Show joined musicians from all over San Antonio to help raise money to defray the costs of medical care for SA jazz legend and Tim and Bob National, Ron Wilkins. We played at an unusual venue for us, Luna Fine Music Club, and one we never figured on playing. We’ve all visited Luna many times, and Mary Lou even sang there – with the Ron Wilkins 4-tet – but Luna usually is jamming between 9 and 1 and, like most of our audiences, that’s kinda late in the evening for us.

But yesterday, music was going from 2 until 10, and we went on for a 30-minute set around 4:30. And here’s the amazing bit. We were the 4th of 11 acts to perform, and we went on earlier than advertised! Never seen that on an occasion like that. Tim and Bob Nationals Katie, Rich, and Ellen all ponied up the 10 buck surcharge to dig the sounds and seemed like they had a great time. All in all, enough people attended to raise a tidy sum. As a matter of fact, most of those who attended paid much more than the cover charge, since more that $3,500 was taken in. Many thanks for this go out to Marcos Treviño for opening Luna on a “dark day,” as well as for Beverly Prado and Bett Butler who not only arranged this event, but have been instrumental in helping with this cause from the beginning.

Considering the occasion, how we sounded is kind of beside the point, but we got a lot of nice words on our set, especially the three 4-parters we did. It was kind of cool playing for all these jazz blowers and their fans and watching people sing along to our tunes, and it was especially cool helping out our – and San Antonio’s – very good friend.

Until next time, tell us what YOU think!

 

No, I really don't know that. I know there was a smaller concert at another venue that raised a couple hundred, and that people have been depositing checks, but I really don't know how much. I know that a bunch of churches in the area have helped -- Ron's always been generous with his time and talent at churches of all sorts of denominations here and all over.

If I do find out an amount, I'll pass it along to you via p.m.

 

Guys, I stumbled on this thread this morning while looking for another old article on "Anything Goes." I had completely forgotten that 'fog had "stickied" it.

So, 8 months later, here's a final page. Ron is fine. He's fully recovered; he's storng; he's playing incredible music again. He's basically back to where he was before he was. There's been significant permanent loss of kidney function, but his meds are doing the job.

More important, he's about to finish his masters. This will allow him to get the university teaching gig that will provide the health care plan that will significantly defray the cost of his medication.

Ron and his wife Rhonda were incredibly touched when I told them that fans of an English soccer club he'd never heard of were sending money in to help him while he was in hospital. He was stunned to discover that these contributions came from people in Chicago, Denver, Cleveland, Tucson and elsewhere -- none of whom knew him nor had ever heard his music. He thinks I have a wonderful family; so do I.

Anyhow, this is pretty much the end of this story. 'Fog, you can un-sticky this thread. Thank-you FulhamUSA!