Tools & Tunes for A Great Cause

Articles from Boomer Magazine in Richmond, VA

Wednesday, 23 February 2011 10:47

BY RANDY FITZGERALD

Boomer and Boomer folks are sounding out this week for Fisher House, the organization that provides a home away from home for military families whose loved ones are hospitalized at V.A. hospitals around the country. Money collected locally will go to help house families of veterans treated at McGuire V.A. Hospital, or to improve the local Fisher House facilities.

You will see elsewhere on this site more about a special online charity auction to benefit Fisher House—your chance to bid on and win a one-of-a-kind, custom-made TOOL BAR (To place a bid, click here). You can bid on that item between now and Thursday, Feb. 24, and help raise funds to build a rehabilitation patio for the Richmond Fisher House.

Then, on this Saturday, Feb. 26, local band East of Afton is hosting its Second Annual Bluegrass Jam Marathon from noon until midnight, at Grandpa Eddie’s Alabama Ribs and BBQ, with all proceeds going to the local Fisher House. Bands from all over the area will be participating, and the music will never stop for 12 hours.

Last year’s Marathon raised $6,000, and the goal for this year is $10,000—all to be raised from contributions at the door. These marathons have been staged all over the country, the first one being held in Raleigh, N.C., in 2004.

In the interest of disclosure, I’m the clawhammer banjo player for East of Afton, but this isn’t self-promotion because once the Jam starts, all bands are equal and all are invited. Groups signed up so far include Copper Ridge, the Cary Street Ramblers, Leather Britches, Highway 249, Churchyard Grass, and the Shockoe Bottom Boys. But you don’t have to be a band or in a band to participate; in fact, last year a lot of musicians, pros and amateurs, brought along their instruments and sat in with various groups who were happy to share the stage (or the warm-up tent in Grandpa Eddie’s parking lot) in typical bluegrass jam fashion. All musicians play for free … and for a very good cause.

Randy Fitzgerald teaches modern American literature at Virginia Union University. He was a longtime public relations director at the University of Richmond and columnist for the Richmond Times-Dispatch.