Ventura’s music community came together at Yolie’s on Saturday, January 4, 2014, for what was known as the “Benefit for Jacob”. Jacob is the eldest son of Jan and Jerry McWorter of Hi-Hat Entertainment. Jacob has been battling cancer for 16 months, his fourth time in his 35 years.
The musicians who had signed up and donated their time to play were amazing, but there were even a few unexpected surprises for Jan and Jerry. First Sugaray Rayford of the Mannish Boys showed up and stated when he heard what was going on, he just had to be there. Then a short time after the event got underway, there was a sort of hushed excitement as it was soon learned that Curtis Salgado was in the room – the story goes that Salgado was the inspiration behind John Bulush’s creation of the Blues Brothers after they met while John was filing Animal House in Eugene, Oregon. Before long, Salgado was on stage, belting it out, with Albert Lee on keyboards.
The love and compassion in the room was truly inspiring. The music off the hook!
The next day, Jan wrote a beautifully written thank you to all those who contributed gifts for the raffle, to the volunteers and to all the artists. Here is her list of artists: Albert Lee, Coco Montoya,James Harman, Pete Anderson, Rick Estrin, Mark Hummel, Curtis Salgado, Johnny Main JR Lozano, Dennis Gurwell, Will MacGregor, Mike HIghtower, Tommy Harkenrider, Ed Berghoff, Jack Kennedy, Franck Goldwasser, Al Vafa, My girlfriend Teresa James & the Rhythm Tramps, Terry Wilson, Billy Watts, Jim Christie, Lee Thornberg, Craig Thomas, Jeff Paris, Rene Beavers, Sugaray Rayford’s awesome surprise of coming & singing, Randy Chortkoff, Dona Oxford, Kelly & Perry – Thank you, THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts.
Well over 300 people showed up and over $10,000 was raised.
It took some time preparing the photo gallery as Roy Dodson gave us over 600 pix to choose from! Thank you Roy, great job!!!
See Review by Jon Garner
