It all began on September 11th 2001, early morning, my son walked in to my bedroom and said “Turn on the TV there’s an emergency.” I asked what he was talking about and turned on the TV, just at the precise moment the 2nd airplane crashed into the world trade center.

I said “what show is this?” His reply was “It’s not a show, this is really happening.” I could feel all the blood in my face drain and the pit of my stomach dropped out. I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. More and more news reports kept rushing in. I stayed awake for days just changing channels trying to see anything new. Any new news on who did this, if they caught them, waiting for survivors to be lifted from the rubble. I was fixated on the recovery efforts.

Complete strangers across America joining in 1 cause, to help fellow Americans, to help fellow humans. No matter what religion, nationality, color, sexuality or lifestyle, they all came together to help, to save, to give a helping hand, to feed, to cloth, to help find a loved one. They all came together from all over to help.

After so many days of watching, I could no longer stand idly by watching TV. Then the Red Cross came out with a statement and said they had set up a fund called "The liberty fund" for families of the victims of 9/11. An over-whelming feeling came over me, I knew what I had to do.

Being a musician I knew many bands in Salt Lake, I started making phone calls to see if anyone would be interested in putting on a show.

I wanted to put on a charity concert on behalf of the Red Cross for those victims. I got in contact with the Red Cross Director and suggested my idea. I told her that I knew many bands that would love to be part of this.

After going to the city and explaining what I was going to do, a process that would normally take weeks to get clearance went through in a matter of days.

I put together a P.S.A. for 90.9 KRCL Radio which was very happy to help. I designed fliers to hang in local businesses and called everyone I knew and told everyone they knew to tell everyone they knew.

On October 6th 2001, 3 other band’s and Myself put the show on at Pioneer Park in Down Town Salt Lake City. The show was scheduled to play from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m. but with the clearance of the police, we were able to play until 6:00 p.m.

In that short amount of time we were able to gather over $1000.00.
Everyone had donated their time and equipment for this worthy cause. Every cent that was donated went to the Red Cross fund.

Since then, we’ve put together other shows for
Crossroads Urban Center, The Humane Society and started working with the YWCA for women and children of displaced homes and YMCA for donations to Camp Roger.

With the rise of jobless and homeless people in Utah including health concerns such as cancer and other diseases. Many of these Charitable Organizations are reaching their limit of supplies and resources.

Banding Together Utah is willing to take charge working with each one of these Organizations by having a concert on their behalf.

During the concert a representative from the Organization has the opportunity to get up on stage and speak about their Charity and what there needs are. A booth will be set up with literature from the Organization of choice for that evening. Anything we can do to bring more information to the local community.