This yearly appointment is just that, a celebration of legendary American music icons performed live on stage by some of today's most beloved and respected musicians. One can call it “life time achievement”, we’d rather call it ROCK ’N’ ROLL !!!
In 2024 we’ve honored Leslie West
When Jimi Hendrix asked “am I as good as Leslie West” , the greatest guitar hero of all time wasn’t kidding around. When Hendrix had the opportunity to jam live with Lesley, Jimi humbly took his guitar off, picked up a nearby bass, and let Leslie West dominate the stage with his Gibson Les Paul Junior, almost in awe of how simple, soulful, powerful & inspiring the Queens native's phrasing on the six strings was.
It didn’t stop with Hendrix, the long list of admirers of the “grouchy New Yorker with the biggest heart in the business” includes some of the most renown and celebrated guitar players of all times : Eddie Van Halen, Dimebag Darrell, Zakk Wylde, Slash, Warren Haynes, Joe Bonamassa, Steve Lukather, and then some, all had one big thing in common, a huge devotion to the man , the myth, the legend that was Leslie West.
West was one of a kind, who emerged in a time when talent needed to be loud, graciously offensive, and always combined with an over the top personality. That’s generally what defines legendary American musicians, and Leslie West has always been on top of that crowd. In a world where cyber technology reigns supreme, we cannot let the legacy of the musicians who helped define American Music History with the strength of their heart go to waste.
Always a home is a yearly charitable appointment focused on creating awareness, and a real solution to homelessness in our cities. By bringing together musicians, comedians and visual artists, we’re creating a bond between people in need, and very well determined members of our community , in these case the relentless Upward Bound House, to fight and win once and for all the struggle to make sure that all our fellow citizen enjoy the safety of a roof over their heads, with dignity and the respect everyone deserves in our society.
THOUGHTS & MISSION STATEMENT
Homelessness is a plague that affects most of our cities. It’s not only a Western issue, but it’s extremely disturbing considering we’re living in the richest country in the world. In California alone, we can count the largest numbers of billionaires this Country has to offer, we’re the 5 largest economy in the world, and yet hundreds of thousand of people are roaming the streets, living in tents, underpasses, made up camps, and (the luckiest ones) in cars.
While it’s true that a considerable number of homeless is suffering some sort of addiction or addiction induced mental instability, the large majority of our homeless population comprise entire families, singles parents, kids, veterans, mental health suffering individuals, and any day’s Joes, who only had the misfortune of losing their jobs, health, or that are employed , but simply cannot keep up with the distorted economic disparity and cost of living of today's American society. As confirmed by our beneficiary commendable researches and active work, almost 99% of the homeless families that are part of their amazing programs (which offer shelter in the form of family’s housing, work assistance, food and planning until they can be considered back on their feet ) have at least one working parent when they enter the program. By offering pre school, and after school controlled activities for the kids, we can also see that both parents could be back to work within 6 months since they enter the program. This completely kills the “politically” driven narrative that the homeless are either junkies or lazy individuals, and place us in the position to show that “the bad things that happened to good people” can be easily reversed if we work together as a community. A year in the program for a family of 4, which includes an apartment, utilities, food help, pre and after school activities help, training and budgets classes , costs only $12,000. It’s easy to see how much of an impact we could have on the solution of this huge problem, if we avoid waste, if we better use states and cities revenues and we start acting like the well being of the community is more important than the benefit of one !
The final goal is to increase year by year, the number of cities, state and nationwide, where we can stage this type of events, and combined campaigns, to go on simultaneously, until we reach a level where most of our cities could join in and show the world what we could achieve if we work together, and ultimately, what kind of power we can achieve with the help of the arts.
2024 Beneficiary
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Guitars 4 Vets
Over the past twelve years, G4V (Guitars for Vets) has refined a guitar instruction program aimed at providing Veterans struggling with physical injuries, PTSD, and other emotional distress a unique therapeutic alternative. G4V pursues its mission to share the healing power of music by providing free guitar instruction, a new acoustic guitar and a guitar accessory kit in a structured program run by volunteers, primarily through the Department of Veterans Affairs facilities and community-based medical centers.
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GBTM’s own Breck Philip & Sonny Landreth
Tommy Emmanuel