Last Saturday night in Los Angeles, I was honored to take part in a benefit concert for Gutter Twins bassist Scott Ford at the Roxy Theater. He, like many of my musical brethren, goes through life without basic health insurance. Along with the other necessities like rent, food, and schooling for his child, the weight of his financial burden has caused some wobbling in a few places. Scott got very sick this year, and was forced to take out a loan to pay for the first in a long series of surgeries that will hopefully get him better. Like me, Scott has a 12-year-old daughter, and has a lot to live for. He is one of the good guys.

The show featured a wide range of über-talented musicians, and was a blast to be a part of. Among the highlights was watching Greg Dulli and Wayne Kramer do the Stooges’ “Down on the Street” and AC/DC’s “Hell’s Bells,” and Deep Purple alum Glenn Hughes doing “All Right Now” by Free. Fans and friends filled the venue that night, and I am continuously delighted by how generous people can be when they see that someone needs help. Rock fans are the most generous I have ever seen. But we have only scratched the surface as far as what Scott needs for further lifesaving medical needs. If you can help, please go to http://fordradio.blogspot.com, where there is a PayPal account set up. Thank you!

When Billy Morrison heard his friend, bassist Scott Ford (Twilight Singers, The Gutter Twins, Camp Freddy), was suffering from an advanced bone loss medical condition resulting in severe blood infections, the guitarist and former member of The Cult sprung into action. The result is the Scott Ford Benefit show, which features a who’s who list of Los Angeles musicians getting together Sept. 26 at The Roxy. All money raised will go towards Ford’s mounting medical bills.

“It came together really quickly,” Morrison tells Billboard.com. “I haven’t spoken with Scott in a little while, and I was having a conversation with Duff (McKagan). He asked if I heard what happened to Scott Ford. From there, we just launched into what we do, which is get a bunch of friends together, put a set list together and try and raise some money for them. I called my tour manager who got us the Roxy as a venue. And once we had a date and a venue, I started reaching out for people I played with in various forms. It came together really quickly.”

Greg Dulli (Twilight Singers, Gutter Twins) adds, “Scott is one of my best friends and has been the bass player in my band for the last six years, so there’s really a whole lot I wouldn’t do for him. He’s really a great guy who is stuck in an unenviable situation. So I think it’s a great thing that his friends have rallied around him to do this.”

The list of guests include McKagan (Velvet Revolver, Duff McKagan’s Loaded), Dave Navarro (Jane’s Addiction), Scott Shriner (Weezer), Dave Kushner (Velvet Revolver), Chris Chaney (ex-Jane’s Addiction), Dulli, Morrison, Kenny Aronoff (John Mellencamp) and Wayne Kramer (MC5). Also appearing are emcee Donovan Leitch (actor) and Steve O (“Jackass”).

The common denominator among the guest list appears to be Camp Freddy, a high-profile Los Angeles-based cover band that formerly had a weekly radio show – mostly hosted by Morrison or Navarro – featuring a revolving door of high-profile guests. Despite the fact Morrison stressed the benefit concert is not a Camp Freddy event, there will be similarities to the show.

“The way I worked Camp Freddy is that it’s not as thrown together as people might think,” Morrison says. “I try to imagine who would be best on what song. I try to make all of the songs crowd favorites. There’s no point in playing things for our sake. The idea is when you play covers is that everyone has fun. So I think about songs I’d like to play, and I ask other guests what do you want to play and we work it out. I try to place the right guests in the right songs. So it’ll be a fun night of jamming and this time it’s to help a fellow musician out.”

Morrison said a tentative list of covers includes material from Nazareth, David Bowie, Guns N’ Roses, AC/DC, The Stooges and Bad Company.

“It’s one of those things that when you get a bunch of good players like that together, it’s always good,” says McKagan, who plans to tour Duff McKagan’s Loaded overseas later this year. “And you don’t want to rehearse too much because you’ll lose the brashness and the special-ness of coming together that evening and sorting it out on stage. It’s a great group of musicians and Scott Ford is a great guy. It’s a positive thing.”

via Ford Radio

My friends are getting together to help me try and pay for these medical operations, I cannot thank them enough.

So on September 26th at The Roxy in Los Angeles they are putting on a benefit for me. All money goes towards paying medical bills, and here’s some of the artists:

Duff McKagan (Guns N’ Roses)
Dave Navarro (Janes Addiction)
Scott Shriner (Weezer)
Dave Kushner (Velvet Revolver)
Donovan Leitch
Chris Chaney (Janes Addiction)
Greg Dulli (Twilight Singers)
Billy Morrison (The Cult)
Kenny Aronoff (John Mellencamp)
Wayne Kramer (MC5)
Steve O (Jackass)

The opening band is Jason Heath and the Greedy Souls. There will be more performers but you’ll have to come to see who they are. Tickets are available now online at the Ticketmaster site, and remember it’s a benefit, so no guest list LA peeps.

A huge thanks to all the folks involved, I am very humbled.

July 14 – Cafe 322, Sierra Madre
July 21 – Hotel Cafe, Hollywood
July 31 – Redwood Bar, Los Angeles

From Scott:

I strongly encourage you to come out and see us play, and if there’s advance tickets it might be wise to snap them up. I hope to see some of you in July, and don’t be afraid to come up and say hi.