Lefty Fest

No, this is not a blog entry about a festival for Lefties. Though I have written about famous lefties in the past, today's comments pertain to this weekend's fund-raising event on behalf of a local guitarist whom we've all known as Lefty.

I met Larry “Lefty” Sandman somewhere around a dozen years ago. For about a year he, Stel (the other half of “Lefty and Stel”) and Julie Finkle (of the Centerville All Stars) led a Tuesday night music circle at a road house in Saginaw Junction. That is, people would show up with their instruments and we’d all take turns picking songs, singing and make music. Lots of guitars, percussions and I with my harmonicas.

Every once in a while Lefty and Stel (Brian Stelmaszewski) would stick around after and continue to play in that easygoing acoustic style. On one occasion I stuck around as well and let my harmonica weave in and out of the melodies, creating rhapsodies. We were in a groove and everyone knew it. Before long someone bought us a beer. Then a pitcher, but these remained untouched because the music was our beer. To stop playing in order to take a sip would have been to break the spell.

For Larry music has been a way of life. He's played with many local bands, including the Fractals. But since this spring he's been missing on the scene. He had a stroke that left him in intensive care far too long, racking up an incomprehensible quantity of medical expenses.

For this reason on Sunday at Clyde Iron Works there will be a benefit concert and silent auction to defray some of these expenses. (Too bad we can't just through those bills into one of the sinkholes that swallowed a couple cars this summer.)

The concert and auctions will be at Clyde Iron Works this Sunday, September 30, from 3-8 pm.

LIVE AUCTION 5-5:30

SILENT AUCTION 3-7

A $10 donation covers salad, Clyde's wonderful wood fired pizza and plenty of great music featuring:
The Centerville All Stars
Fractal Trio (With special guest Todd Eckart)
John and Andy
Jack Kritzer

For more information about the items being auctioned, including some art by local artists, visit the Lefty Fest Facebook Page. 


In the meantime, I hope to see you there.