April 11, 2006

Dylan-Haggard Concert
Will Help Iowa Chapter
By Gary Wosk, ALSA Staff Writer


Bob Dylan
ALSA Iowa Chapter Executive Director Jason Lee was surprised, very surprised, last month when the general manager of a concert venue told him that all the proceeds, up to $100,000, from a Bob Dylan-Merle Haggard concert to be given in honor of a journalist with ALS would be donated to the chapter’s programs.

Since that heads-up phone call and the subsequent publication of a story in the Des Moines Register about the April 21 concert for nationally known columnist Rob Borsellino, diagnosed with the disease in the spring of 2005, interest in the 3-year-old chapter has been on the steady rise.

“There has been a buzz generated that we did not have before, mainly in regard to the concert, but we’ve also had additional donations, inquiries and multiple volunteers sign up at the chapter,” Lee said. “The word is out on the street about the concert and ALS. This is great timing. We’ll be able to take some big steps for providing needed services in Iowa.”

Lee said the chapter has been very busy promoting the concert through press releases and on its website. The chapter has also participated in interviews with print and electronic media. Lee and others from the chapter are scheduled to appear on a live, local early morning television show several days before the concert.


Though it may be a long shot, Lee would tell the following to Dylan and Haggard if given the opportunity: “Thank you for being so willing to support the cause of ALS, The ALS Association and specifically the tribute to Rob Borsellino who is helping us put a face on this cruel and tragic disease. Thank you for being very generous and taking the time out of your schedule to support this cause.”



ALSA Iowa Chapter Executive Director Jason Lee has been busy promoting the Bob Dylan-Merle Haggard concert to local media.


It was Borsellino’s close friend Bob Knapp, a well-known area real estate developer who first thought of the concert. Borsellino wrote a touching column eight years ago about Knapp and his Nashville-based music publishing business named after his son, Brian. Brian Knapp was a gifted musician who regularly played alongside Johnny Cash. He passed away from leukemia when he was only 14 years old. Knapp then contacted his close friend, music producer Chris Cardani, general manager of the Val Air Ballroom in West Des Moines, where the concert will be held. They teamed up to make the event a reality.

The makings of the concert began in late February when Knapp asked Borsellino who his favorite artist was. Knapp did not have to think twice when he heard the answer and the request to shake this artist’s hand.

“We were sitting, having lunch, reminiscing. The time was going quick, and we were talking about the music business, and I said, ‘Rob, who is your favorite artist? I’ve never really asked you.’ And he said, ‘Dylan.’ I said, ‘Really? He was just in town last summer with Willie Nelson.’ I thought, ‘that’s a 'helluva' of an idea.’ I never said anything to him until I called Dylan and his people. He didn’t have a clue.”


“The concert is exciting. It will raise money for a good cause, which you don’t hear a lot about,” Knapp continued. “It’s bringing a lot of the people from the community’s corporations together, and it’s going to be a great night. Dylan is a legend. It’s great for Rob’s family. He has a kid who is a sophomore in college who has come home to help out his dad. This will help bring some peace to the family.”

The Dylan-Haggard entourage includes six semi-trucks, seven buses and crew of 100 people. Nearly 3,000 people are expected to attend the concert, and Cardani said “the $2,500 checks (for the highest priced tickets) are rolling in.”



Des Moines Register columnist Rob Borsellino with
his wife, Rekha Basu, and the couple’s two sons, Romen, 16 and Raj, 19.

Borsellino spoke before a Senate subcommittee about the need for more ALS research funding.
This is the second time Borsellino will have the chance to shake Dylan’s hand. The late Rick Danko, a bassist in the Dylan band, The Band, a neighbor and friend of Borsellino in Woodstock, New York, arranged a brief encounter with Dylan; however, the hand shake he had hoped for did not happen.

“Rob would have been happy meeting Bob Dylan in the bar again,” Cardani said. “I told Bob we can do better. Lets throw one up for charity. I used my contacts to land the show, and we’re on the way.”

Borsellino’s wife, Rekha Basu, an opinion section columnist for the Register, said Knapp and Cardani are among the many people who have reached out to the couple and their sons, Romen, 16, and Raj, 19.

“People from throughout the country, especially here in Iowa, have been so good to him and to us,” Basu said. ‘People have been doing all kinds of things, from organizing prayer chants, sending us knit blankets and bringing food over. People we do not even know. It’s part of this incredible outpouring of support that he has received.”

In his high school yearbook, Borsellino said his ambition in life was to meet Dylan. There is even a framed picture of Dylan in the hallway of Borsellino’s home.



Merle Haggard
“I looked at the guy in the long coat drinking a Beck’s,” Borsellino would later write about his first encounter with Dylan. “Under the wool hat and three-day growth was Bob Dylan. I mumbled something inane and stuck out my hand for a shake. Dylan just stared at it. I dropped my hand to my side. Rick (Danko) looked and me and said, ‘You just said you wanted to meet him. You didn’t say anything about a handshake.’ Dylan drank his beer and stared straight ahead.”

Jeff Snyder, ALSA’s vice president of Communications, met Borsellino last May in Washington, D.C., during National ALS Advocacy Day when Borsellino testified before a Senate subcommittee about the need for more ALS research funding.

“Rob Borsellino sets the example for how a public figure can be an effective advocate for The ALS Association in our quest to find a cure for Lou Gehrig’s disease,” Snyder told Des Moines Register music critic Kyle Munson last month.
http://www.alsa.org/news/article.cfm?id=929