The 6th Annual Jon Henderson Beating Cancer Benefit
On Saturday October 10th The New Foundry in Boulder will host an all day music event to honor the memory of Jon Henderson and raise money for local cancer patients through The Rocky Mountain Cancer Center Foundation.
Jon Henderson, the founder of this event, lost his 9 year battle with cancer in April 2008. However, his inspiration and contributions live on and will be remembered once again through this event. Jon spent the last 2 years of his life writing, producing and directing the “BIG C” a 16 song CD and DVD Documentary. Jon wanted to prepare people for the cancer journey through music, so they can better understand the challenge of living with cancer. The “BIG C” CD doubles as the soundtrack for a DVD documentary which features real life perspectives from people living with cancer and their families.
Once again, some of Boulder’s best bands will perform to generate donations to the Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers Foundation. The Rocky Mountain Cancer Center Foundation (RMCCF) provides funding to cancer patients for bills and other unexpected expenses incurred as a result of their cancer and cancer treatment. Go to their web-site, http://www.RMCCF.org, to find out more about this wonderful charity
THIS YEAR’S EVENT INCLUDES:
- Special Screening of Jon’s “Big C” Documentary
- Live Band performances by:
2:00 pm – Slopeside
3:30 pm – Danny Shaffer
5:00 pm - Highwater
7:00 pm – SPYZ
9:00 pm - The Henderson Brothers Band
- Special Merchandise only available at the event – all proceeds go to The Rocky Mountain Cancer Center Foundation (RMCCF)
- Big C DVD
- Big C CD
- The 6th Annual Jon Henderson Beating Cancer T-shirt
DONATIONS APPRECIATED!
If you’d like to make a donation in advance please click here:
LIVE USTREAM VIDEO FEED
If you can’t attend live. We will be broadcasting the event live on Ustream here:
http://bit.ly/Iel0k
MORE INFO ABOUT JON HERE:
Where everybody knows your name
Local musician Jon Henderson leaves a powerful legacy
By Gene Ira Katz
http://bit.ly/sMap4
Songs in the key of Big C
By Vince Darcangelo (editorial@boulderweekly.com)
http://bit.ly/info/1mmtvh
Photos of Jon:
http://bit.ly/7jQRL
For more information on this event please contact David Henderson.
Read More
Jonathan Henderson Memorial – please come join us
Pictures of Jon….
Technorati Tags: beating cancer, Boulder, Conor O’Neills, Henderson Brothers Band, Jon Henderson, Jonathan Henderson, RMCCF, Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers Foundation
Read MoreWhere everybody knows your name – Local musician Jon Henderson leaves a powerful legacy
Where everybody knows your name
Local musician Jon Henderson leaves a powerful legacy
by Gene Ira Katz
Jon Henderson loved Conor O’Neills. He drank there. He played music there. And he made a lot of friends. As Jon’s brother David says, “That was his Cheers.”
Jon moved to Boulder nine years ago, shortly after he was diagnosed with cancer. The doctors gave him six months to live at that time, but Jon had never been too good about following orders. He was an artist and an optimist, and he was determined to live by his own rules. For almost a decade, he proved the medical world wrong and earned a loyal group of supporters along the way.
During his last visit to Conor O’Neills, Jon finished his final beer, said goodbye to friends and walked out to the parking lot. Minutes later, he had a seizure and slipped into a coma. The paramedics and police rushed to the scene, but they could not revive him. Jon Henderson passed away on Thursday, April 24. He was just 49 years old.
It was a sad conclusion to an inspirational story, but perhaps an appropriate one. “All of his community came out of Conor’s,” says David. “If you would have said, ‘Jon, write the script for the ending,’ that would have been right about where he would have written it.”
Fittingly, there is a celebration of Jon’s life scheduled for Saturday, May 31, at Conor O’Neills, featuring a number of local bands and including a fund-raiser for the Rocky Mountain Cancer Center Foundation (RMCCF). Folks from all over the country are expected to come, even with other memorial events on Jon’s behalf set for Atlanta and San Diego.
Many people knew Jon as a local musician and businessman, but few are aware that he left behind a promising career in television and marketing in Atlanta when he relocated to Boulder so that his family could help him with his fight against cancer. His father, David Sr., was a media pioneer who started out working for Westinghouse Broadcasting, handling talent, producing shows, and eventually winding up as president of a station group. He also helped build Outlet Broadcasting into one of the top media companies in the country.
“Our father was a very skilled, well-respected executive in the field,” explains Jon’s brother. “Growing up as kids, we had a great time. We could go down to the TV station and hang out, and we were on some shows in the early ’60s. Later on he got into the production business, and we’d watch them do the Mike Douglas Show and the David Frost Show. That’s how Jon kind of got into TV.”
Jon first worked at a station while he was still in high school in Providence, R.I., producing TV shows and commercials, then he went on to get a degree in communications at San Diego State, graduating in 1981. After that, he went up to Los Angeles and worked for Norman Lear on Archie Bunker’s Place. “He wanted to be a writer and producer of TV shows,” recalls David. “He was trying to sell program ideas to the networks. Then after about five years, he kind of got burned out on that business, which is very cut-throat and competitive in L.A.” When his dad opened a new station in Atlanta, Jon relocated there to run sales promotion for WATL for a couple of years before starting his own unique media marketing company, Henderson-Shapiro. “That’s what he was doing full time up until 1999 when we discovered, very shockingly, that he had colon cancer.”
“He was an extremely intuitive businessman, and a very charismatic kind of guy,” says Jon’s business partner Debbi Shapiro. “He could walk into a room and completely command the attention of everyone there. He was invincible. Probably people in Boulder didn’t see this side of Jon, because he was already sick when he moved there.”
Henderson-Shapiro provided promotions, marketing and media consulting for a wide variety of clients, such as Six Flags, Marriott, the Falcons, the Braves and numerous hospitality firms. But Shapiro points to the 1996 Olympics as a major highlight, when they were tapped by Atlanta-based Coca-Cola to handle promotions for the Olympic City.
Starting in 1993 with just the two of them, the company currently employs a staff of 23.
“I think they should know that Jon was a make-it-happen type of guy,” says Shapiro. “He was also hilarious. He had a great sense of humor. I’ll definitely miss that. I’m carrying on this legacy that he left. This company we started 15 years ago, it’s still here, and we’re supporting 23 families.”
Bridget Fisher, who manages Conor O’Neill’s remembers Jon showing up shortly after the pub first opened. “He was funny,” she says. “Very sarcastic.” Over time Jon established himself as a fixture at Conor’s, handling all the music booking, as well as promotional events like the St. Patrick’s Day festivities. He even helped with a marketing plan when the bar decided to expand to other locations. Jon also began holding annual Beating Cancer benefits, raising thousands of dollars over the past four years. “He was such an inspiration to me, and I think to anyone who has known him. A lot of people, when they’re diagnosed with cancer, they just sort of give up. But he fought it out, he kept going to treatment, and in the process, did all these events to raise money for the RMCCF. And he always supported local music — just truly unbelievable. He said, ‘I’m going to live to the fullest. I’m not going to let it get me down.’”
His oncologist for eight years, Dr. Allen Cohn, concurs. “Jon was a true inspiration on how to live with cancer. He lived his life to the fullest, and he didn’t let his treatments or his predicament really affect his life. He knew he had to go on with the cancer and deal with it.” Cohn also points out that Jon participated in numerous research trials to find new treatments for cancer. “He was very supportive of clinical research. He was a big advocate for that. I think the reason he did as well for as long as he did with his cancer was because of his participation in clinical trials.” The doctor also mentions Jon’s documentary project, The Big C, designed to help people who need to navigate their battle with cancer. “We’re going to work with his brother and his family to help get that out because it will help a lot of patients with their cancer experience. But also, it’ll be a true legacy for Jon, and I think he would have wanted it that way.” Cohn adds, “I miss him as a patient, but I certainly miss him as a friend, as well.”
David says The Big C project was close to his brother’s heart. “He got the bug to do a cancer project. He wanted to work on something that would leverage all his skills in producing, music, film, performing and songwriting. He wanted to leave a legacy to help other cancer victims who were suffering the same fate that he went through… all the personal and family issues that come up when you’re dealing with chemo, and how that’s going to change your lifestyle.” Jon spent a year on The Big C, pulling in a lot of Boulder recording people to work on it. After completing the production, he was in the process of trying to develop widespread marketing of the DVD, which is currently available on the Internet. “There were many projects that he was working at the time of his death,” says David, counting a film and a plan to build an analog recording studio, among others. “We’d like to try to continue as many of them as possible.”
One thing that surely will continue is the annual Beating Cancer fundraiser in July. Conor O’Neill’s is committed to it, as well as so many others who knew Jon. “The last nine years were really the best years of his life,” remarks David. “And he had cancer during those years. The relationships he had touched people’s lives and emotions. He inspired a lot of people.”
On the Bill:
A memorial event for Jon Henderson will be held on Saturday, May 31, all day long at Conor O’Neill’s, 1922 13th St., Boulder, 303-449-1922, featuring live music from local bands, including the Henderson Brothers.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Jon’s name to the RMCCF, www.rmccf.org.
Thank you so much Katz for this wonderful piece on my brother Jon. Jon’s memory and light live on…….
Technorati Tags: Conor O’Neills, Jon Henderson, Jonathan Henderson, Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers Foundation, puppy, RMCCF
Read MoreJon Henderson premieres new DVD at his annual Beating Cancer Benefit
From today’s Camera…. please join us tonight!
Jon Henderson premieres new DVD at his annual Beating Cancer Benefit
By Vince Darcangelo Camera Music Writer
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Jon Henderson in the studio recording for his CD/DVD combo, The Big C.
What Fourth annual Beating Cancer Benefit, featuring the Henderson Brothers Band, Slopeside, the Indulgers, Mumbouli and SPYZ
When Music starts at 10 p.m. today and 3 p.m. Saturday
Where Conor O’Neill’s, 1922 13th St., Boulder
Tickets $1
Info 303-449-1922
www.myspace.com/bigcprojectIn 1999, local guitarist Jon Henderson was diagnosed with stage IV metastatic colorectal cancer. He has been fighting cancer for 8½ years.
For the past half-decade, Henderson, who still has five tumors in his lungs, has also been working on his magnum opus, The Big C, an informational and entertaining DVD/CD combo designed for newly diagnosed cancer patients.
“If you gave The Big C to a person who has been diagnosed within a week,” Henderson says, “they’re going to know within an hour what it’s going to be like.”
He’s going to premiere the DVD at his fourth annual Beating Cancer Benefit, which kicks off tonight with a performance by the Henderson Brothers Band and continues with a full lineup of music Saturday at Conor O’Neill’s.
The Big C features cancer patients, survivors, their families, friends and health professionals offering advice and guiding a newly diagnosed patient through the various experiences and emotions they’ll be going through. The DVD will be distributed to new cancer patients through the Rocky Mountain Cancer Center.
The Big C contains 16 original tunes written and performed by Henderson and his band SPYZ, with each song corresponding to a chapter topic, such as dealing with a new diagnosis, utilizing support systems and preparing for chemotherapy.
The Beating Cancer Benefit, a fundraiser for the Rocky Mountain Cancer Center Foundation (RMCCF), begins tonight with a performance by the Henderson Brothers Band, which features Jon and his brother David.
“I’ve gone into cancer advocate mode,” Henderson says. “I felt this was a way, through music, that I could give back to the people that were basically keeping me alive: the Rocky Mountain Cancer Center.”
Last year’s Beating Cancer Benefit raised $7,500 for the RMCCF, and Henderson’s goal for this year is to top the $10,000 mark. All the bands are donating a minimum of 50 percent of their fee to the RMCCF. There will be a charity head shaving, and Conor O’Neill’s is hosting a silent auction. One of the items up for bid is a meet-and-greet with the band Blues Traveler, which was donated by the Fox Theatre. Other area venues are also getting involved, with Trilogy, RedFish, the Foundry, Lazy Dog and Catacombs donating portions of their Friday night sales to the charity.
“We’re very happy that we’ve been able to get everybody involved that we wanted to get in this year,” Henderson says.
Copies of the DVD will be available at the event, with a suggested donation of $10-$25. Copies can also be acquired via mail. Send the donation and DVD request to Big C Project, 2890 20th St., Boulder, CO 80304.
Contact Camera Music Writer Vince Darcangelo at vdarcangelo@yahoo.com.
Technorati Tags: beating cancer, Boulder, Henderson Brothers Band, Jon Henderson
Read More4th Annual Beating Cancer Benefit December 7th & 8th in Boulder
Boulder tech community please support this event! This event has extra special meaning to my family because my brother Jon has been fighting cancer since 1999. Come celebrate the miracle of life after cancer with Henderson Brothers Band this Friday 10pm and my brother’s band SPYZ on Saturday at 8pm both at Conor’ O’Neill’s.
4th Annual Beating Cancer Benefit
December 7th & 8th
Voted “Best Reason to Rock” in the Boulder Weekly’s 2007 “Best of Boulder” edition, the 4th Annual Beating Cancer Benefit promises to be bigger and better than ever. Once again, the best bands in Boulder will perform to garner donations to the Rocky Mountain Cancer Center Foundation. Conor O’Neill’s has graciously agreed to share the event with all of Boulder and allow other Pearl Street bar/music venues to participate in an effort to beat last year’s record donation of $7,500.
On Friday night December 7th every music venue in Boulder will host a “Beating Cancer Benefit” concert. Bands will donate part of their fees (50%-100%) and venues will donate their cover charge and a percentage of that day’s total sales (10%-15%). Venues invited to participate include (and bands):
• Conor’ O’Neill’s – Henderson Brothers Band Reunion
• Lazy Dog Saloon – Mayhem String Band
• The Catacombs – Dana Kyle Stokes
• Redfish – Unknown Americans
• The Foundry – Wendy Woo
• Trilogy – SHADOW SESSIONS – A Live Tribute to DJ SHADOW
On Saturday December 8th Conor O’Neill’s will host and all day music event with bands playing from noon to closing. Once again the founder of the Beating Cancer Benefit, Jon Henderson (observing his 8th year of survival) will perform with his old band from LA, SPYZ. Saturday 12/8 Conor O’Neill’s
3:30 – Slopeside
5:30 – The Indulgers
8:00 – SPYZ (Special music and video show)
9:30 – Mumbouli
Silent Auction at Conor O’Neill’s
Beginning December 1st Conor O’Neill’s will begin a silent auction to raise money for the RMCCF. Among the items up for bid are a John Popper of Blues Traveler autographed harmonic. Four (4) tickets to Blues Traveler and a “meet and greet” with the band 9The play 12/8 at the Fox).
Beating Cancer Head Shaving Benefit for RMCCF
Working with the Kappa Sigma Fraternity at CO and Colorado School of Mines we’re going to try and put together a “head shaving” for charity element for the Beating Cancer Benefit. Our Kappa Sigma will volunteer to shave off their hair and have friends, family, alumni, CU students and local businesses, etc… make donations for agreeing to shave their heads. Almost every type of cancer has “going bald” as a possible side effect. By shaving off their hair these young men will find out what one aspect of having cancer is like.
Making a Donation
Checks Payable to RMCCF
Send to: Jon Henderson
2890 20TH Street
Boulder, CO 80304
The Rocky Mountain Cancer Center Foundation (RMCCF) provides funding to cancer patients for bills and other unexpected expenses incurred as a result of their cancer and cancer treatment.
Technorati Tags: Annual Beating Cancer Benefit, Boulder, Henderson Brothers Band
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