the 941

This week’s Townie, Danae O’Leary, and her husband Ron need our help. On Sept. 5, five days shy of a year that they opened downtown eatery The Bungalow – and Ron’s birthday – he was admitted to Sarasota Memorial. The 36-year-old was diagnosed with a rare cardiomyopathy and now anticipates a heart transplant – and a half million-dollar bill: He’d passed on health insurance to instead finance the couple’s dream.

The Sarasota Herald Tribune did an in-depth piece on their story last month.

Several fundraisers are being organized to help out the couple, 30-year residents of Sarasota and longtime supporters of the local music scene. And if you can’t make it, visit ronolearyfund.org or send your snail mail to the Ron O’Leary Fund at P.O. Box 50631, Sarasota, FL, 34232. You can also make a donation at any Wachovia Bank branch.

Benefit concert with Elysian Sex Drive
Sat., Oct. 18, 9 p.m.-1 a.m.
T’Katz Pub, 2920 Beneva Road, Sarasota
tkatzpub.com, 924-0283
$5 donation at the door

BBQ dinner and music benefit
Sun., Oct. 19, 1-5 p.m.
JR’s Old Packinghouse Café, 987 S. Packinghouse Drive, Sarasota
oldpackinghousecafe.com, 371-9358
$10 donation at the door

Benefit concert with The Strangeways
Sat., Oct. 25, 9 p.m.
Champions Pub, 3676 Webber St., Sarasota
927-7686

Benefit concert with Elysian Sex Drive
Halloween night, Fri., Oct. 31, 8 p.m.-midnight
The Bungalow, 301 S. Pineapple Ave., Sarasota
365-4430
Costume contest and food, beer and wine specials

Benefit concert featuring music by The Velvet Hammer Band, The Venturas, John Howard Band, Al Fuller, Greenhouse Effect and Mitch Clark
Sun., Nov. 2, 1-8 p.m.
Sponsored by the Sarasota Film Society/Burns Court Cinema
Silent auctions and raffles for goods and services from local business
The Bungalow, 301 S. Pineapple Ave., Sarasota
365-4430 or 364-8662

Hair Cut-a-Thon
Sat., Nov. 8, 3-7 p.m.
Artisan Hair Studio, 5918 Palmer Blvd., Sarasota, 341-0688
Live music, barbecue, raffles, and haircuts with donations

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You know Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon/Johnny Rotten. He faded away for a couple of decades, gracefully heading into obscurity in the late eighties and nineties with fame intact. Then, a few years ago, he came back. Maybe he was bored. Maybe he was broke. In any case, for a while at least, it seemed there was still some of that beautiful noxious anarchy left in the depleted 50-something.

In 2006 he starred in one of those B-list celebrity reality shows, but walked off the set before the final episode. While touring this summer with three other elderly Pistols vets, he was accused of racial abuse, allegedly punched a woman in the face because he didn’t like his hotel room and lamented that he had to perform to “polite schoolteachers.” Yeah, that’s about right.

But now Lydon has made his biggest anti-establishment statement since God Save The Queen. He’s starring in a television commercial for Britain’s Country Life Butter.

Sigh. My childhood has now been completely, irrevocably claimed by commerce.

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Happy Friday, all…

The 941’s been less active than usual. We know this — we don’t like it, and we’re working on it. Keep tuning in, folks, and thanks for your patience. We’re working to get the blog bumpin’ again, scout’s honor.

And with that, a few options for your weekend. Have a good one.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26
ROD MACDONALD A key figure in the ’80s Greenwich Village folk renaissance, MacDonald mined his law, history and journalism background for politically-aware anthems like “A Sailor’s Prayer” and “American Jerusalem.” The latter – a New York set piece off his 1983 debut, and his signature tune — remains a timely, poetic study in social contrasts, while post 9/11 material (2003’s “My Neighbors in Delray,” this year’s “After the War”) has only furthered the Florida transplant’s comparisons to Dylan and Phil Ochs. (Manatee Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Bradenton)

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27
BRADENTUCKY BOMBERS BENEFIT w/REDLINERS/THE BRENTFORD SOUND/SPANKIN’ FRESH/WHISKEY ROMANCE Tampa’s rockabilly Redliners and Fort Myers’ reggae-ska act The Brentford Sound share a bill with B-town garage punkers Spankin’ Fresh and Whiskey Romance in support of the resident roller derby girls. (Pastimes Pub, Sarasota)

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28
MICHALE GRAVES w/THE DEAD POPES/THE IN-CROWD Former Misfit and horror-punk showman Graves (“Dig Up Her Bones,” “Saturday Night,” “Fiend Without a Face”) returns for the second time this year. (Pastimes Pub, Sarasota)

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28
BEN PRESTAGE The grandson of a Mississippi sharecropper, one-man guitar band Prestage is known for his down-home diddley bow, cigar box and lap steel stylings. The music’s informed by his swampy, deep south roots; it’s an earthy brew of blues-steeped folk, ragtime, country, and Americana that’s even more potent live. (Ace’s Lounge, Bradenton)

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