Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band

Ok, so I'm more than a week late, but I wanted to write a short-ish post about last weekend's concert: Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band.  It was highly interesting, because I had never been to a show where one of the performers also happened to be an actor.  The show actually opened with some video clips from Forrest Gump -- naturally, the Lt. Dan scenes.  Then, towards the last third of the show, they showed clips from Gary Sinise's current show, I suppose.  (I don't own a television, so I had heard of the show but had not seen it before.)

This was the third concert I've attended in the last year or so that I had literally never even heard ANY of the band's music before.  And, it must be noted: Each of the three (yes, these were non-classical) concerts that I ventured out to see ended up being some of the most inspiring performances, in different ways.

Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band was no exception.  They played covers of just about everything -- so many that I can't even list them all.  And they were consistently good. Sometimes the nerdy part of me would admittedly cringe a little at some of the vocal placement or vowels used, but overall I couldn't complain.  (Besides, since they played covers from the last 30 years or so, I think I knew almost everything they played.)  There were four singers total: one male and three females.  My favorite singer was the third female singer - if there was a classically trained singer in the bunch, it would have been her.  Honestly, though, it wasn't even the music that was inspiring.  After all, the songs they played would fall into the category of "fun and entertaining," so it wasn't  really the music itself, necessarily.  (Though, the energy they all had on stage was just great.)

The most inspiring part of this was actually Gary Sinise himself.  He introduced the members of the band, but then when he introduced himself, it was always, "And I'm Lt. Dan, and I'm just trying to keep up."  or, "I just play bass, my job isn't so hard.  But so-and-so, he's amazing, isn't he?"  Always trying to deflect praise from him to his band.  He talked about what inspired him to start the Lt. Dan band, and how thankful he is for the people who serve in our military.   I learned that he has a number of family members who serve or have served in the military, and that he films his TV show five days a week, then travels to do shows on the weekends.  Everything that the band makes, money-wise, (after paying the musicians I'm sure) goes into his Foundation, which is dedicated to helping veterans and current military, in as many ways as possible...

It's just so inspiring to see someone using his resources to give to other people in the way that he does.  He could be relaxing on the weekends, but instead, he spends his limited time off raising money to help other people.  Hearing Gary Sinise talk about something that he is so obviously passionate about, the lives he has touched and the impact he knows he has made on some of the people he met -- well, it gives me a little more hope for people in general.  It's not about him -- even though he could easily make it that way given his "celebrity" status.

For that, Gary Sinise, you have my respect and admiration.  Thank you for breaking the "celebrity" stereotype and spending not just your money but your time.  Time is precious and it's inspiring the way you choose to spend yours.  I can only hope to make such a difference in this world.