I would appreciate some of DU's good vibes or

[highplainsdem]

67. Ran across an article on a Dutch band doing free concerts if

the audience will consider donating to ALS research. The band's leader had met George more than 40 years ago, when a different band he was in then was opening for Golden Earring. He and George had started chatting about '50s music and became lifelong friends.

I'm not sure how I missed this article when it was published in late June, since George had just started doing interviews again, with the release of Mirage, and I thought I'd been googling daily for any news about him in the previous 24 hours. But this one slipped by me then, and I found it only because Peter van Dorst, another friend of George's, had been posting in 2011 in a Les Paul guitar forum where I'd found some info on a famous guitar George had bought, which I'd posted about in the thread on Indorock and the Tielman Brothers: https://democraticunderground.com/10181711813#post4 . I hadn't heard of Peter van Dorst before, so I'd googled him and found his Twitter account, with the most recent tweet one in late June, about this article.

https://www.bndestem.nl/breda/gratis-optreden-en-dan-met-de-pet-rond-voor-als-onderzoek~acec09f6/

Computer translation:

Free performance and then with the hat around for ALS research

BREDA - A special gesture from the Breda band Jack Bakkers & De Grensgevallen. The four gentlemen offer themselves for free for performances. Provided they are allowed to go around with the cap afterwards. The proceeds go to ALS research.

Bandleader Bakkers, born in Oudenbosch and living for years in Tuinzigt in Breda, had been running around with the idea for some time. "Initially, the plan was to do this for the Daniël den Hoed Fund, which raises money for cancer research. That had to do with the fact that I had cancer myself, on the back of my tongue."

The plans changed when Bakkers heard that his good friend George Kooymans of the Golden Earring has ALS. Bakkers was more than 40 years ago with the band Kondoomz in the support act of the Earring. In the dressing room he got talking to Kooymans. From their mutual love for the fifties and rock 'n' roll came a close friendship for life. "When George got ALS, I thought: cancer is not fatal in all cases. IF it does. That's why I shifted my plan."

-snip-

The band's been around since 2007 and released at least one CD. When I googled the name of the band I found a blurry video of the band in 2011, with George jamming with them for one song.