GARY CLARK,JR.

He has had a fruitful career, yet was
bewildered that day in March 2006 when
he learned he had a cancerous tumor on
his liver. He was suffering one of his periodic
incidents of gallstone attacks that
spring and attempted to ride out the pain
as he had done many times before. But
this time the pain wouldn’t subside and
he was convinced to go the emergency
room of a Portland hospital. Tests were
done, then more the next day, and more
the next day.
“ All I was thinking about what how
was I gonna pay the bills,” he says.
Like many musicians, Salgado has
found medical insurance an unachievable
luxury in his world. He knew he had
Hepatitis C, which he had contracted at
the age of 32 by sharing a dirty needle
with another individual. What he didn’t
know is that he had a lemon-sized
growth on his liver that would require a
cancer operation he clearly couldn’t
afford.
His friends rallied to his cause. Bonnie
Raitt sent him a check to pay his rent
so he wouldn’t have to worry about that
expense for a long-time. A Portland concert
was organized with Robert Cray,
Little Charlie & the Nightcats, Charlie
Musselwhite, Taj Mahal, the Portland band
Everclear, and others helped him raise
hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Smaller concerts were staged
around the West Coast and Midwest and
soon $1 million had been raised. And,
after evaluating where he might get the
operation, he settled on the Nebraska
Medical Center in Omaha.
BLUES REVUE 15