This contribution comes from Marine wife, Kara L. who has kindly permitted us to republish her recent blog post about the Lt. Dan Band’s performance on Saturday, April 24th at Fort Leonard Wood. The evolution of the band will be familiar to long-time fans, but please enjoy reading about Kara’s experience at the show and, of course, her photographs which tell a story of their own.
August 25th, 2010: In 1997 Gary Sinise and Kimo Williams first met and realized their mutual love of music. This led to numerous jam sessions and the foundation for the Lt. Dan Band. Following one of his many trips overseas to visit those serving our country, Gary asked the USO if they would allow him to take a band with him on a tour. The USO agreed, the band began rehearsing and in February of 2004, The Lieutenant Dan Band hit the road on their first overseas USO tour to Korea, Singapore and Diego Garcia. Since those early sessions at Kimo’s house, a few gigs for the troops in the Chicago area in 2003, and that first overseas tour, in the past six years Gary and the band have played an average of 30-40 shows per year with a good 75% of those shows for USO, charities or benefits. There are 14 band members. The band covers a wide variety of music, from Springsteen to Linkin Park and Aretha to Hendrix. There’s something for everyone, and each show highlights the musical diversity of the band, as well as the passion and energy each member brings to the stage.
A friend and I went to the show last night. It was awesome! The show was supposed to start at 6:30 at an outside location. It had rained on and of all day and 2 hours prior to the show, the hail, thunder, and lightning started. The stage was already set up, but the basic equipment was moved to an indoor location so the show could go on. It started 2 hours late, but it was worth it! It says something when they’ll take the time to move the concert location instead of just canceling it. We got their shortly after the show started. The place was full, with mostly Army basic training privates in the stands. The band played a wide variety of music and did a great job of it. I would have paid to see the show (it was free). He stuck around aferwards for a meet and greet. Poor guy looked tired (it was midnight), but he met every single person in line.
It was rare, in my opinion, to see a celebrity so openly support the military. I realize a lot of them do USO tours overseas, but some are more in it for the publicity, while others do it purely to support our guys. Gary Sinise must already be busy considering he has hit TV show, but to also play 30-40 shows a year, just really shows how dedicated he is to what he does.
Thank you again Kara!
