Hollywood Television’s Ron Jacobson recently shared this report about Gary and his humanitarian efforts with the Lt. Dan Band and Operation International Children.  Recorded just before Gary’s trip to Afghanistan last year, the video includes footage from the band’s performance at the CSI:NY mid-season bash and comments from Gary about playing with the band and his work with USO and OIC.  

This evening in Los Angeles, Gary, and those who inspire him, took part in the First West Coast Advanced Tribute Screening of Jonathan Flora’s documentary feature, Lt. Dan Band: For The Common Good.

The Lt. Dan Band: For The Common Good is a moving documentary feature film that celebrates America’s heroes and chronicles the journey of Academy Award nominated actor, Gary Sinise.  By following Gary and his band around the world for over a year and a half, including Iraq and Kuwait, Flora introduces the audience to many of the heroic first responders, the brave men and women in uniform, their families and the many wonderful citizens that support them.
 
The documentary has an amazing soundtrack and special appearances by numerous celebrities, including John Ratzenberger, Melina Kanakaredes, Mykelti Williamson, Connie Stevens, and Academy Award Winners, Jon Voight and Robert Duvall.  Produced and directed by Hollywood filmmaker and 82nd Airborne Veteran Jonathan Flora, this film is that rare movie that entertains even as it inspires.

The first Advance Tribute Screening was held last month in NY on board the USS Intrepid during the weekend of 9/11 for over 1100 first responders, military personnel, and their families.  

Information as to when and where the documentary will be released to the public will be posted when  available.  

Special thanks to J. Treese for sharing this news.

Gary and the Lt. Dan Band performed at the USO-Illinois Star-Spangled Gala this past weekend in Chicago. The event is held each year to honor and support the men, women and families of the U. S. Armed Forces.  Proceeds from the event help support the USO of Illinois including 4 USO centers in the Chicagoland area and more than a 1000 programs and services offering support to military members and families throughout the state of Illinois. 

Long-time Sinise fan, Glenda C. attended the Gala (thanks to sponsorship from Operation Homefront-IL for her volunteer efforts).  Glenda has kindly shared a few of her photographs from the evening:   

This past weekend Gary and the Lt. Dan Band participated in West Point’s celebration of the U.S. Army’s Year of the NCO (noncommissioned officers) by performing a free public concert at Eisenhower Hall Theatre, West Point, New York.   This was a very special weekend for Gary and his family as they have a strong personal connection to West Point.

Gary’s brother-in-law, Lieutenant Colonel Boyd McCanna (”Mac”) Harris not only graduated from West Point, but, after 2 tours of duty in Vietnam, was an instructor of Military Leadership at the Point.  In the 1980s, Lt. Col. Harris wrote the Army’s “Leadership Manual,” and much of it is still used today.   After Lt. Col. Harris passed away from cancer at the age of 40, an award was named in his honor.  Every year, West Point gives out a leadership award to the outstanding cadet in the name of Lt Col. Harris.  This was the first time in many years that Gary and his family attended the award ceremony.

A few photos from ceremony and Lt. Dan Band show are below:  

Click on photos to enlarge.   

On Friday July 17th, Gary and the Lt. Dan Band performed a free public concert at Naval Station Great Lakes. Operation Homefront volunteer and faithful fan, Glenda C. was in attendance, and she has again graciously provided a few terrific photographs of Gary and the band.

For a list of upcoming Lt. Dan Band public concerts, click here.

Thank you Glenda!

Gary and the Lt. Dan  Band have been performing for troops in Korea the past few days as part of their Summer USO tour.   On June 27th, the band performed for soldiers, families and friends at Camp Casey.  Below are a few photos of the show taken by Diane Howard.

According to Diane, Major General Morgan presented the Lt. Dan Band with a little memento from Warrior Country.

All  photos of  Gary Sinise (above) taken by Diane Howard.  Used with permission.

On June 29th, the band performed for more than 1000 soldiers at Youngsan Garrison.  Click hereto read Cpl. Choi Keun-woo’s coverage of the show and see additional photos.  This shot of Jeff, Kimo and Gary (immediately below) is a sample:

(U.S. Army photo by Cpl. Choi Keun-woo)

And finally, check out additional behind-the-scenes photographs and commentary about the tour by Gary’s friend and co-founder of Lt. Dan Band, Kimo Williams at On the Road with Kimo Williams. 

Photo of Kimo Williams taken by Diane Howard.  Used with permission.

Thanks to youtuber SJulianYZ125 quality video of the Lt. Dan Band show at Kunsan on June 24th is available.  A few selections are embedded below inlcuding a performance of “Baba O’Riley.”

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As some of you may have already known, Gary attended a USO function hosted by Hollywood Reporter and Editor Elizabeth Guider in Beverly Hills last month. Video of Gary speaking at this event recently became available and is embedded below:

Some terrific still photographs of Gary at this event are available at CSI:Fanatic click here.

And while we are on the topic of Gary’s commitment to the USO, he and the Lt. Dan Band will soon be off on their USO Summer Tour (June 21st through July 5th) to perform for troops in Korea and Okinawa. We wish the band a safe journey and hope the men and woman in uniform have a fantastic time at the shows!

Since the USVAP fundraiser at Joe’s in April, Gary has been busy as usual.  A few loyal Gary fans and friends have graciously shared their photographs from various events, and despite our lag time getting the photos uploaded to the News page, we hope you enjoy them just the same:

With thanks to Glenda Cain, photographs taken of the Lt. Dan Band performance at the Steppenwolf Theatre Gala on April 19, 2009:

From Liz Wegman we have photographs of Gary and M*A*S*H’s Jamie Farr taken in May at the OIC warehouse. Thank you, Liz!

And saving the best for last ~ fantastic photographs from Virginia Hagin taken at the Lt. Dan Band show at Ft. Riley in May:

Thanks again to Glenda, Liz and Virginia for sharing their photographs!

On Friday, April 17th the Lt. Dan Band played to a sold out crowd at Joe’s Bar in Chicago.  Each year this particular concert is a fundraiser for the United States Vietnam Arts Program which has expanded its mission to include providing “artistic tools” to wounded service members from Iraq and Afghanistan wars (read more about USVAP here).

During the concert, “artistic tools” were presented to Shane Parsons and Laura Narvaez.   Shane suffered a head injury and above knee amputation to both legs while serving in Iraq.  Laura suffers from traumatic brain injuries as a result of incidents while serving in Iraq and Korea; she cannot read or do math and has short term memory loss.  To help them heal in ways not visible to many of us,  the USVAP presented Shane with a guitar to pursue his childhood dream of playing one and his love of music;  Laura was presented with a camera to pursue her love of photography.

And while Shane and Laura were the true VIPs of the evening, part of the USVAP fundraising efforts included VIP All-Access passes and a VIP Meet and Greet event with Gary held after the show.  The VIP All-Access donors were invited to attend the afternoon sound-check, enjoy dinner with the band, a private introduction and photographs with Gary and Kimo as well as a copy of the American Soldier DVD narrated by Gary (this is the video montage which kicked off the show and is available via the USVAP website), Lt. Dan Band merchandise and Kimo’s War Stories CD.

The first two photographs below are from the sound check earlier in the day.  They are graciously provided by Glenda C.  and with many thanks from me personally because I arrived much too late in the day (Cubs game!) to take any photos worth sharing.  (Maybe next year!)  Click on the photos to enlarge.
Gary:                                                 Kimo, Ernie, Beth and Gary:

And many thanks to Alice E.  for sharing her photographs of Gary from the show!

Thanks to Kimo, Gary and the band for a terrific evening and fantastic show! Our best wishes and much gratitude to Shane and Laura!  And many thanks to Glenda and Alice for sharing their photographs!