Rhett Butler Wow’d the Crowd, and added some awareness, too!

I received a fair amount of feedback regarding my inclusion of Winnsboro’s own Colby Gibson’s battle with “life after brain tumor surgery.”  Since there was so little advance notice, some of you were upset that you were unable to attend.  Fear not.

The Winnsboro Center for the Arts could not have accommodated everyone familiar with Colby Gibson’s plight.  This has been going on for years, and the recent FIFTH stroke has taken a bigger toll upon his body and mind.  It was the parallels between Rhett Butler’s brother Ashley’s life and that of Colby Gibson’s life that prompted the piggyback onto the show, more for the awareness factor than anything else.  It gave Rhett Butler an opportunity to discuss further his dedication to the cause, as he continues to fight for better brain tumor cancer treatments.  Rhett has written a book, and is seeking a medical degree!!  We may have another BRAIN SURGEON arising out of all this!!

So, don’t be angry.  You HAVEN’T missed your opportunity to be helpful.  You can go to Rhett’s website to learn more about the big picture, or you can go to the Crossroads site to contribute in your own backyard and help with Colby’s current therapy.  Every penny you donate will go directly to Carol Gibson & her son Colby.

Below is the original blog about Saturday night’s event.  It is MY belief that Rhett’s performance carried with it a little extra MAGIC that night, all things considered! ~Gus

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Yes, Rhett Butler plays much bigger venues than Crossroads, in front of thousands more than the 100 or so seats within the Winnsboro Center for the Arts.  But does he have as much fun?  Probably NOT!  It is truly wonderful when you get to experience the caliber of musician as a Rhett Butler [guitars & ukulele] , or Phil McNeese [bass guitar], or Martin McCall [percussion].  Top notch musicians that know their instruments top to bottom, inside & out.  What’s really cool is when they themselves allow the music to take them to places they may never have visited before.  Moments only found during a live performance, when these musicians just let the evening flow, and allow the music to dictate where the jam will lead!  The only way to experience such a series of moments is to witness a night like the one that just occurred at Crossroads Music Company & Listening Room, right here in rural Winnsboro, Texas.  This was quite possibly Rhett’s finest performance since he started playing on the Crossroads stage!  Picture below shows Rhett Butler [seated with guitar], Phil McNeese on bass guitar, and Martin McCall on drums.

When he is not performing, Rhett works with a large biotech company promoting clinical trials for brain cancer. The documentary, “Chasing Miracles”, that Rhett made about the life of his brother Ashley, a 28 year brain tumor survivor, was recognized in the Dallas International Film Festival in 2011. He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in biotechnology/cancer biology from the University of Texas at Dallas and is writing his first book entitled, “Enthusiasm is the Enemy – 12 Reasons that We Fail to Improve Cancer Care.”   Ashley’s life parallels the life of Winnsboro’s own Colby Gibson, Carol Gibson’s son.  Both had brain tumors at a young age, and both had surgery to remove those tumors back in the 1980s, when the learning curve for radiation treatments, etc, was still somewhat in its infant stage.  Both Colby and Ashley received significant radiation treatments to help insure all the cancer was wiped out, with a trade-off being an altered existence.  As stated above, Ashley was a 28 year brain tumor survivor before his passing.  Colby is now 30, and is a 26 year brain tumor survivor, but he just suffered his FIFTH STROKE this past July, that took his throat & the functioning of his right side .  In need of as much therapy as possible during these initial months following the stroke, Carol is looking into more treatment than the local nursing home can provide, which is very minimal.  Because of that fact, this Rhett Butler concert was dedicated to the memory of Ashley, but also a fundraising campaign for Colby.  Those of you that are local probably have had Colby take your groceries to your vehicle at Brookshire’s, up until a couple years ago.  Anyway, proceeds from the concert will enable more therapy for Colby, and if you missed the show, you can still donate in the Crossroads store…Forgive the lack of notice for all this…assistance will be greatly appreciated, and allow Colby to continue some extra physical therapy, as well as speech therapy not covered by current health benefits.