On July 20 in Portland, Oregon, Pearl Jam held a benefit concert for the Northwest Chapter of the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA) to raise awareness for a disease no one likes to discuss. Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready was diagnosed with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis twenty years ago and has gone public with what he personally felt for many years was an embarrassing disease.

McCready, a spokesperson for the NW Chapter of CCFA, said, "Having struggled with Crohn's disease for more than 20 years and experienced first hand difficulties in getting a diagnosis and treatment, I want to help others learn about the disease, how it is affecting them and how to find ways to cope."

UCB, a leading global biopharmaceutical company that recently launched Crohns and Me, an information and resource website for people with Crohn's disease, joined with CCFA, in sponsoring the Pearl Jam Portland benefit concert.

I am a long-time fan of legendary harmonica blues musician, soulful singer songwriter, and Pacific Northwest hometown boy Curtis Salgado. While working in Eugene, Oregon during the filming of Animal House, John Belushi visited a club Salgado was performing in, and created his Blues Brother persona after watching Salgado perform. Belushi dedicated the first Blues Brothers album to Salgado. Salgado, who came home from kindergarten with a note from his teacher pinned to his shirt saying that he could sing, went on into adulthood to tour as lead singer for Robert Cray and Santana.

Salgado is a highly-respected musician among his peers in the blues world, and he explains soul music by saying, "If a song is sincere and you believe it, that's soul. To me Pavarotti is as much a soul singer as Otis Redding; Merle Haggard and Hank Williams are soul singers as much as Sam Cooke. Soul is about heart and about belief." Salgado has soul.

According to his friend and manager Shane Tappendorf, Salgado will receive cancer treatments next month with the hope of liver transplant surgery in the future. A benefit concert is planned to help Salgado with some of the medical costs. In Oregon, donations can be made for the Curtis Salgado Fund at any US Bank or can be mailed to:

US Bancorp
2550 NW 188th Avenue
Hillsboro, OR 97124

Visit the Curtis Salgado website for more information.