Barrinton musician holds free concert for soldiers
"What I am trying to do is honor real heroes," said Joe Cantafio of Barrington, a musician and the president of the non-profit organization Forgotten Heroes, Inc. "A real hero isn't a guy who can dunk a basketball or score a touchdown. It's the guy who sacrifices himself so we have the freedom to go watch those basketball and football games."
Cantafio played a free concert during a Wounded Warrior Muster Aug. 16, in Davenport, Iowa.
The Army Wounded Warrior Program is the official U.S. Army program that assists and advocates for soldiers severely wounded or injured during overseas contingency operations since 9/11. The program provides these soldiers with career and education benefits, health care and prepares them for retirement, transition to the civilian world, or the return to service.
Each year, as a part of advocacy efforts, the program organizes a muster, a week-long conference that aims to improve processes, making changes and instituting new initiatives to the program that will improve the care of the wounded Soldiers.
Cantafio's musical history spans more than 20 years. He formed a band, Jade, while in high school that went on to play for "Dick Clark's Good Ol' Rock and Roll Show" for five years, toured for more than a decade, released multiple singles - a couple of which landed on American Bandstand - and became one of the first bands to appear on MTV.
Cantafio said he decided to hang up his guitar, become a bond-broker and settle into a suburban life in 1983 after he found out he was going to be a father.
After two of his business associates were killed during the 9/11 attacks, Cantafio said he decided to join the Armed Forces. Unfortunately, he was turned down because of his age.
"I was too young for Vietnam and I'm too old for this war. But I wanted to fight, so I picked up my guitar," said Cantafio.
He said he decided to play the acoustic guitar at Union Station in Chicago to raise money for the New York firefighters. He played there for a year and donated thousands of dollars to the firemen.
After his year at the station, he said he decided to switch the focus of his musical activism to Soldiers. He and his band reunited, changed their names to Joe Cantafio and the 101st Rock Division, and began playing worldwide for the troops.
During the muster concert, Cantafio played a mixture of classic rock tunes including "Blackbird" by the Beatles and patriotic ballads including "I'm Proud to be an American" by Lee Greenwood for an audience that included wounded warriors, their families, 2010 Miss Champaign Urbana Ruth Brooks and 2009 Miss Illinois Erin O'Connor - who joined Cantafio on stage for a duet during the show.
"Joe is one of the most passionate, patriotic people I have ever met," said O'Connor. "He's taught me how to be a better American."
This was the sixth muster Cantafio played.
Staff Sgt. Jay Lawson of Marseilles was also in attendance for the concert. Lawson, formerly an infantryman with Company A, 33rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion in Marseilles, currently a platoon sergeant with Community Based Warrior Transition Unit in Rock Island, dislocated both of his shoulders and knees while training Afghan border police as part of a four-man team in Patyka Province, Afghanistan.
"I was able to come back as a member of the Community Based Warrior Transition Unit through the Wounded Warrior Program," said Lawson. "They brought me back home, got me through all of my surgeries and back into what I wanted to be with the military, a platoon sergeant."
"Joe has touched my heart," said Lawson. "I have a very big heart for someone who will give their heart and soul to the morale and camaraderie of the American Soldier. There aren't very many people that are willing to put their life on the line to go overseas and sing and perform for us just to give us a little taste of home."