By Russ Tarby

Contributing Writer

Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2014, started out like any other day for Kathy Gibbons, a 60-year-old U.S. Post Office retiree. By that afternoon, however, everything had changed. After putting her grandson down for a nap at her Old Cove Road home, Kathy fell ill and was taken by ambulance to the hospital.
That night scans revealed a mass in her left temporal lobe, and Kathy was diagnosed with a high-grade inoperable brain tumor also known as astrocytoma. Between radiation, numerous rounds of chemotherapy and multiple stays in the hospital, Kathy fights a new battle every day.
Friends and family have organized a benefit in Kathy’s honor from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, May 22, at Sharkey’s Bar & Grill, 7240 Oswego Road (Route 57). Admission costs $15 at the door. Entertainment by DJ Nick Caplan, food and soda are included. All proceeds will go directly to Kathy to assist with her ever-increasing medical expenses and ongoing nursing care.
Kathy’s daughter, Kaitlyn Gibbons, worked hard to make the fundraiser a reality. “Please come out and help support a wonderful woman and her family during this difficult time,” Kaitlyn said.
For info, dial 751-5933.

Bix, Spiegle recalled Sunday
Buffalo trombonist Ray Skalski has come a long way since his days with Mitch Miller’s big band. For the past 22 years, Ray has led the Jambalaya Jazz Band which returns to CNY to play a Dixieland concert hosted by the Jazz Appreciation Society of Syracuse, from 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday, May 22, at Pensabene’s Casa Grande, 135 State Fair Blvd., on the city’s West End. Admission costs $12 for JASS members, $15 for others.
The May 22 performance will be JASS’ annual Bix Beiderbecke-Spiegle Willcox Memorial Concert, according to JASS President Bobby Morris, who lives in Liverpool.
Beiderbecke, the ill-fated cornetist from Iowa, was born March 10, 1903, and died in 1931 in Queens at age 28. Willcox, the long-lived trombonist from Cortland, was born May 2, 1903 and died in 1999 at age 96.
In the mid-1920s Bix and Spiegle both played in the brass section of the legendary Jean Goldkette Orchestra. Beiderbecke is best known for such tunes as “Singin’ the Blues” and “Riverboat Shuffle,” while Willcox’s theme song was “Poor Butterfly.”
In the 1990s, Skalski performed alongside Spiegle and the two slide trombonists became friends. The Jambalaya Band follows Spiegle’s footsteps by specializing in rare old-time, Chicago-style traditional jazz tunes such as “Panama,” Jazz Me Blues” and “Struttin’ with Some Barbecue.”
For JASS information, call 652-0547, or visit jasscny.org.

Half-century of organ music
This year the Empire State Theatre and Musical Instrument Museum, also known as the CNY Theater Pipe Organ Society, celebrates 50 years of preserving the Empire State’s musical heritage at the New York State Fair.  Scottish organist David Gray will perform a Golden Anniversary concert at 8 p.m. Saturday, May 21, at the New Times Theater in the Art & Home Center, at the State Fairgrounds, across the lake in Geddes. Gray, a 26-year-old native of Glasgow, will play a wide variety of instrumental pieces on the world-famous Syracuse Wurlitzer. Since 2008, Gray has been studying piano at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
Admission costs $10 for adults, and $5 for students, and the theater is handicapped-accessible; empiretheatre.org.

Dunkin’ thumpin’
While villagers anxiously await the results of a state DOT traffic-impact study, the Liverpool Village Planning Board continues to evaluate a site plan submitted by ESW Realty for a planned Dunkin’ Donuts at 105-113 Second St.
The next planning board meeting is scheduled at 7 p.m. Monday, May 23.
If you think that a restaurant with a drive-thru window will negatively affect traffic flow here, you should make your concerns known to village planners by attending the meetings and/or writing a letter to the village clerk’s office, 310 Sycamore St., Liverpool, NY 13088, or via email at [email protected].

The columnist can be contacted at [email protected].