The many friends of Fogelberg

In whatever way anyone would like to measure it, Thursday night's "Friends of Fogelberg" concert to benefit local prostate cancer education and testing was a success beyond what most could measure.

The crowd? The Globe-News Center was virtually full.

The music? I should stop being amazed at the talent of local musicians community. There were the veterans groups like Anderson, Flesher and Key and Insufficient Funds. But those like Mike Fuller, Bob Hopkins, Kim Loe, James Davis and Magggie Scales-Peacock on violin got deserving standing ovations as they played Fogelberg music.

A jam session featuring all local performers toward the end of intermission would rival anything you could hear anywhere.

What about the cause? Prostate cancer is the breast cancer of men. About 32,000 die in the U.S. annually from this disease. This is the second such concert featuring Fogelberg music, the folk rocker who died from prostate cancer in 2007. And, best of all, the money raised from the first concert went to the Prostate Cancer Foundation in California. All of last night's proceeds stayed right here in Amarillo.

The concert was in memory of Jim Holston, who hosted the first concert but died last June of prostate cancer. There was laughter, a few tears and a whole lot of good music.

None of this would have been possible without the dogged effort of Joe Ed Coffman. A huge Fogelberg fan, he is the relentless drive behind this.

And there's more to come. On Oct. 8, there's the Great Palo Duro Prostate Putting Relay, where a golf ball will be putted from the Palo Duro Canyon entrance to the Comanche Trail golf course. Now THAT should be interesting.

The folloing day, Comanche will hosts a four-man Friends of Fogelberg scramble that will benefit the Harrington Cancer Center.

If you got any more ideas or you just want to say thanks, Joe Ed wouldn't mind a call at all. He loves to talk. It's 806-290-9868.