On Thursday evening, January 14 a group of musicians got together at the Alexandria, Virginia Moose Lodge and staged a three hour concert to raise money for the horsemen and women of Classy Lane Training Centre who had lost their horses and equipment in the January 4 fire.
Most of the musicians have no connections to harness racing. One musician stated that he could not imagine waking up one morning and losing his livelihood over night.
The concert was arranged and organized by Nancy Lisi with the help of the Estelle Miller and Pat Dowdy of the Moose Lodge.
Representing the harness racing community was Freddie Hudson, who spoke of how devastating a fire is, having experienced it when his dad lost 15 horses in a stable fire at Roosevelt Raceway in 1963.
The concert raised $320.
The musicians call themselves the Cat Jammers and they came about that name when they started doing benefit concerts to raise money to care for and relocate the abandoned cats of Rosecroft Raceway.
The musicians (Cat Jammers) that participated are as follows:
King Street Bluegrass:
Arthur Lisi: Sound and flute
Donnie Faulkner: Lead singer, guitar
Robert Swain: Founding member, singer
Roger Hart: Harmonica
Rob Waller: Banjo
Nancy Lisi: Bass, organizer
Vernon Santmeyer: Singer and multiple instruments
Dave Meade: Accordion
Mark Skip Casale: Funky mandolin
Gary Cole: Bass
Shelley Burns: Fiddle
Katherine Farrar: Banjo