by Doug Marcis

On Sunday, September 12, Stephen Bruton and seven other musical will perform live at La Zona Rosa as a part of Legfest, a concert and silent auction created for the purpose of giving hope to the 3,000 people who become new amputees each week. "The event is ground-breaking in many ways," says Bob Michaels, President of Galactic Group (a web-based company receiving top billing consistently on broadcast.com). Legfest is raising money for an important cause. The differentiator with Legfest is that it will be broadcast live on the Internet. This enables amputees all over the world to be part of the concert. It also allows people everywhere to contribute through online donations.

Bands include Stephen Bruton, the Ginger and Sarah Band, Brannen Temple Group, the South Austin Soul Sisters (SASS), Seela Temple, Funky London, Joey Love and Blues Express and Jimmy George (who will be opening for Tom Petty on September 16th). The event is the creation and dream of 30-year-old amputee Chandra Caldwell. She lost her leg twelve years ago when a driver slammed into the motorcycle on which she was a passenger. The driver left the scene of the accident, and when he drove away he took with him an eighteen-year-old's hopes of continued training as a gymnast and university cheerleader. In that moment, he changed her life forever. Never would Chandra have dreamt, however, that her nightmare would include a ten-year battle with insurance just to have a leg that fit correctly, thereby enabling her to walk without excruciating pain.

"The struggle of losing my leg and wearing a prosthesis has been difficult enough. But in the past ten years, I have grown three inches. I outgrew my prosthesis. Soon, the device that was first designed to enhance my life was now the cause of further medical complications that could have been prevented.

"I work and I am fully covered by insurance, and in all that time they continue to deny me a new limb. Therefore, I have spent every day in one leg that is a totally different length. And the inside is too big to stay adequately attached to my body, because I continue to lose weight. The prosthesis that I have now, I received at age twenty. I am now thirty years old. There are so many things that I have been inhibited from doing because of this constant battle with insurance; I want to live again.

"This battle was won only after someone with tremendous influence took on the CEO of the insurance company for me, and I thought, people who have disabilities should be encouraged to be as productive as they can possibly be, not forced to suffer as dependent and unemployed, when they can be alive, able, and indepedent." (Philanthropist and businessmen Ross Perot took on Chandra's insurance company, after hearing her story.)

"A decade of my life was basically robbed from me. I want others to experience hope and fullness of life, no matter what the challenge -- That's what Legfest is about, giving hope to people, to the people with disabilties and to those who love us." Tickets for Legfest '99 will be available at the door with a minimum donation of $5.