Local Musicians Rally Around Beloved Friend Battling Brain Cancer

Brian Bailey is currently battling an aggressive form of late-stage brain cancer.

Slater had the chance to speak to Tor Krautter on the phone on Thursday to talk about something really cool he and some other local musicians did to help out their long-time friend.

Slater: Who is Brian Bailey?

Tor: Brian is a beloved member of our artistic family here in The Shire! A very talented Berkshire artist whose legendary work can be seen hanging on walls, bulletin boards, and the bathrooms of bars and coffee shops throughout Pittsfield and Berkshire County. Usually sketched on cocktail napkins, Brian‘s work is immediately recognizable and you know right away “Brian was here“. Some of you may be familiar with the original Rev Tor Logo he designed for which I am forever grateful.

Slater: So, why the cover of The Beatles' "All You Need Is Love"?

Tor: Last year when Brian was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer, he kind of made "All You Need Is Love" his motto and message and he really embraced that. He really showed through the diagnosis the true meaning of that phrase. It was really inspiring for all who love him so much. He has always been that guy, ya know the first to give ya a big smile and huge hug.

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Slater: Is Brian a musician?

Tor: He's not, however, Brian was a big part of the music scene in the '90s back when La Cocina existed on Waconah St. So, all those musicians in the video were part of that scene as well.

Slater: Being a Beatles song, was it hard to technically difficult to record?

Tor: "All You Need Is Love" can be difficult due to an odd time signature. So, we had everybody sing to the original track in their headphones, recorded the vocals on their phones and dubbed that over the instrumental which was also recorded to the original song (the scratch track). Then we combined the two.

Slater: Who plays on the track?

Tor: Myself on guitar, Ben Kohn on piano, Frank Kennedy (also the engineer) on bass, Rick Pierce on percussion, Dave Vittone on accordion, Jason Webster on vocals, Gina Coleman on vocal, Beth Rose on vocal, Jeanne Laurin Schnackenberg on vocal, Matt Mervis on vocal, and Bert Marshall on vocal.

Check out the video below.