Many people know Peter Case from his days with Eighties L.A. power-poppers the Plimsouls and their hit “A Million Miles Away.” Remember their appearance in Valley Girl with a young Nicholas Cage? After the Plimsouls, Case pursued a successful solo career, appearing often here in Austin.
Earlier this year, the singer-songwriter was forced into emergency open-heart surgery. He’s recovering nicely, but his medical bills are sky high and he’s uninsured. In May, there were three benefit concerts at McCabe’s in L.A., which featured Richard Thompson, T-Bone Burnett, Joe Henry, Monty Python’s Eric Idle, and lots more.
This week Austin joins in with two Case benefits. Tonight at the Continental Club there’s a long list of performers including Jon Dee Graham, Dustin Welch, an almost-reunion of Sixteen Deluxe (with Matt Divine, Jeff Copas, and Carrie Clark), and Gurf Morlix. Friday at the Cactus Café, Morlix teams up with James McMurtry and Ian McLagan and the Bump Band for another round.
Morlix told me he wasn’t involved in putting these two events together, beyond agreeing to perform, which was easy since he’s known Case for a very long time.
“Peter and I grew up together outside of Buffalo, New York,” he relates. “I’ve known Peter since he was like 11 or 12 and I was two or three years older. We used to play football together. I can remember Peter singing Howlin’ Wolf songs in a little boy’s voice. His voice hadn’t changed yet. He was precocious. We were in rival bands. I don’t think we were in bands together until I ran into him in the Eighties in Los Angeles. His first time onstage was sitting in during a break of my band.
“I talked to him this week and he’s doing pretty good. I saw him a couple of weeks ago out in L.A. I had a show out there and he came to it. He’s moving around. It just takes a long time to come back from an operation like that. They rip your ribs apart. It can take a year. He said by spring he should be touring again, but he has no insurance. That’s why these things are happening. Peter deserves this. He’s done a lot of good things for a lot of people and he needs help. We’re just chipping away at it, because he needs it desperately.”
For more information, or to donate if you can’t make one of this week’s shows, visit Hidden Love Medical Relief. All proceeds go to alleviate Case’s medical expenses.
This article appears in October 23 • 2009.