Latest From Heart Of Gold Entertainment!

Hi John,

Hard to believe that two years have passed since we met in Hollywood for our young artist showcase. Fredrik Strand Halland is trying to make some in-roads in the United States. He attended SXSW in Austin, Texas and continues to make progress with singing in English. It is hard to watch great talent struggle while some with little talent get packaged and find success. Grant Austin Taylor finally got his Gibson endorsement and is leading a younger band called Holly Road while still performing with adults as the Grant Austin Taylor Band. A few other young ones to watch are Tyler Dow Bryant not a kid but not yet 21) and Levi Platero.

Rather than curse the darkness that is the music industry these days, I am lighting a candle. I was fortunate to meet an amazing young man who had his own internet radio show that featured young artists from all over the world. Brent Albert led a tragic life but he was relentlessly positive in his attitude and always encouraged others that came across his path. Brent's lost his twin brother to leukemia and lived with his dad apart from his drug addicted mom. Music was his refuge and inspiration. In April of 2008 he went to a doctor for the chronic headaches he was having and after some tests, was diagnosed with a PNET brain tumor. Rather than retreat into his own world, Brent saw teens and kids in the pediatric oncology department at Hershey Medical Center who were scared, isolated and in constant pain. He knew that music could help them as it had helped him throughout his life. Brent would call me, often late at night when he couldn't sleep and we would talk about how to bring music into the lives of these kids. We read up on music therapy and discovered that this was an area of concentration at some of the better music schools like Berklee College of Music. It is so much more than just having musicians come in and play for patients. Our next task was to find an existing nonprofit that would "sponsor" our idea of bringing music therapy and a library of music to hospitals and infusion centers everywhere. We found Rock Against Cancer (www.rockagainstcancer.org) and I wrote a proposal. Lisa White and her Board welcomed us and Brent was overjoyed. I remember sending Brent 10 iPod nanos packaged in Apple Computer bags with stuffed animals. Brent was so excited in handing them out at his hospital with his dad. He let us know that he wasn't going to see this project all the way through and it was harder for us to accept this than it was for him. He had a strong spiritual (not religious) connection through his partial native heritage. In January he seemed to be rallying from an emergency surgery so I went to NAMM as he demanded I do. On my way home to the Bay Area, around 8 p.m. after a magnificent sunset just two hours earlier, I felt a warm and peaceful feeling come over me. About two hours later I arrived home and checked my computer. There was an email from Brent's younger brother Shane telling me that Brent had passed away around 11 pm eastern time, just an hour before his 16th birthday on January 19th.

So now Heart of Gold Entertainment is focused on making the Soulshine Project (named after the song written by Warren Haynes and performed by the Allman Brothers Band and Gov't Mule) a fitting legacy for Brent and a new resource for young people in treatment for cancer and other life altering conditions. We began our fund raising in May with the first of many small benefits hosted by young artists. We are documenting their efforts and will approach larger donors soon. We are in a position where all funds raised by the young artists will be double matched. We are pushing to raise $12,500 by year end. This will be matched by a wealthy private donor and then this total will be matched by Hot Topic. If all goes according to plan, we will have $50,000 which is what we need to start a comprehensive music therapy program at Hershey Medical Center (Penn. State University) where Brent was treated. If you have any suggestions or can give Soulshine Project a mention, let me know. We also have a compilation CD in the works that has a strong line up of donated tracks from young artists worldwide.

Warmly,

Bill Boyrer

(650) 444-1277

bill@heartofgoldent.com