The following article appeared in the Colorado Community Newspapers on November 29, 2007.
Bob Haworth, a 20-year member of the latter-years Kingston Trio and a member of Brothers Four from 1970-85, will have a holiday concert Dec. 2 to benefit research into magnetic resonance therapy for Parkinson's disease.
Magnetic therapy for paralysis is firmly in the alternative medicine camp, but shows some promise in a field without real cures.
"The specific Parkinson's research that we're funding with this project is called the Jacobson Magnetic Resonance Therapy. It's currently in clinical trials here in Denver and the patients we know who have been participating are experiencing incredible results," Haworth said. "The treatment is expected to receive FDA approval some time next year and the ultimate usage is much broader than just Parkinson's. It has been shown to have positive effects on patients with other neurological disorders, heart arrhythmia, fibromyalgia and much more. We're very excited about the future of this treatment."
Parkinson's is a collection of symptoms - from rigidity, to tremors to dementia - that has no definitive diagnosis such as a blood test or brain scan. It affects mostly people 60 and older, with some cases of onset in a patient's 30s or 40s. Haworth has several friends living with the condition. Haworth and his wife Meri Haworth are hoping to make the concert part of a series.
Despite his decades of folk style singing and playing, his most recent brush with fame comes from a performance at a Lakewood Atlanta Bread Co. location.
Haworth has written songs recently that protest Pizza Patron's policy of accepting pesos and U.S. currency and a tune titled "Can You Get Me In?" Both songs are commentaries on immigration. Haworth is something of a conservative media darling, playing the songs on KHOW-AM radio.
Audience members at Atlanta Bread asked for the songs during a gig, and Haworth complied. One audience member went on to rail in his Arvada High School classroom against the songs. Haworth lost the gig and then asked that the teacher lose his job for defamation. The story made the Washington Post and conservative Web sites around the country.
Haworth said the songs are chiding the federal government for not enforcing the laws. He is donating part of his proceeds to assist the families of Border Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, whom he said were imprisoned for allegedly shooting a known drug smuggler whom they apprehended crossing the border from Mexico with a van load of marijuana.
Haworth plays banjo, guitar, bass, mandolin, bass, keyboards, percussion, harmonica, tuba and musical saw, in addition to singing tenor. His alter-ego, Bob O'Luney, is a one-man band who often plays local arts festivals.
He's even written more of the story of Charley and the MTA. In the original, from 1949, a commuter named Charley is unable to leave the train for want of a nickel, and his wife has to pass him sandwiches through the window each day. Locally, the toll lanes proposed for the center of Colorado 470 have been compared to the MTA fare increases in the song. The song was originally a campaign song for Walter O'Brien, a Progressive Party candidate for mayor of Boston. He was later branded a Communist in the McCarthy years. The Kingston Trio played the song, but changed O'Brien's name to George to avoid connection to anything Communist.
Haworth performs 7:30 Dec. 2 at Swallow Hill Music Association, 71 E. Yale Ave., Denver. Tickets are available online at www.bobhaworth.com or by phone at 303-232-2462.
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