Friends unite to lend Hardeeville musician Cotdney Ulmer a helping hand

Cotdney Ulmer is a 53-year-old musician from Hardeeville who desperately needs a new heart.

Because his heart problems keep him from working, and because health care is so expensive, Cotdney's friends are intervening.

He apparently has lots of them. They will stage a benefit show called "Have a Heart -- Help a Friend" from 1 to 8 p.m. Sunday at the Shoreline Ballroom on Hilton Head Island.

In fewer than 30 days, musician Lavon Stevens and a small committee have pulled together a music festival that includes 20 local bands, food from seven local restaurants and a 140-item silent auction. The diversity of Cotdney's music and friends is apparent in the schedule: gospel and inspirational music starting at 1 p.m.; rhythm and blues around 2 p.m.; jazz around 4 p.m.; and blues and rock around 6 p.m.

Cotdney grew up in a small town when musicians learned from mentors, not programs in the school. He was part of the Primitive Expressions band that was legendary in these parts back before disco -- when live music was king, and every juke joint and dive bar with names like Blue Moon and the Hideaway wanted musicians to load into broken-down vans and ply the Lowcountry's version of the "Chitlin' Circuit" every weekend.

Cotdney learned from the best, including Curtis Rivers and Teddy Adams, and to this day it appears that anyone who knows a sharp from a flat loves and respects the big, smiling man thumping the bass well behind the

spotlight.

Sunday's music festival is a testament to that.

But if you listen carefully to the beat, there's something else to hear and see.

The invisible underpinnings of a wealthy island's service industry is making a statement. We're seeing its large numbers, its talent, its care for the community, and its values.

At center stage is a lack of affordable health insurance.

"This is an opportunity to raise awareness to the importance of things like health insurance for self-employed people such as musicians and entertainers," said Stevens, who has been close to Cotdney since they were teenagers.

The festival will help Cotdney, who was resting Friday in a Charleston hospital.

But maybe it can help us, too. Maybe we will see musicians and servers as more than free spirits who love what they do -- waiting on us and providing the background music for the happiest moments of our lives.

Maybe we can see them for what they are: men and women who have spouses and children to support and bills to pay; people who need insurance and tips, for sure, but also respect.