Listen to This! Musicians encourage musicians to get a tune-up

People in the music industry tend to live hard. They don’t sleep a lot. They don’t have great food choices on the road. Alcohol and drugs are constant temptations. And who has time to see a doctor? “We [were] so tired of just throwing benefit concerts for fellow musicians who got really sick,” said Russ Gusetti, who co-chairs Tune In & Tune Up with Don “DC” Culp, of the birth of their initiative.

Tune In & Tune Up is a resource created by musicians for members of the music community and their families. It has two main goals: improving health resource awareness and improving health awareness. “We want to make a difference for as many people as we can,” said Gusetti. So they created a website that explains healthcare options in easy-to-understand language. “Healthcare options are so confusing that people just tune out. So we’re saying, ‘Tune in. Let us try to help you understand this.'”

And then Gusetti and Culp encourage those tuned in people to tune up. Gusetti explains, “We’re trying to say, ‘Guys, take care of yourself. Do what you can before something bad happens. Lose weight, stop smoking, don’t eat crappy food, be aware of how dangerous opioids are. And get a physical for goodness’ sake!'” Gusetti believes that being proactive about healthcare is key.

To that end, Tune In & Tune Up is hosting its annual health fair and benefit concert this month. “We expect about 30 vendors, including health insurance companies, yoga studios and holistic healthcare providers,” explained Gusetti. “We’re trying to make it easy.”

And to make it fun, happening concurrently with the fair will be The Unity Concert, where RIMHOF inductees and local musicians will perform, including The Rock’n Docs, a local band made entirely of doctors.

To members of the music community still on the fence about taking control of their health or feeling intimidated by the industry, Gusetti keeps it simple, “Just take a first step and see what’s out there.”