Lt Dan Honors Fallen Heroes

CSI: New York star Gary Sinise (Mac Taylor) puts his money where his heart is.

As one of the producers of New York, Sinise has the ability to make time in his busy filming schedule for charity work. His celebrity status helps to bring attention to causes that are important to him. Honoring America's heroes is a task that is very near and dear to him.

"I've played music for years," he told the NY Daily News. "It would be for small crowds. I was in a jazz group; we'd have 10 people." Now that he is a celebrity, Sinise is able to combine his love for music with his charity work. The Lt Dan Band, named after his character from Forrest Gump, plays 30 to 40 shows a year. His fame brings attention to the band as well as the causes that they support. "I try to do shows that can help various charities, or support the troops," Sinise said. The Lt Dan Band often plays for military men and women around the country and around the world.

"The fact that I've been on CSI: NY and in movies, that all makes the work I do in the band more possible. We're able to draw some bigger crowds," he explained. He is hoping to draw a large crowd for his latest project: a charity concert with a very specific goal in mind. Sinise and his band will be at the Whitman Theater at Brooklyn College Saturday at 8:00 PM. They are hoping to raise $100,000 for a memorial wall that will be built in Brooklyn's Keyspan Park.

The wall will honor the police and fire workers killed on 9/11. "It's a beautiful memorial. It's well on its way," Sinise said. He learned of the project a year and a half ago from a friend who is a firefighter. It was originally only going to honor those from Brooklyn who had died, but the plan has changed. "We've expanded that idea, and we want to make it something that covers more ground," he said. "For the families of those fallen heroes, it's going to be very, very meaningful."

The original article is from the NY Daily News. More information about the Brooklyn Memorial Wall can be found at the official website . Tickets for the concert can be purchased through Ticketmaster. The Lt. Dan Band has a MySpace account, which can be found here.

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