The Steamboat Pilot & Today

This will be Gib Manzanares' third year playing music as part of a Jimmie Heuga Snow Express fundraiser, but this year when he picks up his guitar, it will have a different meaning. Since last year's Jimmy Heuga Snow Express for Multiple Sclerosis Benefit Music Jam, Manzanares' brother was diagnosed with MS.

"He was visiting us up here, and he wasn't feeling good," Manzanares said. "He was having numbness in his extremities for about six months, but (Multiple Sclerosis) is a hard disease to diagnose."

Multiple Sclerosis affects the central nervous system and can completely incapacitate people who have the disease as it progresses.

The diagnosis was an awakening for the Manzanares family. Research has been unable pinpoint why some people get the disease and others do not. Although there are drugs people can take to hold back the progression of the disease, there is no cure.

The Jimmie Heuga Center for Multiple Sclerosis encourages people to have a good attitude, a healthy diet and an active lifestyle. On March 19, the center will host the Jimmie Heuga Vertical Express fund-raising race on Sitz/See Me ski run at Steamboat Ski Area.

Wes Dearborn hosts an annual Music Jam and Silent Auction to raise money for his team to participate in the event.

Manzanares, who recently finished recording a solo album due out in February, will take the stage with John Avisa and Walt Seabert. There also will be sets by the Storm Mountain Moonshiners and 3 Wire, followed by an open jam free-for-all.

The event starts at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Depot Art Center. Tickets are $20, but anyone who shows up with an instrument gets in for free. Any musician with an acoustic instrument is welcome. Music will continue until well after midnight. All the money raised at the Music Jam will be donated to the Jimmie Heuga Center through the Airborn / Dearborn Vertical Express racing team.