CSI: NY's Gary Sinise is all set for yet another concert following his performance along with his Lt. Dan Band at the Whitman Theater at Brooklyn College earlier this month to raise funds for a memorial wall intended to honor fallen heroes.

Sinise and his band will perform on Sunday, September 2 at The Club at the Cannery Hotel in Las Vegas, as part of its military appreciation show, which also includes a color guard presentation and the singing of the national anthem.

Nowadays, many actors have ventured into the music business, aiming for a more fame and fortune.  For Sinise, however, his attachment to the music industry is driven by passion and, most importantly, his eagerness to help charities and bring attention to causes such as honoring America's heroes.

Sinise and his band plays about 30 to 40 gigs a year, often touring around the country and performing for military men and women. Of course, being on a show like CSI: NY, where he plays Mac Taylor, helps draw in the crowd.

“It's amazing how big CSI is.  I just did a USO tour with the band over in Germany and Belgium, and one of the bases we played at over there was the NATO headquarters in Belgium.  There are 26 different nations represented there, with military and their families from all these different countries - and that was the wildest show we played on the tour.  It was completely packed and they just screamed form the beginning to the end.  I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that a lot of these folks had seen me in CSI: NY and CSI is big over there and that's why they showed up,” he told Jerry Fink of the Las Vegas Sun.

Although being on CSI: NY eats up most of his time and sometimes hinders him from participating on tours, he still feels fortunate to be part of the series.

“You know what, it's a great job and I'm just going to enjoy it while it's here.  I'm not going to be doing this series forever or anything like that but while it's here it's a good group of folks.  It's lucrative.  It's within a short little drive of where I live, five minutes from where my kids go to school. It's a great opportunity and I'm blessed to have it,” he said.

“During the TV season we can't go overseas or do any type of extensive tours.  What we do is get on a plane and fly to a gig and then fly back home in time for work.  We do that several times a year. Then during my hiatus from the show we usually take some type of a tour.  Last year we went to Germany and Belgium for 12 or 13 days.  The year before that we did a 10-day bus tour around the Midwest and played five or six military bases, did a little USO tour.  Usually on the show's 11-week hiatus we'll spend some time touring, like two weeks ago we played in Chicago at a big troop-support festival there. Had about 11,000 people show up. It was great,” he added.


-Kris De Leon, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: Las Vegas Sun
(Image courtesy of MSN)