Project Barley hosts benefit for injured guitarist Derick Salguero
by Garrick Rawlings
From tragedy to triumph is the story of 18-year-old guitar phenom Derick Salguero , who is recovering from a severe motorcycle accident breaking both legs in half. Truly remarkable, the accident took place on November 15 of last year and after enduring surgery where they inserted titanium “bones” to rebuild the young man, in only two days and one week he took his first steps and furthermore, with tenacious grit and determination, perhaps inspired by the overwhelming support of his family and musical community, Derick, with the help of one crutch, made it to the gig under his own power, his first excursion doing so. This is borderline supernatural power!
Project Barley Taps & Grill on the International Boardwalk in Redondo Beach hosted the event on Sunday, December 11th, and is where south bay veteran musician/writer/educator Craig Machen met Derick at one of their weekly open mics and was blown away. They became fast friends and immediately began playing and writing together; “I had to seriously up my game on guitar to keep up with him!” says Machen. Upon hearing the news, Machen immediately dove into action organizing a gofundme (on-line fundraiser) for Derick and along with Barley co-owner Joe Smith, and Kristen Dorr (whose daughter Kristen Dorr performed at the event) put the show together, where 17 artists generously and enthusiastically showed up and performed a set in support of their musical brother.
Joe Smith feels like Derick has become another son; “Derick played over at our brewery a couple times ( Project Barley in Lomita) and when we opened up this place he started coming here and became a crowd favorite, has supported our teen Tuesday jam as well as our Wednesday open mic night. When he got in the accident we knew we had to get involved so we reached out to all the local musicians who play here and put this fundraiser together to help him pay the medical bills. As an 18-year-old he’s decided he wants to be a musician so he gave up everything to do it and he can’t gig right now and we thought we could help.” Smith mentioned that this couldn’t have happened without co-owner and lead singer of the south bay band Barley, Brent Reger, who also helped organize this, was sadly missed as he’s under the weather and recuperating.
Commendations are in order for Hermosa Music Company’s Zeal Levin, after voluntarily mixing sound for the Rock for Tots fundraiser over there all day and night the day before, and going on three hours of sleep, again donating his time and equipment, schlepped it all over to Project Barley for an even longer show and even gave up his scheduled performance time to continue running the show.
Time for Derick to tell us his story; “I played piano for about a year, my mom was trying to teach me sheet music, I think I was four or five but I stopped playing because I wanted to play by ear and then I got into viola when I was eight, I was good at that but didn’t have a super big love for it. I found the guitar at 12 or 13 and my dad put me on to the Eric Clapton “Unplugged” album and I liked “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” and then I got to Jim Croce and James Taylor and my biggest inspiration is Tommy Emmanuel and I really wanted to push myself, Tommy is a guitar player from Australia, a fingerstyle guitarist and I decided OK, this is what I want to do. I went to Tommy’s concert, I met him a few times. I idolize him, I learned so many of his songs, he’s the reason I push myself to become a good player. Before the accident I wasn’t listening to him much, but in the hospital I found a new love for the music, it’s reinvigorated me and made me a better player. I realize, with the accident, that every bad thing that’s happened in my life, in the end it turned out good for me. After I found out I could make a full recovery then it was OK, let’s make the best out of this, there’s a quote (Napoleon Hill) ‘Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit’, I took it to heart.”
When asked what he thinks of the spectacle and camaraderie of this day, a big giant grin grew across his face and as his eyes sparkled; “It feels weird, like everyone knows me, I feel grateful. I didn’t ask for this event, my friends Craig and Joe organizing it, I just feel super grateful.”
