June 19, 2026
Courtenay Harris Bond/PhillyVoice
Low Cut Connie frontman Adam Weiner plays guitar Thursday for Victor Bodewald, a patient at Jefferson Moss-Magee Rehabilitation Hospital, as part of Musicians On Call.
Victor Bodewald, a contractor from South Philadelphia, had an intimate conversation Thursday with Low Cut Connie frontman Adam Weiner.
Bodewald told Weiner about how he played trombone as a kid and then graduated to the flute when he found a beautiful sterling silver one in Florida after serving in the Marine Corps. They talked about Hank Williams and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
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Weiner had his guitar with him, so he played Bodewald a song he wrote called "Can't Be Wrong."
By the end, Bodewald, who was in a wheelchair on the spinal cord unit at Jefferson Moss-Magee Rehabilitation in Center City, had tears rolling down his cheeks.
It had been a tough week, Bodewald said, adding that he had "some new metal" in his back. Weiner's visit – not just his music but also his conversation – was comforting, he said.
That is the power of the Musicians On Call, a nonprofit program that began bringing music to the bedside of patients at Memorial Sloane Kettering in New York in 1999. The program expanded to Philadelphia 20 years ago after WXPN General Manager Roger LaMay went to New York to see what could be done here.
"That conversation ended up being inspirational because then we started really building our vision of how Musicians on Call could grow and expand," said Peter Griffin, the program's president and chief executive officer.
Now Musicians On Call operates in all 50 states and is being piloted in the United Kingdom. Over the years, more than 160,000 patients, caregivers and family members have enjoyed live music in 10 health care facilities and hospitals in Philadelphia.
Thursday marked the program's introduction at Jefferson Moss-Magee Rehabilitation Hospital, an 83-bed facility that treats people recovering from spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries, amputations, burns and other life-altering medical issues.
"Part of what we do is help people return to a new normal," said Robin Brackett, supervisor of guest relations and patient experience. "So things might not be the same as they were two months ago. But you're going to have a new normal, and it's going to be fabulous, and it can still include live music and going out with your friends."
One of the reasons Musicians On Call goes room to room is to help foster conversations between the patients, volunteer guides and musicians, Griffin said.
"When you go into a room, you're not just bringing a song," he said. "You're bringing a caring, local volunteer who's giving their time to spend it with a complete stranger. I think that means so much to the patients as well."
Volunteer guide Steve Struck, who has been working with the program since 2015, said he is humbled and inspired by the patients he meets. And on every volunteer shift, he sees how music helps people heal, Struck said.
In one particularly dramatic experience, Struck brought a musician to the bedside of a man who had just come out of brain surgery at Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience. His family was eager to hear a song, even though they weren't sure their loved one would survive. When the musician finished playing, the patient opened his eyes and mouthed, "Thank you," Struck said.
Thursday's interactions at Moss-Magee may not have been that cinematic, but they were powerful all the same.
At the start of the event, patient Russell Myatt, who had been at Moss-Magee for two weeks and was in a wheelchair after a second stroke, sat next to Weiner's piano. Myatt could not use his right hand, but he tapped his left one on his knee along with the music and chatted with Weiner.
"Adam's got a lot of rhythm," Myatt said. "He's got what it takes."
"I'm sitting," Weiner said. "He's sitting. And we're just getting to know each other with the music in between us."
Later, Weiner brought his guitar and his songs to the bedside of Tammy Aikens, a patient from West Philadelphia who had been recovering from major surgery at Moss-Magee for a week.
"I'm just really glad he serenaded me," Aikens said. "This made my day. It actually made my day."
