DALLAS — When Jonathan Taylor joins other artists in the Dallas neighborhood of Deep Ellum on Saturday, he'll be celebrating a victory over some of his own demons, while helping countless others declare victory over the same.
"I thought about it a lot -- and just didn't do it, thank God," he said of the number of times he considered taking his own life. "I was just tired. And someone was just like, 'Hold on, just hold on. It's gonna be a better day.'"
He found one of those better days several weekends ago when he walked into the Deep Ellum music venue Club Dada where he works as a doorman. He was surprised to find out that, on that particular day, the people inside the club were giving out guitars for free.
"I wasn't expecting this at all," he told us at the time. "This is, like, going to be one of the best days of my life right here."
That's because he'd walked into exactly the day, the help and the family he needed.
It starts with the music of Spector 45, a trio of rising stars in Dallas on rise -- until the first day of 2011. That's the day Spector 45 frontman Frankie Campagna took his own life. He was just 24.
"I was a mess," Spector 45 drummer Anthony Delabano told us all these years later. "I wanted to kill myself too. I tried to jump out of a car three times with my dad driving me home..."
An even bigger mess came 77 days later. That's when Spector 45 bassist Adam Carter would take his own life too.
"That was, I think, the last time I think anybody in Deep Ellum saw me for a long time," Delabano said.
But in the time it took for him to resurface, and for his band's faces to appear on Deep Ellum murals painted by Frankie's father, Foundation 45 surfaced too. In the wake of Spector 45's tragedy, the nonprofit began offering counseling and treatment for depression, addiction and thoughts of suicide -- with their efforts specifically targeted toward artists and musicians. The team of professionals on staff are artists themselves with similar backgrounds, who understand that sometimes dark journey too.
"[They] help people who are struggling just like my brother," said Amber Campagna, Frankie's younger sister. "A lot of artists think their suffering and their pain is their source for inspiration. And it's not. It doesn't have to be. At Foundation 45, we do our best to make sure that you can see the light at the end of the tunnel."
That's what all the donated guitars Taylor saw a few weekends back are for -- a Foundation 45 fundraiser called Art of the Guitar that's being held Saturday, Oct. 21, at Life in Deep Ellum on Taylor Street. Returning after a pause during the pandemic, the event features artists who donate their time to paint and sculpt and give each guitar their own creative stamp. After they're auctioned off on Saturday night, the money raised will help Foundation 45 pay for and continue its life-saving work.
Delabano says 4,000 people have been helped by Foundation 45 so far, thanks to fundraising events like this.
'Now, looking back, it's 4,000 people, and it's hard for me not to cry," Delabano said. "All the people that would have been impacted -- 4,000 families -- they're OK now. "
Images of Delabano's face, and those of his Spector 45 bandmates, will be on the guitar that Taylor, an artist himself, was inspired to create himself for the auction.
He hopes the money it brings will help Foundation 45 keep saving lives, just like his.
"No matter you're here or you're there, somebody somewhere is going through something right now," he said. "If you don't have that positive voice, Foundation 45 is your positive voice. So reach out."
In the name of two lost souls, Foundation 45 keeps reaching out to save so many more.