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Jason Gentile, lead singer of Blues Pheonix, performs songs to help raise money for the American Cancer Society at his annual Play for a Cure Saturday night at Balcony.

Mission Man continues cancer fund-raising efforts

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Posted: 10/2/07

Mission Man gave away about 1,260 demo albums and spent approximately $400 promoting for Saturday evening's 4th annual Playing for a Cure. But the 28-year-old Oxford resident, otherwise known as Gary Milholland, said he was still happy with the $147 his event at The Balcony raised for the American Cancer Society (ACS).

Attendance at the performance was minimal, with a few members of the event's previous bands listening to Mission Man's performance. Five fans did stream in at the end, singing along to his best known hit, "Chillin' at the Papa."

"It's pretty chill here tonight," said Brittany Treacy, a Miami University senior and a fiancé of senior Ryan Troescher, who performed that evening. "There's not going to be a ton of people here … People are just chilling, playing pool. It's an added bonus to have Mission Man here tonight."

Mission Man was the headline act, but Blues Phoenix, Troescher and Justin Wagner were scheduled as well. Mission Man orchestrated Playing for a Cure to raise money for the ACS, as he lost his mother to cancer in 1994. He accredits music to helping him through those difficult times.

"It's those kinds of things when I actually need music, regardless of if I'm concentrating on my career or if I'm just doing it as a hobby," he said. "I don't see myself giving up doing it anytime soon."

Mission Man coordinated costume changes for each song he performed, from various T-shirts to a Boston Celtics jersey. And according to the Oxford native, even sparsely attended events such as Saturday night's performance offer him a chance to sharpen his skills.

"I love performing live; the hard part is when I'm playing to a bartender and a couple of sound guys," he said, prior to the event. "I've played a lot of those shows. I still perform my set, I try to give the same energy but it is not quite possible. (Still performing) shows that I'm still serious with what I'm doing and gives me a chance to come back and bring a little fan base. It's a moment to practice on stage. But even five people going crazy-that keeps me going."

And Mission Man is still going.

Since he was 13 he has been rapping a form of music that he said is most properly defined as "intelligent hip-hop." His first album came out in January 1997, he's working on his ninth and he has mainly frequented open mic nights in Oxford, Dayton and surrounding communities. He said he his performances have varied from empty establishments to crowds of more than 100 people. And he doesn't plan on stopping anytime soon.

Mission Man's claim to fame is "Chillin' at the Papa," a song that highlights his employment at Papa John's in Oxford since 1998.

"People see me on the street and they don't know what else to say but, 'Chillin at the Papa,'" he said, laughing. "I'm like, I have 130 songs but, yes, I made that. I did write that song in five minutes."

And Mission Man said he typically does not sing on pizza deliveries-though he has on a few occasions-but he does pass out his demo CDs when the opportunities arise.

He said he always has demo CDs on him, calling them his "ID cards."

Over the years Mission Man has seen the dynamics of uptown nightlight change little, he said, however did point out that Miami has the potential to be a great music town-but it just isn't there yet.

"Oxford has the potential to have one of the best music scenes in the country, just based on concentration of people in a small area and I think the college students are open to that independent, independent-thought kind of music," he said. "But the bar owners don't want to take the risk, and they are business owners first and I understand that and it's frustrating for me as a musician. There are a whole lot of bands in Oxford that would turn out a decent crowd, but … if I brought out 50 people in a bar in Dayton they would love me, they would have me back every month. But here I've brought out 70 on a Tuesday but that wasn't good enough to have a weekly spot because 70 here on a weekend is nothing. If you've got 70 people in bar, like in a Brick Street, if they had 70 people there they would go out of business."

He's enthusiastic for his next mission, at Stadium Sports Bar and Grille's Battle of the Bands, scheduled for Oct. 17.

"I've been trying to make (music) my career for a long time," he said. "I want to do it on an independent level."