Don't think for a minute, though, that Allen will be watching from the sidelines. Look for him on stage, slinging a mandolin and singing bluegrass standards.

"That's what's been keeping me going -- being able to get out and enjoy myself and play music," said Allen, 75, who has had cancer for two years. "When you're playing, you don't think of nothing; you just think of how big a blessing you have."

Proceeds from the show will help cover insurance co-payments and alternative herbal medicine that Medicare doesn't cover.

His other option, Allen said, is six months of chemotherapy. Insurance will pay for chemo, but Allen believes the alternative medicine will be more effective and less dangerous.

Between diabetes medicine and the herbal treatment, Allen said, he's putting out $300 a month. The money isn't an issue, he said, except that he doesn't have it, and neither do his two children.

"I'm broke, broke, broke," Allen said in his comfortable mumble. But, he added, "I'm just happy as a jaybird if I've got a dollar or if I've got a hundred dollars."

His cancer has spread to both sides of his liver, and a 12-inch scar marks one of the four surgeries he has had. But Allen seems to focus instead on what he can do and what he has left.

He figures the only reason he's still alive is to help other people. Allen, a musician for 61 years, thinks music is a divine gift that can improve others' lives.

"He's leaving me there for that reason, I'm sure," Allen said.

So even with his cancer, Allen and his bandmates play three or four shows a month at old folks' homes.

For many, liver cancer is not a question of "if" but "when." The survival rate for white men is 7.4 percent, according to an article by Arthur Schoenstadt, a medical doctor.

But on stage, Allen's worldly troubles don't seem to exist.

At a retirement home last week, he reeled off licks on his mandolin and rambled through well-tested jokes, stirring claps and genuine amusement from the crowd.

The youngest member of John Allen & Friends is 73, with the exception of occasional mandolin player Jim Pesalano, and all seem happy to have their fingers on the fret-board.

"They sometimes call us old people, but really, we're just seasoned," guitarist Gene Witherell said at a show last week.

In a lifetime of music, Allen has made countless friends and played in many bands, including The Redeemed. Now, musicians and fans from around the county are rallying to support the man.

This weekend's show will be the second benefit for Allen. The first, a smaller affair, drew 300 people and raised $2,100 for co-pays and medicines.

Saturday's benefit promises to be even bigger.

"Everybody likes John; he just sticks to people," Witherell said. "He's the extrovert [of the group], I think."

Point a camera at Allen, and he'll mug with a smile. Start him talking, and he'll keep going -- and it will be a good story, too, about a long-ago show or his days playing late-night bluegrass while serving in the U.S. Army in Germany.

Allen hasn't been in much pain, and he doesn't have any complaints. He trusts his life to God, he said, and feels blessed through everything.