Bob Cammarano wanted to see Big Rhythm Wine, a Grateful Dead cover band, so badly, that he paid for them himself to come play the Summer of Love series in Onset.

“I’m totally blown away by the generosity,” said Kat Jones, organizer for the Summer of Love, after receiving a $600 donation from Cammarano to pay for the band. “It’s nice to know that people believe in this project.”

Jones said the band played one of the free, family-friendly Summer of Love gigs at the Lillian Gregerman Band Shell two summers ago, but when they didn’t come back last year, Cammarano asked her where they were.

“I told him that I liked to mix things up, get different bands in, and he offered to pay for them to come back,” said Jones.

Last week, Cammarano produced a check on behalf of his two businesses, the Onset Village Laundromat and Allied Exterminators. This week, Big Rhythm Wine took deadheads on a tour of the band’s tunes.

Cammarano said that he’s a big fan of the Grateful Dead, having been to over 40 shows starting in high school in the 80s, and after seeing Big Rhythm Wine two years ago in his home town, he needed to have them back.

“I’d seen ‘em a few times, and this Dead-band was just smokin’, said Cammarano from the show Wednesday evening.

“I even got to request a few songs,” he later added.

He said that he was happy to give the money to the Summer of Love because of the entertainment and enjoyment they provide to the town.