Florida bluesman plays, cooks for Cedar Rapids homeless and needy

Florida musician and chef, Sauce Boss played and cooked for about 100 homeless and needy people Tuesday afternoon in downtown Cedar Rapids prior to his Wednesday night show at CSPS Hall. Sauce Boss (Bill Wharton) cooks a big pot of gumbo as he plays the blues with his band The Ingredients. When the gumbo's done, he serves it to his audience.

Sauce Boss has been playing free shows in homeless shelters and soup kitchen around the country since 1990. This time, he visited Green Square Meals, which feeds about 100 people a day at its 605 Second Avenue SE location.

Wharton started the non-profit organization Planet Gumbo with the mission of feeding those in need-body and soul. “We make a big pot of gumbo and we bring a message of hope and comfort for some good folks who happen to be down on their luck,” he said, adding that the performances are also a way to put a human face on the issues of poverty and homelessness.

Legion Arts, the local non-profit that operates CSPS Hall, brought Wharton to town for this free show and a ticketed performance at CSPS tonight at 7 p.m. Tickets are available at legionarts.org and at the door. CSPS Hall is located at 1103 Third St. SE., Cedar Rapids.