THOUSAND OAKS : Benefit to Help Fund Search for Businessman

After a four-month search, the family of Philip Taylor Kramer has planned a benefit dinner concert in Thousand Oaks to finance their efforts to find the missing bassist-entrepreneur.

Kramer’s family has drafted local singers and bands to perform at the Borderline Bar & Grill on July 19 to raise money to help pay the private investigators who are searching for Kramer.

Kramer, a former bass player for Iron Butterfly and an executive at a Thousand Oaks computer firm, vanished Feb. 12 during a trip to pick up a business partner at Los Angeles International Airport.

Despite a widespread search of the roads and mountains between the airport and Kramer’s home in Thousand Oaks, and a nationwide mailing campaign by his family, police have found no trace of Kramer or the green Ford van he was driving that day.

“We have nothing new on the case at all,” Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Kitty Hoberg said.

“Today’s Day 123,” his sister, Kathy Kramer, said Wednesday. “And so far, there’s been nothing on my brother, nothing on the van. . . . You just want some kind of closure.”

The benefit is set to begin with a buffet from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Borderline, a country-Western venue at 99 Rolling Oaks Drive.

Afterward, bands including Midnight Train, Footprints and Wild Mercury will play in the bar, which can hold nearly 500 spectators, Kramer said. The family is asking for a minimum $10 donation at the door to help finance the continued search.

Borderline manager Joe Bucci said his business will donate the food and the hall “because it’s just a good cause.”