NEWPORT - A man who suffered serious injuries while trying to help someone he didn't know will have the favor returned tonight. A concert is planned to help him with medical bills from an attack police call a hate crime.

The concert is 7 p.m. today at Southgate House, 24 E. Third St., Newport. Admission is $5.

Matt Ashcraft suffered permanent hearing loss in one ear and a blood clot on his brain after he was hit on the back of the head with a baseball bat June 26 while trying to stop an attack on a gay man outside a Newport bar.

Dave Rauen of Avondale said he read about Ashcraft in the newspaper and wanted to do something to thank the 19-year-old, who doesn't have health insurance and owes more than $28,000 in medical bills.

Rauen organized the concert, featuring 12 music acts that have donated their time. All proceeds will go to the Matt Ashcraft Benefit Fund at U.S. Bank. Prosecutors say a man had shouted homosexual slurs at Leon Hughes of Newport as he walked outside a bar, and struck Ashcraft with a bat after the Army National Guardsman tried to intervene.

Steven Ard, 38, of Newport has pleaded not guilty to first-degree assault.

Ashcraft's injuries ended his military service, and he said he still suffers from paralyzing headaches, memory loss and a constant ringing sensation in one ear.