[Rhodes22-list] Slim! Better keep your current gig a while longer

[brad haslett]

Slim,

We went to the Mississippi Gulf Coast as benevolent
carpent baggers, hell bent to make a profit.  Our
asses were spanked immediately.  This is now month
five and we're just now positive cash flow.  My best
friend bought a house from an 82 year old woman who
rode Katrina out and decided she's too old to ride out
another one.  We hear that story over and over.  My
son and brother cleaned out our neighborhood, and some
others, and seldom refuse a request from this or that
church group to do the same when asked.  I'd like to
tell you that we're unselfish people but quite
frankly, it's cheap advertising.  You can read all the
articles and see all the media photos you want, but
unless you witness it first-hand, you have now idea
how widespread and total the destruction is.  Gary (my
brother) has fallen in love with the MS coast and will
no doubt die there.  My oldest son keeps his cards
close to his chest but has a new girlfriend on the
coast and who knows?  I'm glad we're there.  We may
never pay off our equipment but if it all ended
tomorrow, I'll die a happy man for being at the right
place at the right time with perhaps the wrong idea.

Brad

--- Slim <salm at mn.rr.com> wrote:

> Brad,
> 
> I'm a member of another e-mail list board of piano
> players around the
> country.  There was a big outpouring of assistance
> to NO players who lost
> their homes and their incomes.  Fortunately, I don't
> know of any that lost
> their lives or those of loved ones.  Nightclubs from
> coast to coast have
> made special efforts to fly in, house and employ
> them.  Other players have
> given up their own gigs to make room for them.
> 
> One of my colleagues, Cindy Chen has completely left
> the music biz and is
> working full-time doing charity and fundraising work
> specifically helping
> musicians.  She has provided names and addresses of
> musicians and their
> families who are in need and many, myself included
> have sent donations of
> clothes and sundries to specific out-of-work
> players.
> 
> Thanks for posting this article and I'll forward it
> to the piano board.
> 
> Slim
> 
> On 2/7/06 8:18 AM, "brad haslett"
> <flybrad at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> > It doesn't look like the Big Easy is ready for
> your
> > act yet.  Brad
> > 
> > ---------------
> > 
> > 
> > Sad reality sinks in for New Orleans music scene
> By
> > Todd Martens
> > Sun Feb 5, 5:44 PM ET
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Like nearly every house in New Orleans, Bethany
> > Bultman's home has holes in its roof. Buckets to
> catch
> > rainwater surround her desk, and she is hesitant
> to go
> > out at night. Much of her neighborhood is still
> > completely without power.
> > 
> > She is one of the lucky ones. Leaky roof aside,
> her
> > house suffered little damage, and she has a second
> one
> > in Massachusetts, a world away from the
> devastation
> > Hurricane Katrina inflicted last August. Bultman
> > admits to missing her Cape Cod getaway, but she
> cannot
> > bring herself to abandon New Orleans. There would
> be
> > the guilt of leaving behind the city and those who
> are
> > suffering, but more important, there are checks to
> > write.
> > 
> > Bultman inscribes upwards of 70 per week, each for
> > $100, each given to a New Orleans musician. To
> date,
> > her efforts have been funded largely by donations
> from
> > Pearl Jam and nonprofit organization Jazz Aspen
> > Snowmass; she recently was promised $250,000 from
> > MusiCares, the Recording Academy's charitable arm.
> > 
> > The checks Bultman writes are allocated only to
> those
> > who work, which these days in New Orleans can mean
> > performing at a club in front of a handful of
> Federal
> > Emergency Management Agency workers.
> > 
> > On many nights, money from the door is minimal or
> > nonexistent. Bultman hopes her $100 subsidy is
> enough
> > to dissuade someone from taking a gig in another
> city.
> > If instruments and artifacts from the city's
> musical
> > heritage were washed away, then New Orleans' soul
> --
> > the musicians who define it -- must stay.
> > 
> > "As the time wore on," Bultman says, "more and
> more
> > musicians who were dumped all over the country
> wanted
> > to come back. We soon realized that this is really
> > about giving people instruments and giving people
> > hope, and that's when we started paying the gig
> fees."
> > 
> > Two months ago, Bultman, a writer/historian and
> the
> > co-founder of the New Orleans Musicians' Clinic,
> was
> > urging displaced musicians to return to the city.
> She
> > started the clinic with her husband in 1998 with
> the
> > assistance of Dr. Jack B. McConnell, the developer
> of
> > Tylenol tablets whose son, Page, played keyboards
> for
> > the band Phish. With a mix of pride and a
> dedication
> > to preserving a music culture that she says
> > "percolates out of the ground," Bultman hoped all
> New
> > Orleans' evacuees would soon be returning.
> > 
> > 'NEW ORLEANS IS NOT A HEALTHY PLACE'
> > 
> > Reality, however, soon sunk in, and now she is not
> so
> > sure. "The goal was to get everyone we could get
> back
> > to New Orleans," she says. "Now that we're back,
> we've
> > moved away from that. We've moved away from the
> > fantasy that everything would go back to the way
> it
> > was. New Orleans is just not a healthy place for
> > everyone to come to."
> > 
> > Eight of the city's ZIP codes are still without
> full
> > power, according to the January 24 status report
> from
> > the mayor's office. The area affected most by
> Katrina
> > -- the Ninth Ward -- remains under curfew, and 911
> > emergency availability is scattered. Few hospitals
> are
> > open, and the New Orleans Musicians' Clinic, which
> had
> > free use of the Louisiana State University School
> of
> > Medicine in New Orleans, has lost such privileges,
> as
> > much of the facility needs extensive repairs.
> > 
> > And for many, life was not all that great before
> > Katrina. One in four of the city's residents lived
> > below the poverty line, and a great number of its
> > working musicians relied on a steady influx of
> > tourists.
> > 
> > Bultman stays in touch with the national
> organizations
> > providing relief to New Orleans musicians,
> including
> > MusiCares, which announced its pledge in support
> of
> > her efforts January 25.
> > 
> > She is heartened by the outpouring of generosity
> of
> > her top donors and has nothing but praise for
> > MusiCares. But five months after Katrina, Bultman
> > feels that little has been accomplished. Nearly
> all of
> > the 200 musicians she helps lack a place to live.
> She
> > worries the situation will only get worse with a
> > dearth of health care and tries to communicate to
> the
> > national associations that the effort to restore
> the
> > music community in New Orleans is one that will
> take
> > years -- and one that will happen one saxophone at
> a
> > time.
> > 
> > RETURN TO SELF-SUFFICIENCY
> > 
> > Pianist Joe Krown was playing 12 gigs per week
> prior
> > to Katrina. His wife, who worked at Tulane
> University
> > Hospital, was laid off after the hurricane. He
> filled
> > out the paperwork for nearly every charity
> dedicated
> > to helping musicians.
> 
=== message truncated ===


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