September 06, 2005
Tribute to the BirthPlace of Jazz
Like several people I’ve spoken to, the extent of the destruction in New Orleans didn’t sink in to me immediately. I think it was a full 48 hours after Katrina was long gone before I realized that this great city may no longer exist the way I remember it. I was lucky enough to spend a couple days there just last year with my brother David. We stopped there on our cross-country trip, and it was by far our favorite city. We were there on a Tuesday and Wednesday when nothing “special” was going on. It’s pretty awesome when you can just drop into the House of Blues on any old Tuesday night in New Orleans and see J.J. Cale and Clarence ‘Gatemouth’ Brown. But that’s what it’s like there. Every night is special, and there’s always a party.
Anyway, it’s always been the music that has made this city great. If you want to help out some of the many, many musicians in New Orleans that have been displaced and help them rebuild their lives, here are a couple organizations you can send donations to:
New Orleans Musicians Clinic (NOMC)
A “hands-on” organization that has the names and addresses of the many great musicians who visit their free health clinic. They are tracking down local musicians and finding them shelter. All musicians in need of assistance please call Kathy and Michelle at (337) 989-0001.
Send donations to:
NOMC Emergency Fund
Funds will be distributed by:
SW LA Area Health Education Center Foundation, Inc.
103 Independence Blvd.
Lafayette, LA 70506
Phone: 337-989-0001
Fax: 337-989-1401
Email: finance@swlahec.com
Web: www.swlahec.com
Jazz Foundation of America
Addressing the longer term needs of these jazz and blues artists who will have just lost everything, JFA will be raising funds and distributing money for the musicians to get new apartments, or rooms for rent by giving a first month’s rent, possibly more, for them to start over in a place to live. (This is what they normally do on a daily basis for musicians across the country who become sick and can’t pay their rent. JFA also keeps food on the table and gets employment for hundreds of elderly musicians through their Jazz in the Schools program. Operations normally assist 35 musicians a week.)
JFA will also attempt to help New Orleans musicians by replacing the thing that matters most and the only way they can ever work again: their instruments. To those who lost their instruments, like drummers and bassists who could not carry their heavy equipment, and guitarists with their amps, JFA will make an effort to work with manufacturers and music stores to replace those instruments for as many as possible.
Send donations to:
Jazz Foundation of America
322 West 48th Street 6th floor
New York, NY 10036
Director: Wendy Oxenhorn
Phone: 212-245-3999 Ext. 21
Email: Joyce@jazzfoundation.org
Web: www.jazzfoundation.org
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