OES Fire- Two weeks on

Please, please give what you can to the OES Fire Renewal Fund.

 (Flames break through the office roof)

Well, it’s been two weeks since the fire hit. I don’t think anyone in the organization can believe it, as none of us has been able to catch a breath during that whole time. We’ve raised a chunk of money, found a new office, started a lawsuit, sent out a lot of press releases and so on, but it frankly feels like we’ve barely put a dent in everything there is to do. I had a long chat with Michelle today, and it really hit me that my prediction that we’d now have twice as much work to do and that each task would take twice as long might have been optimistic.  There is an interesting look inside things in Pendleton here. I think Reid and Michelle have had nearly as difficult as few weeks on top of the fire as I have. It’s been really tough here- enough to prevent me going to Pendleton when I’m needed. I’ve written before about how gigs always fall at the same time- so do shitstorms.

We’ve had donations from via the PayPal account from Paris, New York, Chicago, Dayton, L.A., Vancouver and Boise, among other spots, as well as donors from Oregon. Still, that’s only about a third of what we need to cover the immediate extra costs we’re facing for the rest of the year (which in music business terms is not much). If just half of the thousand or so readers who come through here every day would take the five minutes to visit PayPal and give just $10 or $20 bucks, we would be there. Although the actual losses for the orchestra are in the hundreds of thousands, much of that can be replaced and rebuilt piecemeal over the next 20 years.

We’ve also had a piano donated, a laptop, a few desktops, parts to Mahler 1, phones and desks. In a couple of weeks, I’ll do a special post acknowledging all the materianl donations I can. 

The good news is that Michelle and I finished the season schedule for next year on the phone today, and it will be a great series of concerts if they happen. We’re nearly there- please help us weather the storm, and I can stop writing like one of those annoying NPR fund drive folks.