Give what good you can from the bad
It’s been over a month now since I packed up my studio computer, every hard drive I could, a couple guitars and basses, and got ready to evacuate our home and studio if necessary. We were lucky - we stayed just outside the evac zone. The whole world is aware that many were not so lucky, just a mile from here.
Regardless of if you stayed or went, lost your home or not, everyone in the Pasadena area was affected, both mentally, physically, and work-wise too. Not only did patronage decrease around the area, but it was hard to focus on work too.
So we asked the simple question - what CAN we do? When our friend Steven Cuevas, a reporter who was much closer to the burn zone than we were, asked if he could interview my wife Mika and I about the spirit of volunteerism in the SGV.
We said sure but insisted that we invite some other folks who were really out on the front lines - people we were friendly with through our band The Nextdoors but who in the wake of the recent disaster have become much closer to us, and I think that’s one of the opportunities that times like these present - getting closer, knowing your neighbors better, understanding each other better.
We talked about our Pasadena Neighbor Day event on the podcast - it’s the 3rd annual event but it had a renewed purpose in the wake of the Eaton Fire, and after a morning of connecting with our immediate neighbors for coffee, a full day and night of music and community at Wild Parrot Brewery was medicine for the soul for everyone there.
We helped support an instrument drive for the Pasadena Symphony, I even donated a trumpet I got in high school and have basically never learned to play and never used, with the exception of eking out three notes on this jam - and we raised $400 for their instrument replacement program too. We attended the Symphony concert the next weekend and randomly a reporter from NPR walked up and interviewed me about the donation!
Big week in the media, including previews of our event in Pasadena Now and a 2-page review in Pasadena Weekly. I even created a new website for Pasadena Neighbor Day where you can see/read/hear all the above and more. https://pasadenaneighborday.com
Next up - ArtNight Pasadena where we Nextdoors play at City Hall all night with a very special evening of music planned, and special guests and art.
