Dear friends,
Music is the answer.
So is getting up off the couch, and out in the world.
If you are here with me in Southern California, you know exactly where you were and what was happening one year ago this week. Los Angeles was fighting for its very existence as wildfires were threatening to take us down, neighborhood by neighborhood, and street by street—largely succeeding in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena. My family in Hollywood had to evacuate, but we were lucky, able to return home the next morning after LAFD knocked down the fire that had started in Runyon Canyon.
Whether or not you lost your home, the stress of that week was visceral, and very real. And seeing those horrifying images pop up everywhere this week as we all look back has been upsetting, and overwhelming. Our fried nervous systems are stuck on rinse and repeat, and the Santa Ana winds blowing outside have taken on a whole new meaning. As I write to you this afternoon, I’m watching the palm trees in my yard flail about wildly.
So what to do? I, for one, return to music, and gathering. KCRW Senior Producer Adria Kloke (who has lost not one, but three homes to fires, including in the Palisades Fire and is pictured above) told me, “My community is what got me through all this.” She added that it was music too, but what has been most powerful is the two in combination – the collective experience of music as an outlet… live, and with others. Diversionary, cathartic, and yes—healing.
So here is an idea for you. I learned about it yesterday, when sitarist and composer Paul Livingstone visited Novena on Morning Becomes Eclectic. Power Up Altadena is a daylong festival that marks the one-year anniversary of the Eaton Fire. The music will be the best of LA jazz and hip-hop, and is family friendly, with activities and workshops too. Legendary trumpeter Bobby Bradford will perform with jazz singer Dwight Trible. The Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra will elevate and inspire, as will youth performers.
Power Up Altadena runs from morning to dusk on Saturday, January 17 at Westminster Church in Pasadena. The event is free, but they will be collecting donations to support nonprofits who support the healing arts and social programs in Altadena.
The point is: try a presence-based, joy-inducing musical gathering… a way to acknowledge and yes—raise money for—the LA fires, that’s off your phone, and away from the imagery. Cause we’ve had enough of that. I know it’s easy to feel frozen… but instead, we have to motivate, listen and move. I promise you this: music and community are a potent combination – a combination that is truly the answer.
Be safe and be well.
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