Sunday, September 04, 2005 • messageboard

from kimya dawson:

"last week a bunch of hurricane survivors got transferred to my school. there's so many! i have like one in each of my classes. i was talking to a girl from new orleans in government friday, and i couldn't believe what she was saying. about 5 of her friends have died, and here i was worried about my algebra2 homework.
it makes you realize how much you have to be thankful for."

you hear about the elderly and the sick and the babies. but i hadn't really thought about displaced teenagers. my teenage years were the hardest years of my life and the years where my friends and my possessions meant so so so much to me. so i have an idea...but i am going to need help because i am going to europe in a week.

now that so many of us have ipods, who has discmen and walkmen and boomboxes and stereo and cassettes and cds lying around that we don't use anymore?

let's start a music donation program.

we all know music heals.

now, check this out. my friend sheila is in texas and she has been volunteering at the astrodome. she is willing to have cds, cassettes, walkmen, portable cd players, boomboxes, headphones and batteries sent to her house. she will organize a team of kids in her area to distribute these things to teenage survivors of the hurricane who have been relocated to the astrodome and transferred to schools down there.

so please, go through your music collections and your closets and find things that are collecting dust. so many of us have upgraded our music players and lost interest in things we used to listen to. i think it would be okay to donate burned cds and mixtapes too. ask your friends to donate stuff. ask local stores to donate stuff. maybe you don't have a cd player but maybe you could spare $10 to send a gift card. ask bands you know to donate some of their albums. ask record labels to make donations.

i can't imagine being a teenager and going through tough times without my music.

and i am just imagining having my cat die without listening to sting. or being too shy to talk to ed without being able to listen to debbie gibson. or being pissed off about having to clean my room without having a suicidal tendencies cd to throw stuff around to. or driving around aimlessly without the violent femmes. or ending a fight with my brother without blasting metallica.

imagine losing your home, all of your possessions, and members of your family, some of your friends...and just sitting in a strange place. being told you can't go back AT LEAST for 2 months, but maybe FOREVER.

it might help a little to put on some headphones and escape.

so please help in any way you can. feel free to donate money too. this way if sheila and her friends meet anyone with a request for an album they are desperate to own again they can go get them a copy.

you can send your donations to:

Sheila Jozami
11423 Birchwood
Humble, TX
77338

Sheila and her friends are volunteering at the Astrodome and will distribute donations to teens relocated there and to other locations in the Houston area.

and

Daniel Hyde Schexnaydre
17120 Hwy 73
Prairieville, LA
70769

Daniel is a student at a Baton Rouge high school that has gotten 300 new students in the past week. He will distribute music directly to new students at his school. You can also contact him at starsandlemonade@hotmail.com about booking house shows.

and

Lauren Culwell
923 W Sycamore #11
Denton, TX
76201

Lauren is a good friend of mine who will be distributing donations to teens who have been relocated to the Denton/Dallas area.

and

Meagan Day
131 W. Lynwood
San Antonio, TX
78212

Meagan is a 17 year old high school student who will distribute donations to
teens in shelters in San Antonio.

and

Suki-Rose Etter
4210 N. Saranac Dr.
Tucson, AZ 87518

Suki-Rose is an 18 year old in Arizona. Her and her friends will take
donations to teens in the Tucson Convention Center.

and

Miriam Conner
8101 willet trail
Austin,TX 78745

miriam wrote this to me:
"ok well i am a 16 year old black girl who wants to help out. I am from new
orleans but i've lived in austin for 14 years my parents own a new orleans
style restaurant on the east side of austin called Gene's Poboy's i had
family in new orleans so i know what the New Orleaniens are going through.
I would hand out the cd players and walkmans to the kids my self down at the
convention center in austin, texas. i'd get my friends to help me deliver
and hand out things. i'd get the things from donations from my school and
any other school i can reach and also from anyone who wants to send things
to me. i'll accept all. ~~much peace and love~~~Miriam"

Carmen is willing to have people in Europe ship donations to her in Germany
and she will put together big packages and pay shipping to the United
States!!!

Carmen Gottschall
Ederstrasse 3
63303 Dreieich
Germany

Her email address is cargo78@gmx.de

Please bring donations to my September shows in Ireland and the U.K. and
they will be shipped to The United States by our good friends at LOCAL KID.
http://www.localkid.co.uk

You can take/send you donations to the Brighton and Hove Albion Football
Club Ticket Office and they will forward it on to the U.S.

Albion Ticket Office
5 Queens Road
Brighton
BN1 3WA

for more info:
reliefthroughmusic@gmail.com

links:
http://www.secondharvest.org
http://www.hurricanehousing.org
http://www.airamericaradio.com
http://www.nolahurricanefund.org