Help For California Musicians Impacted By Wildfires

Sharing this important update from Musicares - a charity that supports musicians. It is great to know folks impacted can get a little relief, and quickly too. Also, this relief isn't just for folks actually playing on stage. According to the Musicares Instagram, creatives, live crew, managers, agents, makeup artists, costume designers, music video creatives, technicians, and anyone whose livelihood depends on music can apply.

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The California Wildfires Are Horrifying

More than 17,000 acres of area around southern California - including Pacific Palisades and Hollywood - is now burned from massive wildfires. Total losses are already estimated to be more than $50 billion and the fires are not yet contained. To give you context, as of this posting, there is a 40 acre fire burning around the Hollywood sign. There are five fires currently burning: Hurst, Lidia, Eaton, Palisades and Sunset. Yes, that last one is named for Sunset Blvd. A mix of extreme drought, hurricane-like Santa Ana winds, fire department budget cuts, climate change denial and building in dangerous areas has all contributed to this mess.

I was watching live news coverage last night and it was pretty surreal seeing reporters wearing fire suits and standing on the Sunset Strip and pointing out landmarks like the walk of fame and the famous rock clubs we all love. I hope all the fires are contained as fast as possible - and that there is no more loss of life. Already, so many families are homeless and it going to takes years and years to rebuild, especially in the Palisades area. If you can spare a few dollars to help, Red Cross is taking donations.