[Dixielandjazz] Long Range Help for Katrina Musicians

[tcashwigg at aol.com]

This message is addressed to ALL Jazz Organizations and it's members 
and the musicians who play for them.


Let us all take a look at the future of OKOM and do something positive 
now to insure it's continuance.

The disaster and mighty devastating blow that it has taken in New 
Orleans, needs to be addressed for the long run.

The Red Cross & Salvation Army and other organizations will address the 
immediate needs for most of the masses of folks displaced by this 
catastrophe, however they will not be there indefinitely to address the 
specific needs of our musical community.

I urge every Society to NOW start organizing a special fund for raising 
money to  provide future employment opportunities and travel expenses 
to employ New Orleans musicians, and not just the well known ones who 
we all love and admire.

If we do this we can expand the Real Jazz and spirit of New Orleans by 
spreading it around and bringing a bit of New Orleans to every gig we 
sponsor or participate in.   Use your energy and influence in the media 
and communities where you operate to keep the focus on the MUSIC at 
every given opportunity to do so.

Set aside funds from every event you do to hire these folks who want a 
hand not a handout.   Every gig you provide for N.O. Musicians will 
help far more than blindly sending the money to big general 
organizations in the hopes that some of it will trickle down to the 
musicians.  We will no doubt start to see soon enough the individual 
hardship needs and stories of displaced players.   Choose your donation 
sources carefully.

If we provide an ongoing employment situation for them it will go a lot 
further in helping them heal and recover from this tragedy than simply 
throwing money at them.  Let us all pull together to and give them a 
reason to get back up and get back in the race.   Hiring them will give 
them a continued sense of self worth far greater than a few dollars 
thrown their way and then leaving them forgotten in the coming months 
and years as we go about our daily lives again.

The OKOM TORCH has been lit,  Let us not let it go out.

I urge you to organize your own fundraising events and keep the money 
to use for the specific help of musicians in OKOM which will go a lot 
further towards preserving the MUSIC than just dumping it all into one 
big pot.

Many of us already know that Musicians are at the bottom of the list 
right now in society, let's us all help ourselves climb a couple of 
rungs back up that ladder and at the same time raise Traditional Jazz 
up the Entertainment ladder.

Cheers,

Tom Wiggins