Checking in from Jersey, things have been busy along the Shore line while everyone tries to get back a tiny bit of whatever used to be normal. It's weird to be in an area that has been completely destroyed, then drive 2-3 miles inland and have everything look normal. Some of these folks have lost everything ... Their home, belongings, jobs, pets ... But their resilience is humbling and they are definitely in the recovery mode.
My trio did 11 "gigs" over two days in 9 recovery centers along Ocean and Monmouth Counties. We would play about 90 minutes, then pack up and head out to the next one. Mostly jazz standards, stuff that most folks could sing and dance to, along with some little kid songs from Sesame Street. It was wonderful to be able to share some music with these folks, especially in these smaller settings (most of the centers serviced a few hundred people at most).
I've found that a lot of the benefit-type events being developed for the storm victims are trying to be massive, huge money generators. There is so much cost associated with promoting and running these shows that I wonder how much direct help it gives to the people really in need. But doing these little mini-shows we saw that people were able to get away from the grind of cleaning up/rebuilding, sit down for a few moments and sing, laugh a bit, maybe even dance at times. And these centers we visited are nothing fancy at all .... most are someone's personal home that, by sheer luck, didn't get destroyed and have now become the neighborhood gathering place for supplies, food and companionship.
And most surprising to us .... at 8 of the "gigs" they actually passed the hat (literally) to collect some money for the band, which just blew us away. Here are these folks with almost nothing left, digging deep for a few dollars as their way of saying thanks. And they wouldn't let us refuse the money, either, so we went to a local winery in central NJ and purchased 9 cases of nice wine which are being dropped off today, one at each location, for their make-shift Thanksgiving Day meals.
These folks are a real inspiration and we (the band) were humbled by their generosity, warm welcome and friendship. What we did, playing a few tunes for some folks, was absolutely nothing compared to how much these families have been through and how much strength they have to get their lives back together. It made us appreciate just how lucky we are ....
I do dig that song. You find some usable tones with that Sterling yet, BG?
