L.A. Music Community Galvanizes to Help Victims of Wildfires
Los Angeles has been hit hard by wildfires in the area, which is home to scores of music industry professionals. Between the Palisades, Eaton and other fires, entire neighborhoods populated by artists, publicists, managers, agents, songwriters, label executives, session musicians and others in the business of music have been burned to the ground in a disaster of unprecedented proportions.
The music business, traditionally a tight-knit community, has been known to look after its own. Just yesterday, The Recording Academy and its charitable arm MusiCares announced it was pledging $1 million to support music professionals impacted by the fires.
More from The Hollywood Reporter
Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. noted the impact the destruction was having on the local community, adding, “We will come together as an industry to support one another. Our organizations exist to serve music people because music is a powerful force for good in the world, and we hope the broader industry will no rally to this cause.”
MusiCares is offering anyone who has worked in the music business for five years or more immediate $1,500 financial assistance and $500 in food vouchers. “MusiCares can help with short term emergency needs for those currently displaced, and then longer-term services as we get a handle on the full extent of how music people are impacted,” said MusiCares Executive Director Laura Segura. Email [email protected] or call 1-800-687-4227 for more information.
A grassroots effort is also underway to assist music professionals in the form of a shared Google spreadsheet detailing dozens of GoFundMe campaigns (with links) that has been circulating far and wide among the industry. It has swelled to more than 100 names as of this writing.
Some of the artists impacted include Dawes’ frontman Taylor Goldsmith and wife Mandy Moore, singer-songwriter Jake Troth, Thirty Seconds to Mars member Stevie Aiello, Sting’s son Joe Sumner of Fiction Plane, Sugarcult’s Marko DeSantis, DIIV’s Zachary Cole Smith, Cisco Adler and Foo Fighters guitarist Chris Shiflett.
Lesley Zimmerman, a veteran indie publicist for Mitch Schneider’s MSO (now SRO) PR, is also on that list. She found out from a neighbor that her childhood Pacific Palisades home, which she inherited after the death of her parents and in which she raised her own daughter, was destroyed.
“So devastated,” she posted on Facebook. “Left so fast I didn’t pack clothes other than workout outfits. Don’t even own a pair of jeans anymore. I was born and raised in that house. No photos, no memories. Just nothing. Gutted.”
Industry execs affected include Republic Records’ Brett Dumler, Live Nation’s Tom See, Pulse Music Group’s Joe Poindexter, Danny Wimmer Presents’ Gary Spivack, Wasserman Music’s Mike Sosin and Hollywood Records’ Scot Finck.
Publicists who lost everything include High Rise PR’s Alexandra Baker, who reps Billie Eilish and Duran Duran, among other music acts, Biz3’s Kathryn Frazier (The Weeknd), Diana Baron (the Michael Jackson estate), KG Music Press’ Kim Grant and partner Justin Smith and Stephanie Weiss.
Managers impacted include Michele Harrison Sackheim (and her husband, Epic Records’ Rick Sakheim) and Evan Winiker of Range Media Partners, both of whom owned Malibu homes.
Longtime KCRW on-air talent and music supervisor Chris Douridas, mixing engineer and Apogee Studio owner Bob Clearmountain, journalist/photographer Scott Dudelson, business manager Tina Fasbender and Jimmy Kimmel Live! music mixer Eduardo “Mack” Mackinlay also have reported a total loss of their homes.
Elsewhere in the biz, advocacy organizations We Are Moving the Needle and The 100 Percenters have launched fundraising initiatives to benefit creators, and Guitar Center via its Music Foundation is also offering support for musicians.
Local music cheerleader David Jenkins, who is a member of the Wild Honey contingent while working at the Santa Monica instrument shop Truetone Music and behind the counter at Sherman Oaks’ Freakbeat Records, summed it up best.
“There are really no words,” he posted. “We will all need to get together and help our friends and families rebuild. Be careful if you are in the path, be kind and offer help in any way possible because that’s what we must do here. Check in on other people and let’s make a better day for those who are hurting.”
The long road back to normalcy has just begun.
Best of The Hollywood Reporter
Sign up for THR's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.