Music is a Constant Through So Many Life-altering Events

Local Music Makers

By Peggy Ratusz

First it was the pandemic. Then it was hurricane Helene. Last month, it was the election. This has tested our tenacity and shook our spirits to their core.

Through these life altering occurrences, the constant has been live music; music that heals and music that ignites, music that inspires and music that delights. There! I made a rhyme. And I just typed it out extemporaneously onto the page because that’s just how wonderful music is.

Third day after the hurricane, my husband and I and our two doggos were invited to stay with my cousin Rosemary (Mort) and her husband Ulrich (Speedy) in Charlotte.

With no water or electricity, it was easy to run to the open arms of family, especially since Mort and Speedy are notorious nurturers. They sustained us with their love and hospitality for six straight days.

Our sixteen-year-old female dog, Clancy was flustered to say the least, being hoisted up in the car and then driven more than 5 hours (that’s how long it took in those early days after the storm) to an unfamiliar home and yard with unfamiliar people and smells.

Upset tummy and excessive panting followed, but only for a few hours. By day two, she’d already acclimated. Her natural instincts told her to pivot. She made the correct adjustments and surveyed the entire downstairs of their house in order to navigate and become familiar with her surroundings. She had no choice.

Clancy the wonder dog, as I lovingly refer to her, is the unofficial mascot in my mind, for the mad number of volunteers who came together in the aftermath of what many are calling the most catastrophic geological event in US history.

The young, middle aged and active senior-aged local musicians and musician-singers volunteered en masse.

And I am proud to call out Kathy Scott, Tracy Munn, Rebekah Todd, Melissa McKinney & Kinney McKinney, Adama Dembele, Jaron Pearlman, Blayne Bias, Jason DeCristofaro, Aileen Pearlman, Josh Blake and So! Many! More! I raise you up and I acknowledge that it will continue to take each and every one of us to use our unique skills to bring WNC back better.

Musicians pivoted their focus and energy from the stage to boots on the ground. Helene summoned them, and they did so with gusto and fortitude. Not dissimilar to how they approach making and sharing their music.

I praise countless entities for helping to gut or rebuild structures, music venues for hosting music events that helped to and continues to help soothe our souls, and the public figures using their reach to keep us in the know.

BeLoved Asheville, MANNA Food Bank, Blue Ridge Public Radio, IamAVL, White Horse Black Mountain, The River Arts District Brewing Company, Silverados, One World West, The Funkatorium and Asheville City Council member, Kim Roney.

So many more people & places and non-profits continue to do amazing work to rehabilitate this town, one person and one project at a time.

By the time this issue is published, the number of local fundraisers musicians have played for free in order to raise money for this non-profit, or that family who lost everything, or the bar that was washed away, will have doubled.

Venues have had to cut back on live music or lower guarantees in order to catch-up financially. This has caused the musicians who count on local gigs to pay the bills, to get creative and/or tap into the grants and monies that have been set up to benefit those of us who lost months’ worth of show dates and gigs.

A few of these resources are The Jazz Foundation of America, Musicares, IamAvl, Disaster Unemployment Assistance and Floodbackart.com.

Those of you who follow the live music scene might be aware of the release of “Caverns of Gold,” a compilation of music tracks from mostly local musicians. It’s a significant endeavor and I invite you to download the album, knowing that every dollar raised will aid those affected by the hurricane, directly.

Here’s an excerpt from their social media page: “A vibrant coalition of over 270 musicians from Western North Carolina and beyond has come together to release “Caverns of Gold.” This impactful compilation album seeks to raise crucial funds for those affected by Hurricane Helene, with 100% of the proceeds benefiting Beloved Asheville.

Our community has a remarkable tradition of coming together during times of crisis, and this compilation embodies that spirit,” said Chad Nance, one of the project’s organizers. Joe Hooten, another organizer, added, “Music has a unique power to heal and connect us all, and we hope this album brings comfort and support to those impacted by the hurricane.”

The compilation is available for purchase on Bandcamp: Additional organizers are Alex Deutsch, Jason Bugg and Kelly Menace.

I was impressed yet again with our musician family, when a brand-new video produced by Fiasco Media was released just today (November 11th). “Tomorrow’s Cost” was written and created by a group of musicians from different bands and genres.

They are: Secret Agent 23 Skidoo, Justin Aswell, Ben Bjorlie, Alex Bradley, Juan Holiday, Whitney Moore Roda, Jacob Rodriguez, Kyle Snuffer and Matt Williams. The video was filmed at what’s left of the once vibrant areas, such as Salvage Station, Foundation Skatepark, and the River Arts District.

To view the video on youtube with full credits and more, follow this link: https://youtu.be/TS5C6IqLSgs?si=O0FRt0zlOzkeotAx

From songwriter and rap artist Cactus Skidoo: “I hope this video gets shared nationally, because I know the story of Hurricane Helene and the devastation it wrought on the communities of Western North Carolina is getting washed away by the flood of events in the news cycle.

But for those of us in Asheville and WNC, the storm is far from over.

For Christmas this year, tell your loved ones the story of how you helped folks that are really going through it. What a gift that could be, to them and to us!”