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On Saturday night we were honored and humbled to be included in the "Wake of the Flood" benefit at the Fox Theatre in Boulder. In a spirit befitting and benefitting our close-knit community, musicians from all over Boulder County came together to play music, hug each other, and raise money for victims of the recent catastrophic Colorado floods. Monica, Eric, and Bill from Monocle Band were there on Saturday to hang and jam with members of Hot Soup, Danny Shafer and the 21st Century, Dead Phish Orchestra, The Motet, Mountain Standard Time, and Jet Edison. We were proud to do our part to help raise a bunch of money for flood victims. We were overwhelmed by the sense of community and we were overjoyed to just rock out with our musical friends.
It wasn't all sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll / bluegrass on Saturday, however :) Hanging and playing at the Fox, we were very aware of the community we were there to represent, the community we are a part of. Monica and Eric moved to Lyons this summer and, like all Lyons residents, are now Boulder County refugees, crashing on couches and in basements around town. The Jamestown Mercantile, where we've enjoyed some of our best evenings of music, now sits in a devastated and inaccessible canyon. Our beloved friend and musical ally Danny Shafer lost his family's home to the flood. Planet Bluegrass, where we competed in the RockyGrass band competition this summer, has been overrun by flood waters.
And, as the vicissitudes of nature would have it, one of our dearest friends and closest musical collaborators was one of the people hit hardest by the flood. At the end of June, just before Telluride Bluegrass, we finished our debut Monocle Band album after working lovingly for nearly a year with David Tiller at his Distillery Studio in Lyons. Located about 20 meters from the St. Vrain River, David's studio is now in shambles, he and his wife Enion's home also destroyed by the flood. After living in this home for three years, David had built a beautiful studio last summer, and finished it while we recorded our album, only to have it destroyed not three months after. You can see some heart wrenching photos of the Tillers' place above and below this post. Except for a few musical instruments, David and Enion and their young son Aesop have lost everything in the flood. There is now a fund drive to raise money to help them out. Please check it out and consider donating here. We love the Tillers. They are our friends. They are a family of musicians who have left an indelible mark on the hearts and ears of ourselves and everyone in the greater community.
In the face of such adversity, it seems natural to despair. However, for the people of the Boulder music community it seems the most natural thing is to come together with the friends and family we love, to lift each other up, to try to heal each other with the power of song. That's what we did at the Fox Theatre on Saturday night. That's what we can do by helping out the Tillers and the people close to us who are in similar need. Because, you know what friends? This is life, and we're in it together.
It wasn't all sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll / bluegrass on Saturday, however :) Hanging and playing at the Fox, we were very aware of the community we were there to represent, the community we are a part of. Monica and Eric moved to Lyons this summer and, like all Lyons residents, are now Boulder County refugees, crashing on couches and in basements around town. The Jamestown Mercantile, where we've enjoyed some of our best evenings of music, now sits in a devastated and inaccessible canyon. Our beloved friend and musical ally Danny Shafer lost his family's home to the flood. Planet Bluegrass, where we competed in the RockyGrass band competition this summer, has been overrun by flood waters.
And, as the vicissitudes of nature would have it, one of our dearest friends and closest musical collaborators was one of the people hit hardest by the flood. At the end of June, just before Telluride Bluegrass, we finished our debut Monocle Band album after working lovingly for nearly a year with David Tiller at his Distillery Studio in Lyons. Located about 20 meters from the St. Vrain River, David's studio is now in shambles, he and his wife Enion's home also destroyed by the flood. After living in this home for three years, David had built a beautiful studio last summer, and finished it while we recorded our album, only to have it destroyed not three months after. You can see some heart wrenching photos of the Tillers' place above and below this post. Except for a few musical instruments, David and Enion and their young son Aesop have lost everything in the flood. There is now a fund drive to raise money to help them out. Please check it out and consider donating here. We love the Tillers. They are our friends. They are a family of musicians who have left an indelible mark on the hearts and ears of ourselves and everyone in the greater community.
In the face of such adversity, it seems natural to despair. However, for the people of the Boulder music community it seems the most natural thing is to come together with the friends and family we love, to lift each other up, to try to heal each other with the power of song. That's what we did at the Fox Theatre on Saturday night. That's what we can do by helping out the Tillers and the people close to us who are in similar need. Because, you know what friends? This is life, and we're in it together.
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