Comfort Doll Project was established in May of 2006 by two Vancouver women who came up with a crazy idea over a cup of coffee one rainy afternoon. The idea was to try and make a difference in the lives of people living in abject poverty in Africa. My friend and I were both inspired by Bono’s T.E.D Award acceptance speech (see my first blog entry for a video of this speech) in 2005 just before U2 came to Vancouver. We met for coffee and brainstormed ideas on how to help those in Developing Countries, in particular Africa. After tossing one idea away after another, we figured out something that was crazy but do-able.
-photo courtesty of Icross Canada
I was knititng Comfort Dolls for ICross Canada – they use the dolls instead of packing foam when they send shipments of HIV/AIDs medicines to African clinics. Once the meds are unpacked, the dolls are given to the local children, many of whom are HIV positive and/or AIDs orphans. For some children, the dolls are the only thing that is truly ‘theirs’, and can bring some small measure of comfort to them.
We decided to use the dolls and go after celebrities - asking them into posing for photos holding the dolls. We’d then find the various fan clubs and set up an auction and auction off the photos; sending the money to World Vision or Icross Canada.
-photo courtesy of ICross Canada
So, we contacted William Willabond, ICross’ local founder, and asked for permission to use the dolls in this manner. As one of his lady volunteers was the lady behind the doll idea, he had to clear it with her first, but she said yes, and so did William.
All we had to do now was find a way to contact various celebs and ask if they’d be interested in helping out! Sounds easy right?
Come have a read and see how we’ve been doing so far. Because of the way WordPress is set up, if you want to read it chronologically, you have to start at the oldest blog entry first – not the blog entry at the top of this page. So…. I’ve added links to our ‘chapters’ in the blog roll to the right. —>
Also, look for links (up top) to other ‘pages’ for more info that isnt quite blogging material – and eventually a page about the ones that got away!
So, another auction under our belts and again looking for our next band to help us by participating… somehow I found Blue October – actually I think they found me on Myspace as did a lady who ran their Canadian Street Team. I listened to some of their music, liked it, liked what I read about the band, and saw that they were coming to Vancouver so sent out a request. I didn’t think I’d get an answer back; had to wait a few weeks (which is usual actually), and because they were coming to town over a long weekend, we made plans to go away. The answer came back – “yes of course we’d love to!” Suddenly I was stuck – I could not change my weekend plans; but I also didn’t want to say no to a band willing to help our charity project, so I desperately looked up their tour schedule and found that they would be in Portland as well. My friend Tom Tharp had helped me out previously when I was in a pinch with a band by doing a photo for me and emailing it. So I asked him if he’d be willing to help me out again with Blue October. He was more than willing.
I went on holiday, secure in the knowledge that things would work out fine and they did indeed. Tom ‘knew’ the manager at the venue in Portland from being there last time, and so showed up and was introduced to two band members – CB Hudson III and Jeremy Furstenfeld, and proceeded to take two very candid and fabulous shots of the guys and their comfort doll. He also convinced them to donate a pair of used, autographed drum sticks! Way to go Tom I came home to find them in my inbox, and the autographed cards arrived a few weeks later in the post along with the sticks, and Tom opened another door for me – donated swag from the bands we worked with on the project – if they were willing to donate something.
I did not get a chance to meet either CB or Jeremy but it didn’t matter – the photos were fabulous, the fans bid on them and we raised $75 dollars which I sent to Icross Canada in appreciation of them allowing us to use their Comfort Doll idea for our own charity project.
If you havent read Part 1 of Tom Cochrane, Go here first.
So, we had Tom’s comfort doll photo, and we needed another photo for the same auction – Jimmy Eppard participated and while I was working with Jimmy, I found out that Tom Cochrane was going to perform at the Nakusp Music Fest – he was the headliner for the closing night. We go to the Nakusp Music Fest each year, so I suddenly had a ‘plan’. What if I convinced Tom to meet up with me again and autograph the photo of himself? I figured an autographed photo would go for much more in auction. I also found out that Collective Soul was set to perform that same night, RIGHT BEFORE Tom! I desperately tried to find contact info for them or their management but couldn’t find anything online or elsewhere…. but that’s another story
I didn’t find out about Tom being headliner for the music fest until it was too late to send him a message at Myspace – so I simply took the 8×10 glossy pic I had, bundled it up good and secure (so it wouldn’t get bent out of shape) and made sure I had a good new sharpie and off we went to the music fest and camping holiday. I figured if it worked it worked, and if not, so be it. I also figured I’d be able to find a ‘back stage door’ as I had with Steve Gorman from the Black Crowes (our first photo!). I also took my small photo album that I had started – 4×6 photos of the band’s we’d worked with so far. Spur of the moment decision but it paid off big in the end.
Once at Nakusp it was music fest all weekend and I could hardly wait for Sunday night! There had been one band the night before who tried to sign autographs with fans over the fencing up front, but who were ‘moved along’ by security and their own people as they were on a time schedule to catch the ferry (the only way into Nakusp from both directions). Some bands signed autographs in the media tent, but mostly the acts in the afternoon – night time acts were anxious to leave town in decent time and be on the road for their next show. Figuring it was an exercise in futility, I went to the ‘back stage’ area only to have my suspicions confirmed… all buses and vans etc were well behind security fencing with a security guard at the entrance. No chance. But just then, Jonesy walked past. I told the guard I needed to speak to him, and amazingly enough, the guard called him over (I had forgotten his name (blushes) or I would have called to him myself). Jeff came over and smiled as soon as he saw me – remembering the doll. He asked how I was, I told him what I was hoping to accomplish and pulled the small 4×6 photo of Tom and his comfort doll out of my camera bag (note to self, always bring a notepad lol) and I wrote on the back -asking Tom if he had time, would he sign an 8×10 version of this same photo for the auction, then put my cell phone number on it and gave it to Jeff Jones. He promised he’d put it in Tom’s mirror and that was that.
The show was amazing! Tom was strong voiced and full of spunk and energy – I had never seen him in concert before, so it was an amazing experience for me. I somehow ended up front, right on the rail (most people stay seated in their lawn chairs further back at this festival) and I took many photos of the band with my new digital At one point Tom climbed the side rigging to sing to the audience, and Jonesy found me in the audience, and smiled all night at myself and the people I was with. Tom saw me near the end of the show, made sure my hand was one of the multitude he shook as he walked along the stage edge, and then the show was over – the very last song Tom and the band were literally covered in white moths who were attracted by the stage lights.. it was a pretty incredible sight actually.
c. nightMairphotography.com 2007
About an hour after the concert had ended, just as I was walking back to where we were camped for the weekend, about to give up hope and accept that it wasn’t going to be, I got a phone call. Be at the security gate in 10 minutes. I was elated, so hoofed it back and was met by security who had my small 4×6 photo in hand and gave it back to me. It was autographed by Tom on the front side. I must have looked completely crushed, because he asked me what was wrong. I explained to him that the smaller photo was simply a note asking for the larger photo to be signed, and showed him the larger one. My eternal gratitude – he radioed to someone inside and talked to them away from my hearing, told me to wait abit, and then I was let in by him and told to go down some stairs to the green room and someone would meet me. The ‘green room’ was in the village hockey rink. As I was escorted down to the hockey dressing room I ran into Jeff Jones who gave me a super hug, and I showed him the glossy 8×10. He loved it. He walked me in to where Tom was waiting…. Tom had other young people there waiting too, to see him. One fellow was blind and I watched Tom with him – his attention was on this one young man completely -there was literally nobody else in the room. They had a photo taken together, and then there was a young couple waiting next. Again Tom spent a fair bit of time with them, treating them as equals rather than ‘fan’ and ’superstar’. I watched again, and the young man did an amazing magic trick – had us all in stitches. Then it was my turn
I showed Tom the photo – he loved it, but he was going to personalize it! When I asked him to just sign it, he seemed surprised so I explained what I had in mind and he was good with it. We spoke for some time but I could see he was absolutely beat and being polite so I thanked him and bid him good night and that was that! Our photo was autographed, and we were ready for our auction.
You can view results of this auction (Tom Cochrane, Daniel Lanois and Jimmy Eppard) by clicking on ‘Auctions’ Tab above – we raised a staggering $500 dollars for World Vision!
As I said in my previous post, Myspace is a great place to find music, to listen for free – to make new friends. I got to know Pete Levin pretty good, and he started suggesting some of his friends and fellow musicians that I might ask to do a Comfort Doll photo with. One such person was Jimmy Eppard, or Jimmy E from New York.
Jimmy is a guitarist/musician, singer, songwriter, carpenter , recording engineer, guitar tech, producer, inventer, father and husband – he’s an all round nice guy and it didn’t take long for me to get to know him a bit better, propose the idea to him of participating in our project (I dropped a few names like Pete Levin and Jerry Marotta) and he said yes immediately. As I had no way to get to New York and he wasn’t going to be coming to Vancouver any time soon (sigh), we did it through the mail same as I had done with Daniel Lanois.
A doll was duly knit, sent on its merry way, and again, very quickly I got a wonderful photo back by email. Jimmy was adamant about giving his friend Taul Paul Verdon credit for the photo, and for the touch-up on it that enhanced Jimmy’s lovely face and Fender bass guitar. I absolutely love this photo – candid, humorous, unique as the background is completely blacked out and only the amp, guitar, Jimmy and comfort doll are visible. The autographed card was returned by snail mail and Jimmy’s photo was added to the same auction as Daniel Lanois and Tom Cochrane , in mid December 2007. We raised over $500 dollars for World Vision and used it at their ‘Gift Catalogue”.
I was flabbergasted by how much we raised, and it took more than a few days to figure what sorts of things to ‘purchase’ from the Gift Catalog in order to use up nearly every last cent possible. This is the list of what we were able to accomplish:
-4 kits to prevent mother to child transfer of HIV during childbirth
- 8 bed nets – each bed net will protect up to 4 children
-4 batches of Vitamin A therapy to prevent infant/childhood blindness – each ‘kit’ will protect up to 6 children
The $500 dollars raised will protect up to 54 children from basic treatable preventable diseases. That’s a huge bang for your buck!
So, with Tom Cochrane’s photo in our ‘pool’, we figured we needed another musician to add to it before we ran our next auction.
Myspace is a great place to find music, to listen for free – to make new friends and around Christmas 2006 I ‘rediscovered’ Daniel Lanois. I knew he was a producer for U2, having a hand in such albums as Unforgettable Fire and Joshua Tree but I had forgotten that I had found one of his own older albums years ago – Acadie – and loved it. Because of my association with Rocko and the Devils, and my U2 interest, Daniel Lanois was suddenly presented to me as a person to ask to participate. It was incredibly easy; I went to his website, found a contact address, sent an email to his amazing assistant Margaret, and got an answer back within a few short days – yes Daniel would love to be part of our charity project!
So, I knitted a doll, sent the little fella to Margaret along with a card to autograph, and waited. Daniel was away at the time and so it was abit of a wait, but as soon as he returned home to Canada, I found a lovely photo in my email inbox and a week or so later, the autographed index card was returned by regular post. Daniel usually wears an Edge -like beany or hat and glasses in public, and I was tickled pink that he chose to doff the hat and glasses so we could see his lovely smiling face! His assistant Margaret was very much into making sure we had everything we needed, not just for the auction, but also in terms of helping to promo the auction to Daniel’s fanclub and on his Myspace and things turned out very well… we combined his auction photo with two others: Tom Cochrane and Jimmy Eppard, and raised over $500 dollars for World Vision – Jimmy’s and Tom’s stories are in the previous, and next chapters
Daniel was our first ‘through the mail’ participant and it helped open up all sorts of possibilities for bands on our wish list, who might never tour through Vancouver.. it was the turning point in our project and was much appreciated.
Rocko and the Devil’s auction was over and 2007 rolled in and we started to look for our next batch of Comfort Doll Project participants. I spent more time on Myspace and found more musicians and bands but none ‘jumped out’ at me…. until I landed on Tom Cochrane’s page one day. I can say this because I’ve said it to Tom and he knows I didn’t like his music very much back in his heyday of Red Rider. It was too hard edged for me, and I couldn’t seem to identify with Tom or his music on a personal level; I was much more into U2 and other acts at the time.
So when I stumbled upon his page, and listened to his Myspace music player, I didn’t hear White Hot, or Boy Inside the Man, or any of the older radio hits; I heard White Horse, The Party’s Not Over (which speaks of being in Mozambique) and Northern Star and I had a hard time believing it was Tom Cochrane. Instead of a young guy with floppy bangs and a frown, I found a mature silver haired, smiling, softer person that I was instantly drawn to. I loved the new music – much more personal (I thought), softer, more introspective and emotional than the songs I remembered way back when. On a whim I sent him a message via Myspace outlining what our charity was and how we did things – I suggested that as he was coming to Vancouver in a few months, if he was interested, we could set up an in person photo op. I sent the message off, not expecting to get anything back and then went to Google to find out what he’d been up to for all the years I’d not paid attention. I was stunned actually. I found pics of him from World Vision’s website – he’d been to Africa – Kenya and Mozambique – and there were photos of him playing soccer with the children in one of the villages. He supported the Canadian Make Poverty History campaign; had a spot in their commercial/ad wearing a white band on his wrist. There was so much I found out about this Canadian legend that I didn’t know, and I began to realize how I had unfairly judged him for all those years.
TC in Kenya used without permission
Not more than a day later, I had a personal message back from Tom – lets do it. Short, to the point and wonderful So I sent another message with particulars and we messaged back and forth a few times, sorting out details (always there are details – I can never ‘just’ walk into a venue to do a photo op) and then the day came for me to meet Tom in person. Was I nervous? Actually, truthfully? No. I was more concerned about taking a crappy photo of him (I was using a 35mm film camera at the time and only on ‘auto’) than I was about meeting multi Juno Award winner Tom Cochrane. I think because he had corresponded with me himself rather than through a PR or Mgt person, and because he seemed to be a ’straight from the hip’ sort of person, I wasn’t nervous about meeting him.
The day of the photo, it was miserable and rainy – and when I arrived at the venue, they didn’t have my name on any list – happens all the time. I gave the info they needed, they called to Tom’s tour manager and out he came, said yes, come in, and that was that. He told me that Tom was in an interview for a TV spot, then radio, then had sound check to do and would be with me after all that was finished. I’m good with waiting – but this was unbelieveable… I was invited to have a seat in the venue while waiting. I was told to help myself to muffins and juice set out for the road crew/techs up on the stage, and when I said ‘thank you’ and didn’t move to get one, I was told again, ‘help yourself; make yourself at home’. So I did The road crew all smiled at me and I returned to the best seat in the house to wait, and to check for the best spot for lighting. Film camera and amateur photographer (at the time) remember?
Tom and the band came out on stage and started doing sound check. Only this was more than any sound check I’ve ever sat through – before or since. The band ran through each song they were going to perform that night – not just a few bars, but nearly half the song.. tweaking things here and there, making sure the sound was excellent in all areas of the venue. Tom’s bass player, Jeff Jones (Jonesy), saw me sitting there and started smiling at me as he played, and by the end of the sound check we were grinning at each other like old friends! He came over to talk to me and wanted to know what was up, so I showed him the Comfort Doll ready for Tom’s photo and explained our project and he thought it was great.
Jonesy left and Tom came over, introduced himself to me (that made me smile) and asked where I wanted to do it. I told him as much light as possible was what I needed, so we did a few photos right there. Then surprisingly he suggested going out to the lobby of the venue and doing some there as well. We went out and I did 4 more photos, aware of how valuable his time was and not wanting to delay him from other things; but he suggested more photos on the stage with the lights on, so off we went for more. All told, I did about 10 photos with Tom (without a digital, of course there is no way to know what you have until you develop the film). I was so impressed with Tom’s generosity of his time and his patience of me doing the photos slower than a pro would, of course. He and I had some conversation about his Make Poverty History support, and about World Vision. He’s supported them 110% ever since he and his wife Kathy sponsored a child, and World Vision contacted him to end that support when his sponsor child no longer needed it – he was so impressed with not being ‘duped’ into still paying, that he sponsored another child immediately. He’s also been to a World Vision sponsored village unannounced, on a fact finding mission, and again was so impressed that he’s thrown himself into helping them whenever he can – in big ways that most people have no idea about…. I was impressed too, with him. He’s the epitome of charitable giving; behind the scenes not drawing attention to it. Just doing it.
I finished the photos and thanked him for his time, told him I’d contact him about the auction (helping us promo it somewhat on Myspace as he didn’t have a fanclub at that time) and I thought like all bands before him, that was it. I was mistaken
So, with two auctions under our belt, we decided to take a break, especially as we ran into holidays – Canada celebrates their Thanksgiving generally a month before the USA does, so that put a Statutory holiday smack in the middle of October, and then again in November. As well, Canada has Remembrance Day in November. (Equivalent to Veterans Day in the USA). We also weren’t sure who else to approach for a doll photo. We lucked out with the people who had helped us so far, but most of the people we had on our current ‘wish list’ were too popular and we didnt know how to find management contact info for them. (this is still an ongoing conundrum).
My husband and I were booked for a holiday in Hawaii in December (2006)- my reward for going through 4 months of chemo earlier in the year. U2 were playing their very last Vertigo tour in Hawaii on December 9th, and we were going! (there was also the Hawaii Marathon, the Surf Competitions, and a Dental convention the same weekend! They were expecting about 200,000 people/tourists that weekend). So… we came up with the idea to ask Rocko – he’s U2’s tour manager, and a musician and lead singer of Rocko and the Devils
Some background on my good friend Rocko. Rocko has worked in the music business for nigh on 30 years. Everyone who’s anyone knows who he is. He’s worked as tour manager, production manager, road manager and yes, they are all different jobs! He’s worked for Journey, Styx, Def Leppard, and U2 just to name a few, and it was while working with Journey that he put together his band, The Devils ( Larry O’Connor bass, Jeff Handley drums, Scott Appleton guitar, Brent Jeffers keys, and occasionally Terry Lawless also on keys and sax). Most of his bandmates are technicians (previously called roadies) for Journey or Styx and are fabulous musicians – they have to be as they’re in charge of all the instruments for the band, and testing them out before each show. While working for Journey, Rocko decided to ‘open’ for them with his band – apparently much of the audience was missing part of Journey’s set list due to still being out in the lobby getting beers and tour tshirts etc. So Rocko and his Devils opened, and enabled the people to come in and be ready when Journey came on. They were so good that they kept the band and practiced when they were home off the road, and began writing some of their own songs.
Fast forward to U2 and their Vertigo tour a few years later, and Bono was given a demo tape of the Devils, and one day he asked if they would close out the tour by being the opening act for U2 in Hawaii! Rocko had met some of the U2 fans in person, and one of them, Hans44, developed a website for Rocko and the Devils, and before you knew it, everyone knew who the opening act was. Rocko is such a down to earth unpretentious sort of character that we all become friendly with him, and so I decided to ask if he’d do a doll photo and he said yes! (although he kept wondering who in the world would ever buy a picture of his mug ) The plan was to meet him somewhere in Hawaii before the show and do it on-site. My husband and I were there for a week, U2 was there for 2 or 3 days, so I figured no big deal. right? haha. Yeah.
Things seldom work the way you think they should, or hope they would. And this was no different. Again, I’ve come to learn by experience, that the music business is unpredictable and you have to just go with the flow. Most of our cell phones didn’t work for some reason – our local Canadian carrier shifted our phones to voice mail, and many of my USA friends couldnt get through. Combine that with the fact we had rented a condo instead of staying in a hotel, and we were unable to get any messages from people that might have called (no front desk). The internet was our only method of communication with some people, but some people didn’t have even that. It was a schmozzle. Then the whole thing about trying to get to the show venue – it was about a half hour drive out of the main tourist beach, and there were 60,000 people trying to get there! Needless to say, no matter how much Rocko wanted to help out, it was not meant to be. I was terribly disappointed, but I firmly believe things happen for a reason and everything in its right time so I shook it off and just enjoyed the show and being in Paradise.
Rocko photo courtesy of Gloria002
Rocko and the Devils were unbelieveable! They rocked the house down and were the perfect opener for U2. The entire night was amazing – the fans had been wearing white tshirts with ONE on them for most of the tour (to show support for the Make Poverty History and One Campaigns ) but this last show, they decided to turn the stadium (RED) - to show support for Bono’s new venture at that time – Product Red. Even Rocko wore RED!
Rocko photo courtesy of Gloria002
So, the tour was done, we went home, and within a few days I get an email from Rocko asking if he can still do a doll photo, do I still want one? But of course! So I mailed him a doll and autograph card, and a few weeks later, I get a whole series of wonderful photos back from him.
Rocko and comfort doll courtesy of Rocko
I chose a few, and put them aside for our next auction (May 2007) knowing that there were many new Rocko and the Devil fans amongst my U2 friends who would be bidding on them and bidding high Rocko promised me he’d help, and although it didn’t work out the way I thought it would, it did work out and he’s a man of his word. And wonderful too He calls his comfort doll ‘lil devil’ and it sits staring down at him from his studio shelf.
The auction brought in $140.00 which was sent to Music Rising, a charity in New Orleans started and supported by U2’s The Edge, to help struggling musicians purchase replacement instruments after Hurricane Katrina, and get back to work by doing so.. many of the musicians lost their livelihoods when their instruments were destroyed.
This Youtube video is Rocko and the Devils performing I Dont Wanna as they opened for U2. Its fabulous!
I met Tom Griesgraber through surfing Jerry Marotta’s page – he and Tom collaborate on music quite frequently and have formed a duo Marotta Griesgraber . Tom plays something called Chapman STick (seen the photo to the left). A stick is like a guitar neck only wider, and has up to 12 strings and you use it two handed.. one hand plays the bass line, the other plays melody. You can plunk it like a guitar, tap it like a piano or twang it like a harp.. its one of the most versatile and coolest instruments i’ve ever listened to and Tom is a phenominal player.
You can listen to them playing my favorite song, In a Step (live) in the video below:
Bert Lams - nightMair photography 06
So I met Tom through Myspace, and heard Tom was coming to Vancouver with a fellow named Bert Lams, a classically trained guitarist. Bert is 1/3 of the California Guitar Trio. Tom and Bert were coming up to play a concert in someone’s home. I was terribly intrigued, and Tom and I had already discussed the doll project somewhat, so of course I arranged to take a doll to the concert. I contacted Bert and asked if he’d be interested in participating as well, and he said yes, so we were set.
Tom Griesgraber - nightMair photography 06
The night of the concert was pretty unique. The show, as I said, was in someone’s home downtown Vancouver, and there were about 50 people in the audience which was mostly in the living room of this stunning old Victorian home, but spilled out to the staircase and into the hallway and kitchen as well. The two ladies that lived in the house had fresh baking for us, and coffee, tea and juice and Tom and Bert were set up in the bay window. Bert was amazing on the guitar, and Tom and he played as if they were of one mind – it was amazing. After the show, they wandered the room speaking to the guests and answering all sorts of questions, etc.. many of the listeners were old friends and musicians themselves. Both Tom and Bert posed for doll photos and I had a great time that evening.
After shooting photos with Tom and Bert, we had enough photos for our second charity auction, and sent the proceeds this time to World Vision. The brainstorming began yet again – who would we try for next?
After shooting photos of Jerry Marotta at the Commodore, we needed more photos for our second auction. Again, we had no idea who, or how, to even find someone. I’m always under the impression that things will come when they’re supposed to, and sure enough: I was watching T.V. one night and Entertainment Canada had a blurb about this Hip-Hop artist named Massari, who spoke about supporting World Vision. I was mesmerized – and right away Googled him. I found his website and instead of writing a letter, sent an email to his manager. I recieved a reply within days – yes, Massari would love to pose with a doll when he visited Vancouver for his current tour! We were estatic. It was so easy it seemed, and approaching the management and setting up appointments (rather than standing outside the stage door) seemed a much better idea
Massari - photo nightMair photography
The day arrived, and off I went with no idea what to expect. I’m not much for hip-hop music, and I had visions of gangsta rap etc, but I was in good hands. The one thing I didnt know about the music industry at the time, which I do now, is that its very much a ‘hurry up and wait’ thing. Things are never done on time, there are always minor problems to sort out with sound and such, and thats just the nature of the business. This night was no different, but Massari’s manager offered me a soda and the best seat in the house and I got to watch Massari do a few songs as if he were doing a private concert for just me. It was pretty cool actually.
Once he was done, we were introduced, and just as with Jerry Marotta in the photo session before this one, he allowed me as much time as I required to make sure I got a decent shot with adequate lighting etc. (Still shooting on ‘auto’ of course, and film)
I was quite struck by this young man - every inch the showman on stage; he ’owned’ the stage at the tender age of only 23 or 24 – but once off the stage very polite, quite soft spoken, and an air of respect for people in general that was very apparent. I very much enjoyed working with him for the short time I was there.
Caedmon’s Call and Third Day both came about through my Myspace forray. I have always liked both band’s music; Mac Powell has an incredible voice and ‘Mountain of God’ is one of my all time favorite Third Day songs. I contacted both bands through Myspace with the intention of sending Caedmon’s Call a doll and card in the mail with the intention of them mailing it back to us.
Caedmon's Call - photo nightMair photography
Caedmon’s Call said yes, so off the doll went in the mail, and shortly thereafter, I got the photo via email. They also mailed the autographed card back, as well as two 8×10 glossy autographed promo pictures of the band, for inclusion in the auction. Very cool
I found out Third Day were going to play in Calgary, and as we were set to take our summer holidays traveling to Southern Alberta, I figured it would be perfect. Things never turn out the way you think though The band said yes, they’d be very happy to help out, but our plans changed and it was suddenly impossible for me to do the photo myself. However, my friend Rene was going to see Third Day in her home town of Salt Lake City, Utah, so we set it up for her to do the photo there.
All things considered, Renee did a great job. Because the show was at an open air festival, there really was no ‘green room’ for her to meet the band in to do the photo, and so she met them in what basically was a hall closet not even large enough to stand the entire band side by side – but it all worked out in the end, and we had two more great bands and an awesome musician help our project.
So, with one auction under our belts so to speak, we figured we could continue our project and do better with the next auction. We met for coffee once a month and compared notes. At this point in the project, we still were wanting to concentrate on actors and our own ‘Hollywood North’ seemed to be suddenly teeming with A-list stars. My partner had a few contacts in the ‘biz’ and got a few contact addresses, and we formulated a letter to send. Gary Fjellgaard and Valdy, Roger Hodgson and Alexander Siddig all gave us permission to use their names in those letters, which we hoped would convince participation.
We didnt have any luck whatsoever with actors. Not one response back, not even a negative response. We were frustrated, so decided to try more musicians. A brand new band that had been on tour with U2 were coming to Vancouver to headline their own show and they supported Save the Children, so we sent off a request and recieved our first ‘no’ answer. We were crushed. Looking back on it, it makes sense though- their manager didnt want the band to be affiliated with our charity, but affiliated with Save the Children. At the time it was a bitter one to accept though.
Around this time, my friends all migrated from Livejournal to various other blogs including Facebook. I never could get the hang of Facebook, and ended up at Myspace. I didnt know much about HTML but tried to put together a profile and all of a sudden I had bands ‘friend requesting’ me like crazy! At first, it was the unsigned bands who wanted me to ‘join their street teams’ or ‘vote for me in this crazy poll’, or ‘buy our merchandise’, and it was strange and a bit disconcerting until I began to find my way around and figure things out.
I started finding A-list bands but also realized: there were 10 ‘Bono’s’ and probably not one of them was the ‘real’ Bono. Same for many other bands – lots of Myspaces claiming to be the official band, but not really. I think it all started by me finding Tony Levin. He’s Peter Gabriel’s bass player when Pete goes on tour, and I”ve always thought he was an amazing musician. I ‘friended’ him when I realized the profile was indeed his, that he himself looked after it, and blogged about his touring (not blogged by an assistant.) I started looking at his friends list, and found his brother Pete Levin. Pete’s a jazz musician, not rock and roll, but he looked like a very nice man, and his profile had a really cool blurb on it:
————————————————————————————————– It’s great making new friends here on MySpace and catching up with many old friends. Making the world smaller is what the Internet does best. But I’m not here to just “collect” friends. So here’s the deal:
I’m going to deny your add request if I don’t know you and …
your profile is blocked, or
you show only a screen name and hide your real name, or
there’s profanity on your page (posted by you or your Myspace ‘friends’), or
your page glorifies drugs, drinking, scantily clad babes, etc.
I’m not being judgmental about your page, but I need to be comfortable with it to post a comment there. If you need any of that qualified, we’re not going to be friends anyway, so save your energy. I’m just telling you.
Pete
Woodstock, NY January ‘08 ———————————————————————————————————–
I love that blurb! I thought ‘this man has a great sense of humor and I must know him’, so I sent him a friend request but forgot that I had written on my profile that I didnt like jazz music at all. I got quite an interesting response back from Pete, but it was tongue in cheek and superbly funny, and he accepted, and I started listening to his jazz. (which I now absolutely love btw). From Tony and Pete, I found Jerry Marotta (drummer for Peter Gabriel as well as session drummer, producer, writer, and singer), and it just kept growing – but I’m getting ahead of myself
I found that Jerry was coming to town to play with Todd Rundgren (along with Tony Levin), so I sent Jerry a message and he responded and said ‘yes, he’d love to do a photo.’ He was so unpretentious about the whole thing – told me what hotel he was at, told me to call him when he got to town and we’d set up the meeting at the venue, etc… and it helped tremendously to have someone so down to earth and approachable for my first Myspace request/encounter.
me pretending i know what i'm doing
The day I did the photo, I was able to watch him tune his drum kit and do a sound check ,and I was like a kid in a candy store – I’m a closet wannabe drummer
After his soundcheck, he posed with the doll in various locations in the club to ensure I had enough light to get the shot (I still didnt know how to use the camera on anything but ‘Auto’ and I was still using a film camera). I took a few shots; by the tables, by the windows, sitting at his drum kit etc, and it was unhurried and unstressful and I really appreciated it, and still do.
Jerry Marotta - photo nightMair Photography
Working with Jerry enabled me to have hope this project could work and that most musicians were going to be very much just regular real people.
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* July 13/09
Updated our KIVA page. We have a KIVA team we'd love for you to join us!
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*July 12/09
Added 'Chapters' links in the sidebar - makes it much easier for our visitors to read our story in the right order!
I came home to find them in my inbox, and the autographed cards arrived a few weeks later in the post along with the sticks, and Tom opened another door for me – donated swag from the bands we worked with on the project – if they were willing to donate something.
