Update 16 – Emergency Fundraiser: Not Out Of The Storm Yet

6 days left. Six days and the tension is ratcheting up a few more notches. We’re now about $1500 away from our goal. In the last two days there’s been an outpouring of pledges, support and word-of-mouth – it’s been amazing and nerve-wracking all at the same time. Like everything in life, you have no idea how it’s going to end up. But I am starting to realize a lot of you like what Past Daily’s all about.

I’ve noticed a lot of you come for the Music and a lot come for the rare interviews. It’s evenly divided – and that’s wonderful.

I have always envisioned Past Daily as an eclectic gathering of thoughts, ideas and points of view; along with events and upheavals that have taken place in our lifetimes and before.

And like all eclectic gatherings, not everyone likes all the same things. There have been times (a lot more, the past few years) where hearing the news is a relentless barrage of heinous acts, illogical thoughts and outrageous claims. And sometimes I just want to turn it off and shut it out; go somewhere and hide.

For me, Music has always been the glue that has held my life together. Where all else fails, the notes will come to the rescue. And it’s not just one set of notes, but a huge variety of notes. One of the things I have always valued in my life is my curiosity over different kinds of Music. I don’t know where it comes from, but I suspect it may have had something to do with hanging around record stores as a kid and listening to what the sales people were listening to. When I did scrape up enough money to buy something, I would always get the person behind the counter who would ask – “if you like that, have you heard this?” – I’m sure in there was a hustle to buy more, but it was an introduction to an education and an invitation to be curious as to what else was out there. Invariably, my forays into Rock n’ Roll were supplemented by forays into Thelonious Monk and Gustav Mahler – and sometimes my listening sessions at home would have an aura of Schizophrenia about them – Jimmy Reed followed by Gil Evans followed by Schnabel playing Beethoven. I’ll admit, it made for some jarring listening – but they all had one thing in common; they were good. And they were inspired and they were inspiring – and it’s been that way for me ever since.

And so when time came to put Past Daily together, I gave the Music portion of the site a lot of thought. I wondered if you would respond favorably to the eclectic nature of what I was running; during most nights it’s a collection of music that goes from Buddy Holly demo tapes to Swedish radio sessions featuring upcoming bands. In the middle of the week it’s a Classical Music concert, featuring concerts from all over the world from as recent as two days ago to concerts from the 1950s. On the weekends it’s Jazz and rare Classical and a veritable stew of other things.

Everybody has their favorites, and the nice thing about the Internet is that option to listen to what you want and leave the rest – it’s not mandatory to have extreme tastes. My only criteria for offering any of this to you is that it’s good or it has historic value.

I guess that’s by way of letting you know I don’t toss things out on a whim. I like what I do, I want to share what I have and I have a lot of respect for my audience. You take the time to come here, I want to make it worth the trip.

It’s all a labor of love and, at the risk of hammering on a point, why I do what I do here. It’s my way of giving back the time and energy that was given to me when I was getting interested in all the music and information and history out there and needed some direction.

And I want to keep doing that – there’s a lot of ground to cover here and I have barely scratched the surface. To stop now would be a terrible thing; not just for me but for all of you. There are a lot of discoveries left to be made and we’ve just gotten started. And that’s why I need the Archive, the mass collection of all this eclectic material, to be safe from seizure and destruction.

I spoke with the landlords yesterday and they were adamant about the deadline and not willing to budge an inch on working out a payment plan – it was all the money owed at once or nothing.

Pretty callous disregard – but as I said in a previous post “It’s business – not personal”. Sadly, much of what is currently happening with our society is “business – not personal”. It creates an air of needless hostility and a reluctance to be loyal. But we’ve had that, I’m sure, with our cable companies and utilities, not to mention Car Insurance. The vicious circle appears endless.

So we live in strange times – “interesting times” to paraphrase the Chinese curse, and there are 6 days left before we know for sure how this thing is going to turn out.

And that’s why I am appealing to you – updating you every day and asking for your help. I’m not asking for a handout, I am asking for a tax-deductible contribution to keeping this site and the Archive going. What you give to help keep Past Daily alive is a write-off on your taxes, and the knowledge of knowing I’m going to continue giving my all and giving you the best.

And at the risk of sounding like one of those late-night ads “if you bought these historic pieces individually, they would cost you millions – but you get them here for free!” – I am offering pretty rare stuff for free, because I think you knowing about history and events and music and culture is more important than me sitting on this stuff and being smug about the rarities.

So the appeal continues, the crisis continues and the nervous anticipation of the outcome continues.

If you’ve been on the fence about contributing to our Emergency Fundraiser, please consider pledging today. Contribute what you can, what you’re willing to give. If you can’t and you still want to help, please tell your friends. I need all of you; not just for the Fundraiser but for as long as you’re interested in what I’m trying to do – If you like Past Daily and what it’s all about, tell people. Have them come by and hang out, scroll through some of the 3500 posts I’ve put up so far and give them a listen. I’ll be here as long as there is interest.

Please click on the link below and make your pledge today – we’re in the home stretch now and we need you more than ever. I can’t thank those of you who contributed so far, and for the last two days, nearly enough. You give me hope and restore my faith in people. We ain’t a bad bunch, and I try to be as good as possible. You’ve let me know that.

Until next time . . .

Gordon

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