How We Can Help in Haiti
By Natalie Herman
I am gladdened each day as I see new relief efforts by Irish musicians trying to raise funds for Haiti.
- Some of their efforts:
- “Songs for Haiti” Fundraiser: Michael Brunnock, Roesy, Niall Connolly, Joe Whyte and more — The Diving Bell in Sunnyside, Queens, NY on Thursday, January 28, 2010
- The Swell Season joins big names Patti Smith, Roseanne Cash, Yo La Tengo and many others over four nights - Wednesday, Jan. 20, Thursday, Jan. 21, Sunday, Jan. 24, Monday, Jan. 25 at City Winery
- Glen Hansard and Mark Geary (and friends) are auctioning off a private house concert “within 2 hours driving distance of Dublin city centre on Fri Jan 29th ONLY to benefit Medecins sans Frontieres for Haiti. Click the link to place your bid for this once-in-a-lifetime event.
- Belfast 4 Haiti brings together 50 acts on January 31 at Limelight / Katy Dalys / Spring & Airbrake — and if you join their Facebook group you will find many more postings of benefit shows.
- Blogger 2UIBestow lists the Whelans Help 4 Haiti gigs, which include performances by - among many others - Glen Hansard and David Kitt. Go see his post for full details.
- Andrew in Boyles and 2UIBestow present ‘MEATH SUPPORTS HAITI’ on 5th Feb in Boyles, Slane, IE. “If anyone wants to donate CDs, drinks, kidneys, t-shirts, whatever get in touch mixtape4melfi[at]gmail[dot]com”
I would like to thank everyone who has devoted their time and attention to helping this crisis. Gary Lightbody from Snow Patrol wrote a blog post reminding us why it is important to do all that we can now. It was touching and intelligent and from the heart. We are blessed to see such an outpouring of human kindness from the music community and especially from the Irish. It makes me proud to be associated in the tiniest way with these great people.
Finally, I would like to ask everyone to pay their respects to The Prodigals’s vocalist, Gary Grene. In his own words:
My twin brother, Andrew Grene
To let you know: the band will be on hiatus for the next few weeks.My twin brother Andrew, an extraordinary, funny, brilliant, charming and deeply kind man was working with the United Nations in Haiti when the quake struck. He, along with many of his colleagues, and many more of the Haitian people, lost his life in that tragedy.
We will be taking him home to Ireland to lay him to rest in Belturbet with my father. The timeline is still being worked out amid the logistics of the disaster.
I am struggling to get through this. The only consolation for the insane bitterness of the loss, is the extraordinary beauty and love with which he endowed my life, as he did every one of his family, every day.
While I wrote songs, he created peace. I think there is no question which is the nobler, greater mission. He worked for that cause in some of the most dangerously precarious situations, in the Central African Republic, Ethiopia and Eritrea. He helped to broker the historic peaceful transition of power from Indonesia to an independent East Timor. In his final posting he worked passionately, lovingly, with unwavering courage and with an unshakeable belief in the country and the people of Haiti. Yet let him walk into Paddy Reilly’s and he instantly became the fan of fans, grinning broadly and gazing up at me (may God bless his kindness!) as though I were a paragon that shone a light across the world.
I will never feel the like of that gaze again, but please God may I carry it in my heart forever.
Natalie Herman provides content for Paddy-Whacked Radio™ News
Copyright © 2010 Natalie Herman and Paddy-Whacked Radio™