It's been ten years since Hurricane Katrina.

I don't know how many remember the organization  called Music Rising, that was started to help the Gulf Coast musicians who lost most to all of their homes, instruments, equipment, etc in the aftermath of the storm.  It actually still exists, through Tulane University (Music Rising ).

The story I want to share with you is about how one person's idea and ingenuity did something wonderful:

The Story of For Music Rising

I am so lucky to have met some great people through both U2' fan club and just by being a fan of their music.  I met Ms. Irene through Zootopia, and she was one of the circle of people that also I also conversed with on the now defunct yahoo blog pages.  Irene is a beautiful soul that captures her view of the world through her camera lens.  Being that she lives in Louisiana, she was keenly aware of the need of those around her.

So, when MR announced that they were going to auction off a guitar with their custom logo on it, she came up with a wonderful idea: instead of one person just being the highest bidder and owning it, why don't a bunch of us get together, see how much money we can collect, and bid on it?  And if we win, instead of keeping it, we can give it away to one of the musicians to lost their guitar in Katrina. They called the group For Music Rising.

Everyone she told this to, at least to my knowledge, thought it was a great idea.  If someone couldn't donate any money, they'd at least spread the word about it.  And the money came in.  And you know what happened?  The group of fans bought the guitar.

Irene became in contact with a musician named Alabama Slim , and bestowed the guitar onto him.  I'll let her tell you about that, because her words are far more eloquent than mine:

Irene meets with Alabama Slim; gives him the guitar.

There are so many times when I look at things in this world and I wonder if one person or a few people can really make a difference.  This is one time when it actually did.

The Journey part 1

I don't know if everyone remembers when they became a fan or when they got their first U2 album.

I do.

I was 12 (well, 11, but it was 2 months until my birthday so I say 12), and my sister and I were visiting our uncle for a week.  We had moved from our first home in Philadelphia to some small town that could almost be classified as a widening in the road about an hour away three years previous, but with that move came the first time we ever had cable...and MTV.  It also came with a lot of growing pains, bullying, and a weird kind of city to country culture shock, but that's another story for another time.  On one of the days, he took the two of us to The Gallery Mall because, you know, a mall's a good way to entertain two pre-teen girls.  At least it was in 1992. Anyway, one of our stops was in a Sam Goody's (RIP man.  I miss the record stores of yore).  Our uncle said that we could each pick out one tape.

Now, I had seen a few videos of U2's on MTV and I liked the songs, so I went and looked at their tapes, and I saw both The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby.  I had decided on Joshua Tree because I recognized more songs.  For the longest time (ok, a few months) I only listened to the first three songs because in my 11-12 year old logic I was afraid I wouldn't like the rest of the album.  That was ridiculous of course, because when I finally did I love it and I never looked back.

I was hooked.  I became "part of the tribe"(as Bono has called it).

An introduction

After being a U2 fan for 24 years, I wanted to start a blog to talk about their music, how I grew up with it, and how it has affected me.

So welcome.

I hope you enjoy the journey with me.


-AJ