Boston, we got this: A growing list of resources & donation funds!
As we enter day four or five of quarantine now, I’m sure it’s on a lot of our minds what is our future going to be? Be it the musicians that all just had to cut their tours short, some only a few days in (shout out to a band from Liverpool, Stealing Sheep, who we’ll have an interview up with soon that were only about three dates in to their US run), to the restaurant workers that are now out of their jobs as well as those who work the venues that those musicians play. Be it those bartenders that serve you many delicious beverages to many sound engineers in this city who work at several places just to pay their bills and sometimes barely get by.
As someone who has called Boston/Somerville/Cambridge her home over the last nine years, I have truly seen the heart of this city and how often we come together and support each other and help each other. Boston is such a strong city. Memories instantly come back from when the Marathon Bombing went down in the middle of the Rumble, a Rumble that I think we all can agree was easily one of the best ones this city has seen. We were exhausted, we were already three or four days in, yet many of Boston’s biggest bands came together to play a Marathon Fundraiser on the one night off that week. A night filled with hugs and friendly faces and sad smiles but it was such a therapeutic night. Boston, we can do this again. We will get through this. I expect lots of fire IG stories content and plenty of musicians going live on the same app as I’ve already soon, and so many excellent albums on the other side of this!
Let’s help out our friends and our community in that sense, even if it is sharing a post, and potentially donating at a later time when we feel a little more financially secure. As a forever lover of the smaller venues in the city and a now Allston resident for several years after 5+ years of Union Square living, it’s only fitting that these are just three of the donation drives that would be in support of Great Scott/Obrien’s, Once and Union Square bartenders/full time sound engineers that is meant to benefit the people that work in Sally O’Briens, Bull McCabe’s and Thunder Road. Many of these people I do consider friends. The three people running these fundraisers are quite possibly three of the people I respect and trust the most in this city with Tim Philbin, JJ Gonson and Mark Hnl Kaye. Find all the links here and let’s stick this out together.
Great Scott/O’ Brien’s Pub Employee Relief Fund
But through all this, we’re all financially struggling, I know that. As someone who normally works four to five doubles as a server, with many of my Boston friendships being actually made at the table, I know servers to bartenders to sound engineers are all suffering. I’ve seen so many mental well being prompts come out like Coronavirus writing prompts (link soon to follow), let’s keep those creative juices flowing, and a bartender’s quarantine schedule , brought to my attention by Ashley Thomo, a long time former bartender for a lot of us in this community, which are great tools, but we also need relief for groceries, rent, and bills which at least so far don’t seem to have too much leniency when it comes to these things despite a lot of our community being out of work. As cheesy as it may read, we’re all in this together.
