Firefighters are battling Los Angeles wildfires today as winds threaten in the next 24 hours. Amidst evacuations and air quality issues, life continues for local residents, including preparation for NAMM and Buchla meetups later this month. But it also requires healing. For anyone looking for assistance or ways to help, here are some of the resources our friends in LA have been sharing.
Crucially, for those not from the area, there are some ways you can give to the cause and remain focused on how LA is healing and finding mutual aid.
The image here and at top is from long-time friend-of-the-site (and friend) Steve Nalepa, who shares some reflections.
Public health precautions
Drinking water in certain areas around the fire may be contaminated and unsuitable for drinking. Here’s NPR / WVIA:
Amid the fires, LA is warning some residents the tap water isn’t safe. Here’s why
In areas with impacted air quality, you should consider wearing masks outdoors (N95/KN95 come back again – think N95 or P100 respirators). Unlike larger particles, fine particulates (e.g., PM2.5) and other harmful toxins are invisible to the eye. You don’t even need to be all that close to the fire for this to impact fully healthy adults. The LA Public Library is even offering N95 masks at all its locations. (Many are pointing to post-9/11 NYC for an illustration of why this matters.)
Here’s a good explanation of why this is dangerous. Standards like AQI do give you indications of fine particulates (PM2.5), which pose the greatest health risk because they can penetrate deep into the lungs. These bond to the toxins (and photoreactive materials like VOCs and NOx) in fires; what the SciAm story is arguing is that the same amount of fine particulates is now many times more dangerous than “normal” pollution sources would be.
What Makes Urban Wildfire Smoke So Toxic [Scientific American]
An AQI indication. of “moderate” is already fairly significant; basically, a map like the AirNow one is giving you information, but you might want to treat its color scheme with more seriousness.
(We experienced this during Ableton Loop in 2016 in LA, with much smaller fires – even while we were some distance away. I didn’t pay attention and wound up knocked out in the hotel room. So it’s real. Destroyed buildings also contain harmful materials, so ash in the immediate area of the fires will also be a concern as folks return.)
Source: Hollywood Bowl
Mutual aid and disaster support; aid for musicians
It’s been extraordinary to see the outpouring of mutual and relief across the region. In music, folks have rushed to the aid of the likes of Wild Records founder Reb Kennedy and his family following the loss of their family home.
While international media may make you believe this is a disaster that hit only the super-rich, these fires also burned working-class communities. Some of LA’s most marginalized communities have been devastated. (See Altadena’s long history of Black families. Incredibly, Octavia Butler, author of Parable of the Sower which warns about climate change and inequality, is buried there in an area impacted by the fire.) It’s a story we see repeated worldwide.
Here’s how people are sharing resources:
Los Angeles Disaster Support Masterlist – this living document has basic information on trauma-informed care and mutual aid (useful in other situations, not just LA), plus a growing list of places supporting communities that need the most, emphasizing mutual aid over “charity.” The URL if you want to share it is https://bit.ly/la-disaster-support
Los Angeles Wildfire Healing has a complete set of resources for dealing with trauma, including mental health crisis information. (It was produced by a psychotherapist with this specialty.)
There’s a shared document for the music community where folks are making specific asks for help
Support The Music Community – Fire Loss + Resource Tab
The NGO MusiCares, together with the Recording Academy, has launched a fundraising effort to assist. . To support their efforts:
Your support is needed to help those affected by the LA Wildfires [donate]
And if you need support, they have food vouchers and emergency financial assistance for people working in the music business.
NAMM Foundation is running its own fund (that’s just one for giving, none for relief yet):
The Guitar Center Music Foundation has a grant program for musicians and music programs wanting to replace lost instruments and gear:
There’s also this for the art world (though relevant to other creatives generally):
A list of resources and how to support artists and art workers affected by the Los Angeles Wildfires [artsy.net]
Speaking now as a non-indigenous person born in the USA, it’s also clear that what we have collectively done to the land in the United States has helped produce this catastrophe and destroyed lives. There are efforts for accountability that center around that. Led by Patrisse Cullors of The Center for Art & Abolition x Metabolic Studio x Anawakalmekak, there’s a petition demanding a transformation of policy based on indigenous peoples.
Petition for Immediate Action to Address Firestorm Catastrophes in Los Angeles County
Rebecca Solnit’s editorial in The Guardian has also observed the “costs of forgetting” and how this fire was foretold. That phrase “costs of forgetting” sticks with me on a number of levels. These two articles also drive that point home. On the direct human causes:
LA fires: Why fast wildfires and those started by human activities are more destructive and harder to contain [The Conversation]
And looking ecologically, intersectionally at this – and beyond just LA, to heat waves and floods consuming cities worldwide, there’s Sunrise Movement organizer Andrea Cañizares-Fernandez:
The LA fires are born from decades of human greed [Dazed]
This country is built to watch us burn, in more ways than one. The visibly growing climate disasters – neighbourhoods flooded, homes swept away by hurricanes, deadly heat waves, cities on fire – are one of the many ways that our most marginalised communities are being continuously attacked. Climate disasters are a symptom of these oppressive systems that are built to hurt us, hold us down and keep us quiet. And we shouldn’t continue to wait for our most privileged members of society to be impacted for us to understand that it’s only going to get worse.
And this is why we keep talking about mutual aid. Here (via Artemiy at Sinevibes) is Ukrainian cooking in action:
View on Threads
LA area continues: NAMM, Buchla & Friends
Against that landscape, I’ll always support independent engineers making musical instruments. We have the tools to be musically expressive, to support ourselves in making musical instruments, and in continuing to champion curiosity about the world just when it’s badly needed. (Okay, I’m not entirely sure that works as a segue, having just written it, but – it’ll have to do. The truth is, you don’t have to be great at math and science – I sure had my ups and downs – but you need to understand enough that people can’t hold you down with misinformation)
Even amidst this catastrophe, LA’s scene presses forward – including two events for musical instruments. On top of the annual NAMM trade show, there’s also Buchla & Friends at Hype Studios in Silverlake on January 24-25. And LAX has operated largely unaffected even in the worst of the fires.
On the NAMM side, everyone I’ve talked to is still planning to attend, at least among exhibitors. (Anaheim, of course, is some distance from the impacted area, and NAMM has always been a way for national/international and local communities to connect.)
NAMM released this official statement urging unity and saying, literally, the show will go on:
Anaheim remains unaffected by the fires, which are located 60 miles northwest. Both Los Angeles International (LAX) and Orange County (SNA, John Wayne) airports have remained fully operational. In addition, all L.A.-based and Southern California NAMM member companies are still planning on attending and exhibiting at the show.
Buchla & Friends has a free event with Moby Rick’s fish tacos (including vegan options) and United Wild Brew to drink. I expect that’ll become a healing place for communities. I can’t fly out there from Germany at the moment, but wish you the best.
There’s even Suzanne Ciani playing live in quad (plus Todd Barton, plus Joel Davel on marimba lumina… wow).
Here’s the lineup:
Exhibitors: 1010music • 4ms • After Later Audio • AIAIAI • AJH • ALM Busy Circuits • Animal Factory • Ashton Research • ASM • Bastl Instruments • Bitwig • Black Corporation • Bored Brain • Buchla • Catalyst • Circuit Happy • Crosspatch • Days of Yore • Rain City Modular • Doepfer • Dogbotic Labs • Dreadbox • Drift DJ • Elektron • Endorphines • eowave • Eternal Research • Five12 • Flame • Frap Tools • Future Retro • Genki Instruments • Groove Synthesis • Jomox • LA Synth Club • Mega Modular Corp • Melbourne instruments • MEMS project • Meris • Modbap • Moog Foundation • Mystic Circuits • Netherblade • New Systems Instruments • Noise Engineering • Noisebug • Novation • Null Modular • OXI Instruments • Polyend • Prism Circuits • Roger Linn • Schlappi Engineering • Sleepy Circuits • SoCal Synth Society • SOMA • Soundwork Shop • Studio Electronics • Supercritical • SynthRISE • TipTop • Tobinski • Touellskouarn • U.D.O. • Vermona • Wavea • Waveform Magazine • Wavesequencer • Weston Precision Audio • WMD … & more!
Keep in touch
I’m happy to cover any other resources that are useful to share – as well as how music/motion makers and instrument builders in the city are continuing their work. (I won’t be at NAMM or Buchla & Friends, so can only follow virtually.)
Feel free to add here (or in comments):
https://forms.gle/GAQXXAKwKrJuzh8r8