Like many, we are still stunned and absolutely heartbroken by the tragedy that devastated Oakland's creative community this past weekend. As we have experienced it, the Oakland music scene is one where many lives and paths cross, where any number of creative human beings have planted deep roots that reach beyond any single discipline, genre, or social circle to form a strong community of creative souls and a collection of just genuinely fun and beautiful people that we are proud to count ourselves among.
We love Oakland, and right now Oakland needs all of our help.
In that spirit, we have decided to give 100% of the proceeds collected from our Easy Bay tape and digital downloads to the Oakland Fire relief fund, for the rest of the year. You can also use the code 'OAKLAND' via Bandcamp to get 20% off.
For those who may already have our music or would simply like to give directly to the cause, we suggest donating to the relief fund set up by the Grey Area Foundation of the Arts, which can be found here. Gray Area is a fantastic organization based in the Bay Area and can be trusted to collect and distribute the funds to those who need it.
In addition, for those who live near Oakland, we would like to help spread word of a flameless vigil being held on Monday, December 5 to honor those we lost. The vigil will be held at the Lake Merritt Pergola beginning at 8 pm. More info can be found here.
Lastly, we'd like to say thank you to Chelsea Faith a.k.a. Cherushii. Chelsea was one of the sweetest souls we've ever encountered running around the Bay Area music scene. She was a tireless artist who DJ'd and performed more nights than we would have thought humanly possible, and she was one of the most prolific producers we have ever encountered. Chelsea was also kind and generous enough to offer us one of her tracks to use on the first tape from our little label, and we continue to be grateful to have had her trust us with a piece of her music. She, and all the other creative souls we lost at Ghost Ship, will be missed immensely.
There are no words that can quite sum up what this tragedy has done to the Oakland community and likely the DiY community as a whole. We offer our deepest sympathy and condolences to those who lost close friends, family, and loved ones at Ghost Ship. We are heartbroken, we are devastated, we are still processing and grieving ourselves, but we are also a community and we will support each other in every way we can. If anyone has suggestions for other ways that the Easy Bay crew can help the relief effort, please don't hesitate to get in touch at easybaytapes@gmail.com.
Photo via The East Bay Express