Super Bloom :: A Benefit for Fire Relief in Los Angeles
A 'super bloom' refers to the stunning reveal of orange and red poppies, paper thin against the dark hillsides of our mountains after a long winter or particularly blackened earth. Without the burn, the vibrancy wouldn’t be so superb. It acts as a reminder: we will grow from this, and so much more splendidly.
Artwork: Robbie Simon
Photo: Chandler Hecht
While it’s difficult, if not impossible, to “review” this collection of cosmic collaborations and community compositions by some of the most renowned and talented artists of their time, instead, let’s take an atmospheric angle that highlights the harmonious hysteria and eager efforts reflected on this blazing compilation. “Super Bloom: A Benefit for Fire Relief in Los Angeles” is a magnificent and melodic togetherness that effortlessly enlightens and poetically protects the families, businesses, animals, and landscapes tortured by the unpredictability of the fires that ravaged the Palisades in Pacific Palisades and the Eaton Fire in Altadena on January 7th till it was contained on Friday the 31st. Without dwelling too much on the actual scale of the fires, especially the rather offensive theories and idiotic ideologies that were lazily cast into the winds by those who seemed determined to think of anything other than the innocent lives destroyed by this historical nightmare, this is the perfect to realize just how fragile and fleeting life can truly be. With such tragedies, no matter the size, in this case, nearly 27,000 acres were destroyed, one must think about everyone and everything around them including strangers, neighbors, favorite local businesses, and countless other elements of communal excellence that make your “neck of the woods” the place to be if things went south.
“This compilation invokes the type of home we all need - a place of healing. The sound of parrots flying overhead, the 101 at rush hour, a fruit vendor on Sunset Blvd: this is our city. Those sounds beat within us. Let this album be a source of familiarity and hope that only a home can bring. Let us carry it with us, and see it in each other, at the edge of the sand. It is a thing of beauty.”
Photo: Eric Thayer
“It’s in our nature to articulate the light on our tiled floors, the sound of palm leaves at night, and the time that we never seem to notice passing by. Our drive home is not a commute but a pilgrimage. We proudly declare we live by the beach, in the 818, the Hills, or the Eastside. Bound by freeways and divided by canyons, what we can agree on is that we are all Angelenos, and lately, the city that sleeps so much has never seen so many angels,” says the fine folks who compiled the album, and no matter what the city of Los Angeles may have been occupying throughout its controversial yet compelling history, it is, without a doubt, its people who came together in a way that overpowered the chaos of the flames and the paranoid politics that followed most profoundly. Compiled by Nicky Devine, Nicole Lawrence, and (((folkYEAH!))) veteran Nora McDonough, “Super Bloom: A Benefit for Fire Relief in Los Angeles” features an eclipsed ensemble of musicians and artists such as Robert Lester Folsom, Chris Cohen, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Sofia Bolt, Nap Eyes, Dirty Projectors, Guided By Voices, Jenny Lewis & Cass McCombs, and several others, making a total of 62 artists across 62 tracks of structurally sublime storytelling. The album’s biblical breath brings new life into the exhausted lungs of a tired legion of listeners who tirelessly await for something to relieve the smokey sedation from their empty eyes while filling their bottomless hearts with endless hope and radiating optimism.
MANY THANK YOUS to: the incredible people at LAFD, CALFIRE, and first responders of Los Angeles and beyond; Timm Donahue, Rennie Jaffe, Perry Margouleff, Brendan Greaves, Christopher J Smith, Brooke Garwood, David Barnes, David Newgarden, Eli Anaya, Jeri Y. Williams, Kristen Bunk, Michael McDonald, Michelle Cable, Mike O' Neil, Nate Nelson, Pete Smith, Peter Bauer, Robert Combs, Steve Barnet, Jack Graddis, Stephanie Escoto, and Paul Sukeena
100% of the proceeds will benefit local mutual aid organizations for LA Fire relief. Those supported include One Voice, The Anti-Recidivism Coalition, Pasadena Humane, Sweet Relief, and a variety of local underserved GoFundMe campaigns.
Scribble is a nonprofit mental health counseling center and community events venue in Highland Park, Los Angeles. Their mission is to help create a world in which mental health services are a human right, not just a privilege afforded to the financially able. They provide sliding scale therapy for individuals, couples, families, and groups, as well as hosting classes, workshops, concerts, and other events. In response to the recent wildfires, they have hosted numerous shows to raise funds for fire relief, distributed hundreds of masks and other emergency supplies, and connected over 300 people with low or no-cost wellness services. If you'd like to support these organizations directly, please visit their links and support how you wish:
One Voice: www.onevoice-la.org/about
Sweet Relief: www.sweetrelief.org
The Anti-Recidivism Coalition: antirecidivism.org/donate/
Pasadena Humane: give.pasadenahumane.org/give/654134#!/donation/checkout
