Centro-matic Dispatch – September 6, 2011
I write to you all with a pretty heavy heart this afternoon. On the flight home from New Orleans yesterday, I saw a massive portion of my former home county on fire. I got word of all this after our show on Sunday night, and waited ’til morning to make some calls. I spoke to a friend and former neighbor before I got on the plane to make sure he, his wife and dogs were okay. He told me that the fire came through faster than they could have imagined on Sunday afternoon. They had just enough time to get the dogs into their small car, shut the front door to the house that they’d put years of love, work, and care into, and say goodbye. They lost everything minutes later to a fire that presently spans over 30,000 acres, and has destroyed more than 500 homes. Resources are stretched thin out there. As I write this, the fire is still 0% contained.
My friend’s story is one of many here in Central Texas right now, but it sure hits hard. It comes from a community that I lived in for a good while, and still have immeasurable love for. Bastrop and its surrounding piney woods has inspired the last few years of our songwriting and the releases that have followed. Every ounce of Candidate Waltz was written out there. The Little Raider EP that I released earlier in the year is as close as I could get to out and out writing a love note to that area’s beauty, inhabitants, and uniqueness.
Our band has decided we’d like to help out in a few ways.
We will donate all Centro-matic/South San Gabriel/Will J sales from the Undertow Store on Saturday Sept. 10th and Sunday Sept. 11th to help victims of this fire. It’s a good time to pick up a release (or releases) you may not have, need to replace, or pass along to a friend.
Centro-matic store @ Undertow Music Collective.
I will also auction off two original baseball paintings (Dave Kingman and Richie Hebner) starting Sunday. The auction will be up and running for a week, ending Sunday Sept. 18th. All details on the paintings will be included once the auction begins.
100% of the proceeds will go directly to help victims of this fire get their lives back on track.
Thanks for reading and considering.
-Will J
