Speaker 1: Right now, I want to shine a light on some
Speaker 1: people making a powerful difference after the January wildfires. We're
Speaker 1: turning up the volume, so to speak, on a story
Speaker 1: that has hit all the right notes. Man, I love
Speaker 1: a good pun. We're joined by Brandon j the founder
Speaker 1: of Altadena Musicians and the Instrumental Giving app. It's a
Speaker 1: grassroots organization that not only amplifies local talent, but is
Speaker 1: putting real instruments back into the hands of people who
Speaker 1: lost them during the January wildfires. Brandon, tell me how
Speaker 1: did this all begin?
Speaker 2: So, my wife and I are music composition names Gwendolyn Sandford.
Speaker 2: Most notably we scored Orange is a New Black, and
Speaker 2: we lived in Dana for thirteen years and our home
Speaker 2: and studio burned in the fire. About a week afterwards,
Speaker 2: we were both playing a show and people came and
Speaker 2: started bringing us instruments and did a lot of them
Speaker 2: were exact names that we lost in the fire, which
Speaker 2: gave me the idea to like, just do that on
Speaker 2: a big scale and ask people that had extra instruments
Speaker 2: to connect with people that lost theirs. And the special
Speaker 2: thing about instruments are the stories behind them and how
Speaker 2: they're passed down from generation to generation, or they're used
Speaker 2: on particular recordings, or someone saved that bought a guitar
Speaker 2: when they were young, and so I've found it it's
Speaker 2: really healing in the process for the people that are
Speaker 2: donating to meet the musicians that lost stuff. So that's
Speaker 2: the legacy of the instrument is carried on with the
Speaker 2: person getting it, and the person that lost something gets
Speaker 2: the story behind what they're getting, so they can mourn
Speaker 2: what they lost, but it's replaced by something that already
Speaker 2: has a story to it and you can continue that.
Speaker 1: And what has the response been like from the community.
Speaker 2: It's extraordinary. The you know, I grew up in Los
Speaker 2: Angeles and so I've been playing music since i was nine.
Speaker 2: Both my parents are musicians, so I've been in the
Speaker 2: Los Angeles music scene for most of my life. And
Speaker 2: incredible tight knit community and far reaching and the devastation
Speaker 2: of these particular wildfires is so broad because so many
Speaker 2: people are affected and all walks of life have you know,
Speaker 2: it's just incredible the connections that people have made with
Speaker 2: each other in the community when they reach out and
Speaker 2: like help each other, and it's been it's been incredible.
Speaker 1: How many instruments have you had donated and then how
Speaker 1: many have you passed out so far?
Speaker 2: It's hard to tell because the numbers are they're like
Speaker 2: skyrocketing every day, but well over four hundred and counting.
Speaker 2: We just about a week ago mister Holland's Opus Foundation,
Speaker 2: the wonderful organization that provides instruments to schools when they
Speaker 2: need and they like buy them like new instruments and
Speaker 2: you know, get them sorted out. They took care of
Speaker 2: like all the schools that were ready for them, because
Speaker 2: there's about six schools that burned and just in Altadena,
Speaker 2: and so they were taking care of them. They also
Speaker 2: did an instrument drive and were collecting instruments from other
Speaker 2: people that were supposed to go to fire victims, and
Speaker 2: they had to give up their extra storage space where
Speaker 2: everything was, and so we got in contact with them
Speaker 2: and we said we'll take everything because we have the
Speaker 2: infrastructure to get it to individuals. So just about three
Speaker 2: days ago we took We're just cataloging everything to see
Speaker 2: how much it is, because it was so much. It
Speaker 2: was like over eighty five guitars and like a whole
Speaker 2: room full of classical instruments. Somewhere in the neighborhood of
Speaker 2: like like six hundred instruments.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: So right now we're like cleaning them with We have
Speaker 2: about forty volunteers that are just coming from people that
Speaker 2: we got instruments too, and they're like running over there
Speaker 2: like testing out clarinets and clean things off. And we
Speaker 2: also connected with Bertrans Music in Pasadena very early on
Speaker 2: because it's important for people to know that, like there's
Speaker 2: instruments that need servicing if they've been sitting around for
Speaker 2: a long time, and we don't want to put instruments
Speaker 2: in people's hands that need work.
Speaker 1: I think that's great. I mean it sounds like people
Speaker 1: are This is something that people are truly passionate about
Speaker 1: and they really want to help. You know, when it
Speaker 1: comes to your instruments. You know, my daughter plays the trombone,
Speaker 1: and I know she loves it and she enjoys it,
Speaker 1: and it's very special to her because it's the first
Speaker 1: instrument she really learned how to play. And I know
Speaker 1: that even in some you know, even if it seems
Speaker 1: like such a small thing to give someone an instrument
Speaker 1: to start over, in that way, it means so much
Speaker 1: to the person who's playing because music is therapy and
Speaker 1: it can be very healing in many ways. So I
Speaker 1: think it's wonderful what you're doing. Can you tell everybody
Speaker 1: how they can help? If you still need instruments, are
Speaker 1: you still taking them? How can people help and support
Speaker 1: what you're doing?
Speaker 2: So either going to Altadena Musicians dot org, make a donation,
Speaker 2: can read about us, come to upcoming events, or download
Speaker 2: our app Instrumental Giving.
Speaker 1: That's such a great addition to the instruments and a
Speaker 1: way to help also make money for your organization and
Speaker 1: that sort of thing. So Brandon, thank you so much
Speaker 1: for your time. You can check out Instrumental Giving or
Speaker 1: Altadena Musicians to find out how you can help bring
Speaker 1: music back to Alta. Dina, I'm Heatherbrooker, thanks so much
Speaker 1: for listening. You can listen to any of our shows
Speaker 1: from KFI on the iHeartRadio app.