Truck rolls, tech gear damaged on way to festival.

Everything Back in its Own Place

23 January 2023

Simon and Michelle were in attendance for the festival wash-up meeting and pot-luck dinner at the clubrooms last evening. They report that they had been able to get the gear back to Christchurch with the help of Simon Musgrave who found a truck and drove it there for them. The gear has been stripped and cleaned and will be back in service as soon as replacement cases are acquired — if anyone has any tips for removing road tar from panels, they would be gratefully received.

Once again, they express their heartfelt gratitude for your generous donations.

A word about insurance. As any working musician will tell you: you can have your nice instruments and gear insured as long as it just sits at home. The moment you start using it for gigs or other paid work, the premiums escalate ten-fold. It is just prohibitive to insure your expensive kit if you use it professionally. Simon and Michelle find themselves in exactly this position: if they insured their equipment for its full value, they would have paid the price of it in premiums in just a few years. It's worth thinking about that when you see your favourite musician pull out their vintage Gibson or Martin guitar at the local pub gig. Its the risk they take to bring you something special.

Cheers

Mike

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Thank you, you generous people!

13 January 2023

I'm amazed at the largesse of my folkie community; your contributions are going a long way to alleviate the financial hole that Simon and Michelle find themselves in.

Fortunately, (the truck being written off notwithstanding) damage to the gear has been minimal although it has been well shaken and everything needs stripping and testing. Their initial investment in good quality casing has paid off, but many of those cases and racks will need to be replaced. Simon has written to me saying the casing firm is having a sale right now and your donations could not have come at a better time! He wishes to express his heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of you.

We still aspire to the $5000 goal, so the page will be left up for another month or so — you can help furher by promulgating the page among your friends and social media.