How Does Hurricane Dorian Affect ME?

Maybe I’m more in touch with Hurricane Dorian because I live in Florida.  Even though, thankfully, it seems like we’ll be okay here in the Tampa Bay area, we still get brought into the conversation in more ways than one.

But how does someone who’s reading this blog from their home or office in, say, the Midwest, find any attachment to this storm that has been just brutal for the folks in the Bahamas?

If you’re a songwriter, I know there’s a story in there somewhere that you can put lyrics to.  Now mind you, this shouldn’t be viewed as exploitation.  People turn to music to console them and/or get them through hard times.  They need to hear something that soothes them that they can relate to.  You can almost think of some of the efforts from years gone by such as Live Aid, Farm Aid, and so on in terms of music being attached to times of need.

If you read my blog each week because you know of all that I do in podcasting – both hosting “Now Hear This Entertainment” and doing speaking engagements – I always urge creators to not take a day off just because of a holiday (case in point, me writing this blog on the morning of Labor Day).  What impact might there be on a podcaster from Hurricane Dorian?  Again, you know what the impact is if you’re in its cone, but for those of you far (far) away from it, maybe there’s a special episode or related guest that you can plan towards.  But mostly, don’t use it as an excuse to not release new content.  Again, just like the aforementioned folks looking for music to help them through it, your show’s listeners are counting on you for some semblance of normalcy.

Then there’s the humanitarian angle.

Back to the performers, perhaps for one live show you dedicate the proceeds of your tips and/or your merch or maybe just the CD sales that night to hurricane relief.

If you’re really enthusiastic you might want to rally the troops, as they say, and get a few artists together to do a show to raise funds for hurricane relief.  I’d like to think that there’s a restaurant, bar, club, or venue owner out there with a heart for this, willing to be the host site.

A (singer) client of mine often reminds me that, “What seems to be the winds of destruction are actually the winds of restoration.”  It should always be the first and not the last thing, but, prayer in itself is something you can do to help as Hurricane Dorian rages on.

And if, because of your geographic location, you’re so far removed from all this that you don’t even really know what’s going on, I would urge you to pull up your favorite national news source and/or jump on Twitter and search on the hashtag Dorian and get yourself up to speed.  This storm, unfortunately, is catastrophic and historic.  We as creatives, however, can stand against it in the ways mentioned above and, as I hope you’ll contribute via the link below, through many other actions.

What ARE you doing and/or what was left out of the above that can be done?  Talk about it in our Facebook group!