07/13/2024
As you may have heard, Giving Music, played its last gig at the Mar Vista Senior Center on July 5th. On July first the board of directors voted unanimously to disband the charity due to a lack of consistent funding from our two main sources, Skilled Nursing Facilities and The City of Los Angeles and Department of Recreation and Parks. Both of these sources were hit very hard by Covid and for whatever reasons the discretionary budgets for items like music were cut to the point we were unable to continue playing those venues.
I would like to take this time to thank each and every musician that ever played with us for their undying support in the near 400 gigs we played together. Some of you may have played just a few gigs and some of you have played scores of gigs but I am proud of every performance we did. It is a real tribute to the skill you all showed at being able to perform virtually any kind of music for any kind of gig- and following my lead by coming to realize that your performance weren’t just gigs but actual interventions for our senior audiences.
As you know I attended most of the gigs myself and remain in constant awe at the music skills you displayed.
It is with heavy heart that we closed the charity but I achieved my goal to keep us playing until my 80th birthday- and I hope all of you are able to have the health and desire to do the same. Keep on playing, you did make and will continue to make a difference for us oldsters.
I would like to offer special thanks to our two long term musical directors, Jack Maeby and Tony Jones. Without their deep knowledge of the music business and reputation among professional musicians we never would have achieved the success that we did
Bob Lanz
President/Chairman of the Board
Secretary and Treasurer
Photographer and Social Media poster
And Roadie
