A LETTER TO PJ FANS FROM STONE GOSSARD SUPPORT THE MOTHER OF MOTHER LOVE BONE

elwayvedder

My apologies in advance if this was posted already but I didn't see it or find anything via the search tool.

Auction items benefiting this can be found here: http://www.ebay.com/sch/pearljam_tenclub/m.html?item=251648960876&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562

-EV

Thanks to JoMary for the Go Fund Me Link:
http://www.gofundme.com/ed333s

http://pearljam.com/activism/news

A LETTER TO PJ FANS FROM STONE GOSSARD SUPPORT THE MOTHER OF MOTHER LOVE BONE
September 17 2014

Hey folks, just starting to go through our song list, getting ready for OCT tour. I can't wait to get to Ohio and get it going again. Thank you all so much for continuing to support and encourage our band. It is the best feeling in the world to be part of something so special and to have so much love and enthusiasm from you all. Thank you!!!


Ok, news and a request for some help.


Jeff and I found out a few weeks ago from Kevin Wood that Andy's mom, Toni, was in need of some help. Andy was Motherlovebone’s most beloved bandleader and singer. His Mom, Toni, is such a magical woman. Her spirit is so close to Andy's, to whom she gave so much love, humor and spark. If you'd ever seen Andy and Toni together, you'd see the connection.


Toni is now in her 70's and living in a leaky, dilapidated trailer with bad wiring, while still being a part time caregiver. The more Jeff and I learned about her situation, the more we felt we couldn't ignore it. We decide to go for it to get her a new trailer! We have donated some money to the cause here A New Home for Toni Wood and we will also auctioning off a few items to raise additional funds over the next month or so. Please be on the look out for these here at Pearl Jam's official eBay site and on Pearl Jam Activism's Facebook page. Know that if you purchase any of the items to support Toni Wood, the money is going to a great place.


Thank you all for listening.


- Stone Gossard

MayDay10

wow. Thats nice of those guys.

jomary

Here is the link for the GoFundMe project Stone started:
gofundme.com/ed333s

Halfway there in just a few days. Such a great band and a great community of fans, I am sure the goal will be reached soon!!!!

link93

Nice. Just gave a little bit to gofundme. If everybody does the same they will get what they need in a hurry. This is why I love this band, the guys really do care about people. Great way to start the day reading about this!

Horse2345

Good on them, but whats with the US only shipping again? You think if they wanted to make the most money they'd open up the shipping.

elwayvedder

Rule #1 - always take care of your mama...or in this case someone else's mama. Without mama's, we have nothing

bgirl59

link93 said:

Nice. Just gave a little bit to gofundme. If everybody does the same they will get what they need in a hurry. This is why I love this band, the guys really do care about people. Great way to start the day reading about this!

=D> thank you so much, link93, I can never afford the items that go up for bid, and hoped there would be a way for me to donate $$ to this wonderful cause- I've never heard Toni's story, but since she's Andy Wood's Mom, what else do you need to know???

Thanks always, Pearl Jam, and thank you again for the post link93,

See you all in October!
Peace,
>-

PJ_Soul

This is very sweet. Happy that she is getting a home fit for what sounds like a great lady. :x

mandm621

Its nice of the guys to be doing this. I only wish I had the means to help, but unfortunately, I'm about in the same boat and she is. Hours cut, job nearly gone. I hope those that do have the means will help. One day soon I hope to find a new job, and when I'm back on my feet, I'd be happy to help. Best wishes all!

electronblue

.

teskeinc

Why not raise the goal and get her a double wide?

demetrios

There's no 5 - 2012 signed Pearl Jam prints on eBay. Proceeds from this auction item will go into a fund to help Toni Wood, mother of late Mother Love Bone singer Andy Wood, repair her home in her time of need. * This auction purchase is a non tax-deductible donation.

elwayvedder

demetrios said:

There's no 5 - 2012 signed Pearl Jam prints on eBay. Proceeds from this auction item will go into a fund to help Toni Wood, mother of late Mother Love Bone singer Andy Wood, repair her home in her time of need. * This auction purchase is a non tax-deductible donation.

Thanks D. They can be found here:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/pearljam_tenclub/m.html?item=251648960876&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562

weddingparade

Kindness always wins

whofeelslikeadrank

teskeinc said:

Why not raise the goal and get her a double wide?

huh?

mandm621

Wow the forum and the Official Pearl Jam Ten Club Members facebook page (which I don't think is really official, but fun!) Is like night and day about this cause. Kinda sad actually. Here everyones for helping, there they are asking why don't Jeff and Stone foot the bill. SMH.

lotsalemon

The Facebook groups are an embarrassment at times. Most times actually...there I said it.
And to think people left the forums here for the childish bs of Facebook.

There's no harm in asking for help from the masses - we all benefited by having some awesome music we can listen to forever - if these people don't think the band and their management is helping out in a big way then they need to do a little reading beyond the Facebook "which Eddie picture is more sexy" posts. haha...

hrd2imgn

lotsalemon, don't you think those two could handle this on their own $$$ wise? How many millions do they have in the bank? I know it is not their responsibility, and they are doing something about it with the webpage, I just find it strange they don't just pay for it themselves. Kudos to all who are helping

lotsalemon

Of course they could probably handle it themselves. A lot of celebrities and musicians could take care of problems by paying for it themselves.

However

These guys are donating a lot of time and money to a multitude of causes. They shouldn't be expected to foot entire bills just because *they* have the money.

Just because someone has net worth doesn't mean they have millions lying around to give away....

CompassionateSpirit

hrd2imgn said:

lotsalemon, don't you think those two could handle this on their own $$$ wise? How many millions do they have in the bank? I know it is not their responsibility, and they are doing something about it with the webpage, I just find it strange they don't just pay for it themselves. Kudos to all who are helping

This was my first thought also, considering that a lot of us may know someone who is in the same situation as Toni Wood (poverty and poor living conditions are all around us if we look) and we don't usually ask strangers for help. Of course we aren't so lucky to have millions of people give us money at the drop of a hat either. And it's personal for Jeff and Stone and I would think they'd have the money to get her the best.

And then there's the thought I have that if PJ tickets didn't cost $80 plus in addition to $20 parking and $5 waters plus more for food, drinks, merch, and sometimes hotel, flight, etc. Even those who see a PJ concert in their hometown will spend probably $100 per person just to see the concert itself. Anyway, if it didn't cost that much, I'd have more money to help Toni Wood and others.

And then I read my thoughts after I've typed them and I think I'm becoming very cynical in my older years. So while there are many issues to this request for money, I do think it's a very nice thing for Stone and Jeff to do - no matter how they do it. I just love Stone, Jeff, and Andy Wood and Toni Wood seems like such a wonderful person ( you can see her on the movie "Malfunkshun: The Andrew Wood Story." She seems kinda goofy in such a wonderful, warmhearted way. I hope I haven't upset anyone by expressing my opinions here. I am just confused about how I feel. But I do feel Toni Wood does deserve the best.

Plus - embarrassed to say I didn't even know PJ Ten Club members had an official Facebook page. What's wrong with keeping everything in one place on this here Forum? Guess I'm old-fashioned.

hedonist

CompassionateSpirit said:

hrd2imgn said:

lotsalemon, don't you think those two could handle this on their own $$$ wise? How many millions do they have in the bank? I know it is not their responsibility, and they are doing something about it with the webpage, I just find it strange they don't just pay for it themselves. Kudos to all who are helping

This was my first thought also, considering that a lot of us may know someone who is in the same situation as Toni Wood (poverty and poor living conditions are all around us if we look) and we don't usually ask strangers for help. Of course we aren't so lucky to have millions of people give us money at the drop of a hat either. And it's personal for Jeff and Stone and I would think they'd have the money to get her the best.

And then there's the thought I have that if PJ tickets didn't cost $80 plus in addition to $20 parking and $5 waters plus more for food, drinks, merch, and sometimes hotel, flight, etc. Even those who see a PJ concert in their hometown will spend probably $100 per person just to see the concert itself. Anyway, if it didn't cost that much, I'd have more money to help Toni Wood and others.

And then I read my thoughts after I've typed them and I think I'm becoming very cynical in my older years. So while there are many issues to this request for money, I do think it's a very nice thing for Stone and Jeff to do - no matter how they do it. I just love Stone, Jeff, and Andy Wood and Toni Wood seems like such a wonderful person ( you can see her on the movie "Malfunkshun: The Andrew Wood Story." She seems kinda goofy in such a wonderful, warmhearted way. I hope I haven't upset anyone by expressing my opinions here. I am just confused about how I feel. But I do feel Toni Wood does deserve the best.

Plus - embarrassed to say I didn't even know PJ Ten Club members had an official Facebook page. What's wrong with keeping everything in one place on this here Forum? Guess I'm old-fashioned.

Good (and seemingly-fitting) username.

I'll say I'm a bit conflicted about this as well. I'm not necessarily cynical (though I can be at times), I feel a bit torn between my empathetic and logical selves.

Anyway, thanks for articulating what's been going through my head.

And guess I'm old-fashioned too! I don't do Facebook

hrd2imgn

not wanting to hijack this thread.... Stone/Jeff, good luck in getting this woman a better situation. Help as you want/will

PJ_Soul

mandm621 said:

Wow the forum and the Official Pearl Jam Ten Club Members facebook page (which I don't think is really official, but fun!) Is like night and day about this cause. Kinda sad actually. Here everyones for helping, there they are asking why don't Jeff and Stone foot the bill. SMH.

Lol. The guy leading that little rant is a fool. He thinks PJ's money is still his money because he spent it on them, haha.

There is nothing wrong with what they're doing for this woman. There is nothing wrong with asking people to help a person. Ever. I can't believe it even crossed anyone's mind. And how many charities and causes to these guys donate to?? If they just foot the bill for every little cause they cared about they'd be broke. And if I donated to every cause I cared about I'd be homeless. It's great to spread it around - more people helping for a common cause is a positive thing. It's something that adds to the world on top of the monetary benefit. It brings people together as a community.

hedonist

PJ, to be clear, I don't disagree with you. I didn't feel like I could comment on this without addressing the other side of my thoughts...it'd just feel disingenuous to me otherwise.

CompassionateSpirit

This is an interesting conversation. After thinking about what I've been thinking LOL, I feel like sort of an ass right now. I mean this woman is practically the mother of Pearl Jam and maybe we should all be her "kids" or her "fans."

I think, as someone who does not make a lot of money, I was making an underhanded plea for PJ to lower their ticket prices (I know it's incredibly expensive to put on a tour these days) so I didn't have to choose between giving to charity and going to a PJ concert. Hee hee

Jeff and Stone do have big hearts for doing this and maybe they are donating a large percentage to this. Good luck to them and Toni Wood. It's still very conflicting when one can't really relate to another person's life because our economic situations are so vastly different. But PJ Soul is right in saying it's never wrong to ask people to help another person. And again, they are inviting us into their lives for this and maybe we should be glad that we were asked and included - we are one big family (or Jamily).

And yeah to Hedonist for not doing Facebook. I rarely do. Most of it is white noise to me.

hedonist

Remember that old Twilight Zone with the kids who swam through the bottom of their swimming pool and ended up at Aunt Tee's?

I see Ms. Wood as Aunt Tee (hopefully that makes sense).

Also, my comments take not one iota away from the kindness demonstrated by these efforts.

My husband and I donate to various charities, people and causes. Tossing a thought or two out there doesn't make me feel anything like an ass - I know I have a good heart and live accordingly.

Now, as for the lowering of ticket prices? That's where we diverge! In terms of, that didn't even come into play for me.

In the end, give if we can. Not for karma's sake but for our neighbor's sake.

OK...last tangent - I've been listening / watching the Playing for Change series. Gimme Shelter comes up (really nice, grooving version), preceded by:

"It is in the shelter of each other that the people live."

Yup.

CompassionateSpirit

Sorry didn't see that Twilight Zone. I know the lowering of ticket prices is for an entirely different thread. I just mean that it's another conflict within myself - do I go see PJ in concert or do I give to a charity? Since doing both is not an option for me - I so wish it was. And with lower ticket prices, everybody could do a lot more with their money without having to choose. It just gets to be too much when PJ goes on tour at $80 a ticket, and then they put up some limited edition item for sale, and then they release something else, and then Bridge School lineup is announced, and then they ask for financial help for someone. But everyone makes their choices - I just hate feeling guilty when I go see PJ cause my money doesn't go anywhere else it seems. If they had asked for help for Toni way back before they announced a tour, etc. I wouldn't feel so conflicted about it probably. It's just overload sometimes. Also, if I can't afford to give to a charity I care about, I'll volunteer, but I don't see how I could volunteer for Toni Wood.

hedonist

I completely get what you're saying! Maybe look at it in a way that what you ARE paying, a portion goes towards what you didn't give directly to. And you have the experience as well.

Maybe it's rationalizing, I don't know.

You're right though - we do make our choices, and unless intentionally slighting someone else, no need to feel guilt.

CompassionateSpirit

Thanks hedonist. You aren't a psychotherapist are you? Anyway, I wish Toni Wood the best. I've been thinking that her life hasn't been so easy - losing a son and all the emotions that come with that - for the rest of her life.

elwayvedder

3/5 of the way there...bump for mama

bootlegger10

I can understand views from both sides. I think the reason is that this isn't really so much a charity (raise money for a school, health research, homeless, etc...) but it is a very personal acquaintance of the band. It would be like me asking for money for my grandmother's surgery when I have plenty of money to pay for it. You take care of your own. I have no problem though with raising money the way they are doing.