"ONE DISEASE. MANY VOICES"

Well things are certainly set into motion. It's been a while since I have written in the blog and that is due in part to a lack of eventful reporting! Sure, there has been a little development in the fundraising efforts for the WTKLG physical CDs; there has been some potential interest in sponsoring the entire project and I have made some attempts at "kickstarting" the project by setting up an online, time-sensitive, fundraiser through Kickstarter.com. However, news has been slow overall and frankly I have been too preoccupied with my illustration and design projects as of late. Additional, my empty wallet has kept me far away from the late-night, booze-infused open mic events down at The White Mule, putting my performance endeavors on hold and leaving the blog pages void of any cool stage photos and/or reviews of any shows.

But I digress...as usual! Here I am about a month after my last post to report a very exciting side project in the works. It has always been, at least in the last few months, a big ambition of mine to release "Hello, Amy", previously released on WTKLG, as a single and be available for sale to help raise money for the awareness and research of the disease that the song talks about. What I didn't expect, however, was this little project to grow in such an ambitious and peer-supported way. Originally, I had thought of including an alternate version featuring Alyson McKinster on piano and back up vocals, providing a more somber side to the song. A few days ago, I was talking with Chad Macomber about a future project he is working on and it dawned on us to include yet another alternate version that would feature his ukelele-picking, "campfire" style. So the CD had grown to three. Very cool.

But it wasn't long after this that I thought- why stop there? Why not offer up the song to a number of different bands and musicians to diversify the CD as much as possible; to have the artist cover "Hello, Amy" in a way that is unique to them and their style of music; and to allow their voice to speak the story of Amyloidosis, ultimately strengthening the awareness potential and spreading the word over audiences of many different musical genres. With this newly evolved concept to the "Hello, Amy" single CD, it only makes sense for me to withdraw any of my own previously planned contributions to the alternate versions, such as the piano cover with Alyson. I want each and every added song to be created entirely by the respective artist/band. It is my hope to build a musical "army" to support a great cause and to my delight, there has already been a great response in the last couple days. I hope to hear back from each and every artist I have contacted, as they all have a very different sound that would be amazing for the project.

In the coming weeks, look for a more definitive list of contributing artists as well as a web site launch for the project. Thanks goes to those who are already working hard on their cover songs and especially to Mary O'Donnell at The Amyloidosis Foundation. She has been instrumental in the last month or so in my creative endeavors and I couldn't thank her enough for her support and sponsorship of the "Hello, Amy" single CD. This will be a beautiful project that I hope will generate a lot of buzz and awareness of the disease.

If you are a musician and would like to be considered for the compilation CD, please write me at music@dylanduncan.com.