For those of you who skipped the Academy Awards for last night’s Gravity Lounge benefit, here’s what you missed: Tina Fey sat behind Brangelina, UVA grad and special effects guru Stan Winston received tribute and Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle proved that Tiggers are wonderful things.
The rest of you missed a benefit gig that felt as spirited as it was crowded—very, given the Sunday date and conflict for cinephiles. Carleigh Nesbit and Carl Anderson swapped originals and capped their set with the Cash/Carter duet "Jackson," and Morwenna Lasko and Jay Pun seemed to push extremes a bit more than usual—Pun’s pinched harmonics were a bit more serrated, the edge of Lasko’s bow needled a tad more, both to great effect. (I had to split before Walker’s Run, unfortunately.) Beautiful show, with little question.
However, word on plans to salvage the space in its current incarnation seemed in short supply; the musicians simply encouraged support, financial or otherwise, for the room. (At a point, Pun mentioned that he frequently "talked too much," and said he wouldn’t during the show.) Baldwin declined to comment on C-VILLE’s cover story.
The gig announcement stated that "all proceeds help Gravity Lounge." Baldwin has always been extremely welcoming to me as a writer, and ensured that I could access shows as a reviewer without paying a cover charge. Last night, and for Devon Sproule’s Valentine’s Day gig, I chose to pay. As did, presumably, a few of you.
I felt that paying $10 to see the music that I saw last night was reasonable as a basic entertainment transaction—money for music. But, given the losses Baldwin mentioned in his e-mail to friends of Gravity a few weeks ago, I have concerns about whether my $10 might benefit Baldwin’s business in a substantial way—namely, because I haven’t been told that my money would be utilized in a way that would directly address a clearly identified problem, simply that it would "help."
Who out there paid the cover charge, and why? Who pocketed their Jacksons and stayed home? What would it take to make you a donor?
