What Would You Grab?

The first photos and videos to come out of Los Angeles on January 7 were shocking enough, but over the ensuing hours, then days, they kept getting worse…and worse…and worse. By late afternoon, individual stories of terror, confusion and loss started to trickle out, adding a very human, ground-level weight to the visuals and bringing the horror home to those watching it unfold on TV or across their socials.

Huge swaths of hillsides were on fire, roaring from the Palisades and heading toward Malibu. Entire city blocks were consumed in minutes. Cars were melting, with liquid aluminum running in the gutters. Smoke was blanketing huge parts of the city. Embers were flying, with reports of new fires popping up all over the place. Evacuation orders were multiplying by the hour.

That night, I texted producer/songwriter Greg Wells to see if everything was okay. We had just wrapped up a Mix story on his stellar work producing the music for Wicked, and only a week earlier, he had agreed to be the keynote speaker at our Mix LA event in March (he’s now co-keynote speaker We had become friends over the past few years. Not too long ago, I spent a wonderful afternoon and evening at his family home in the Palisades.

Greg texted back, beginning with three fire emojis, then: “Hey! We evacuated and I put everyone in a car headed for Joshua Tree where we’ve rented a house for a couple of nights. Our neighborhood is ablaze, and we are in deep freakout!”

The next day, back in L.A., things got even worse. The Pasadena area, miles to the east of the Palisades, was now under threat. Altadena, home to a lot of musicians, was starting to burn. The winds had picked up even more. I got a phone call around noon and found out that Bob Clearmountain and Betty Bennett had lost their home, burned to ashes, along with Bob’s one-of-a-kind Mix This! studio. (Amazingly, he will now be a co-keynote speaker at Mix L.A., sharing the stage with Greg Wells)

I write this 10 days after the Palisades Fire broke out, and though the winds have eased up and the threat of new fires has diminished, the hotspots are still not “contained.” That’s an awfully long time to be living with fear, anxiety and uncertainty.

I had been living in Oakland for just over a year when the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake crushed the Bay Area, knocking out the Bay Bridge, pancaking the Cypress freeway in Oakland and leveling the Marina District in San Francisco. Two years later, I was living a mile away when the Oakland Fire roared through the Highlands and Montclair, destroying close to 3,000 homes and killing 25 people, most of them still in their cars coming down the hill trying to evacuate. The fire was much, much more frightening.

But I was relatively safe. I had my 18-month-old daughter Molly in my arms, and I had time to collect and pile up my treasures on the kitchen table while I watched the fire’s progress on TV. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be driving home after running an errand and seeing huge clouds of smoke hanging over your neighborhood, your spouse and children still at home as far as you know. Or to be woken up at 1 a.m. by the sound of multiple sirens and a loud knock on the door telling you that you have 5 minutes to get out. No arguments, that means Now!

I’ve been wondering about that over this past week, walking around my house, poking my head into closets:

If I had 5 minutes, once family and pets are safe and in the car, what would I grab? Of all these “things” that have become part of my life, what do I value the most?

In an interview with the Australian Broadcast Corp. soon after his home burned, Bob mentioned that he had grabbed a number of photographs that had been taken by his father. Greg Wells, Canadian-born, mentioned in an interview with Variety that one of the first things his wife grabbed were the family passports.

Following disasters, first we turn to family and friends to make sure everyone is okay. Then we turn to our community, our tribe, our people.

Those we work with, play with and create with. Our community may be small, but it’s well-connected. By Day Two, I was told, EveAnna Manley had started compiling a list of those in the local pro audio community who would be needing help in the coming days, weeks and months.

Bob Clearmountain, Greg Wells to Open Mix LA With Special Keynote Conversation

Disasters don’t discriminate based on income, class or race. They hit rich people as well as poor people. Bob, to his credit, noted in the interview that he was well off and could handle the hit. His heart went out to all those who couldn’t afford to lose everything.

A whole lot of musicians, engineers and audio professionals in the Los Angeles area have suffered losses, professionally and personally, that the rest of us can’t imagine. In the coming weeks and months, please don’t forget them. Many organizations have established funds and launched efforts to assist those in need, from the Recording Academy to Guitar Center to the local musicians union. Please donate if you can.

Even better yet, if you have a friend who has been affected by the fires, and if you happen to have an extra LA-2A lying around, or a Shure SM57, or a laptop that you’re not using, stop by and drop off a gift. Everyone could use a helping hand.

—Tom Kenny, Co-Editor