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Mark Waldrep loses almost everything in LA wildfire.

Sal1950

Sal1950

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The Chicago Crusher
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Oh man, this is a bummer. I've been conversing with Mark on the internet for years and bought a number of his Blu Rays.
Pictures show his home and everything around him burned to the ground. :(
Always been a real gentleman and a strong supporter of objective audio and an anti-snakeoil crusader.
I've made a small donation to the fund, hope he gets more support.

 
Oh no! That must be devastating. On this bit:

"In addition to the loss of countless personal items, a large percentage of the AIX Records catalog of DVD/Blu-ray discs and hundreds of copies of his book were destroyed. Mark has been servicing online orders from our Palisades house over the past five years and had relocated the studio there as well. All our equipment was also consumed in the fire — and is not covered by insurance. "

I hope everyone in the same situation of running a substantial business from home gets commercial insurance. I have one and it costs about $1000/year from what I recall. I operated without for a few years but just couldn't sleep easy given how much test equipment I have and the gear members send me.
 
amirm said:
I hope everyone in the same situation of running a substantial business from home gets commercial insurance.
Click to expand...
I'm still not clear on how much of his recording history has been totally lost ?
Mark made many beautiful recordings in both 2 and multich versions.
I do hope he had off-site backups of the masters somewhere.
Those can't be replaced with insurance. :(

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Link says ”bad gateway” ? He’s a true gentleman, I’ve waited years for some release because ”artists” basically , but he delivered :) and keeps everyone up to date
 
Here is an editable/addable spreadsheet of music industry folks who have lost their homes to the fires, along with 'gofundme' links and immediate requests where applicable. For sharing.

The spreadsheet is set up on Google Docs at Support The Music Community - Fire Loss.

There were 324 names on the list when this posted. In addition to the thread subject, jazz saxophonists Bennie Maupin and Steve Lehman, keyboardist Jeff Lorber and bassist John Clayton were some important artists names I saw with a quick perusal. The spreadsheet is not only musicians, it is anyone associated with music, such as a middle-school band teacher... :facepalm:

The document begins with "Welcome to the doc you never wanted to see or be on." :(
Click to expand...

I posted this in another fire thread. You can tell I wrote the original post from the perspective of a jazz fan.

The document reminds folks to be cognizant of GoFundMe scams in cell E3.

This fire has had a huge impact on LA's entertainment industry as a whole, on every level. People's lives, archived history, performance and recording spaces, instruments and performance/recording tech....

This spreadsheet is just for the music industry. There are probably databases for others affected, but I haven't searched.
 
Mark is a great guy, this is horrible news. :( I have also heard of (and from) several other musicians in the area that lost homes and most everything else (giving to MusiCares). Some of them had their insurance dropped and were unable to obtain other insurance. A looming issue for some is that flooding could wipe out more homes and flood insurance is not something most people not in a flood plain think about.

GoFundMe is trying to stop scams, but there have been a number of accounts along with false websites (spoofs and others) preying on people wanting to help. I am giving mainly to MusicCares and the Red Cross.
 
amirm said:
I hope everyone in the same situation of running a substantial business from home gets commercial insurance.
Click to expand...

I don't know how it is at the other side of the pond but in Europe it's sometimes difficult for small to medium businesses in the music industry to get a decent insurance. Insurance is expensive while the profit margins in the businesses are typically low, and the insurance companies write off electronic devices in about 5 years while in practise they are often used for more than 10 years to provide a decent return on investment. Not to mention vintage analog equipment that's often 20 years old and more. So you pay lots of money, and when SHTF you get peanuts in return.
 
I'm having enough problem just getting personal insurance for some things. Limits for things like firearms, jewelry, and musical instruments and equipment are very low on our homeowner's policy, and while the cost is high but not outrageous for appropriate riders, we have to document everything including purchase price, serial numbers, condition, and so forth, plus need current appraisals for everything on the riders to prove replacement cost. We don't have some of that info (like original sales receipts for 10-30+ year old stuff), some things are no longer made (vintage etc.), and have not found appraisers for everything (nor know how much it will cost to appraise or replace). That said, the fires in LA are a reminder that I need to buckle down and start making records of serial numbers, take photos, and so forth. It is a daunting amount of work to document everything we have. It used to be pictures and notes would do, with estimated value based on a quick eBay or whatever search, but they have gotten much more stringent (strident?) in their demands to insure things.
 
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