Today has been great. This afternoon we ate lunch with our great volunteers, at the China Town Restaurant, in Kerrville and of course, it was a lot of fun.
Tony and I did not order the same thing on their menu like we usually always do, but we both ordered the Hot & Sour Soup.
When it was near the end of our lunch, June was talking to us about something she planned on doing, as I stood up, and said, "Excuse me, but I need to go to the bathroom."
Then June continued, and said, "So we'll see you in three months.."
I turned around and interrupted June, and joked, "Good grief! It's not going to take me that long." Everyone, at our table, burst out laughing, as I turned around and swiftly skipped away. And truth be known, I was sitting back at our table, in under three minutes.
When Tony and I got back home I checked my e-mail. Our good friend Donna Gable Hatch had sent me the story that she wrote about Chet & Willie's van burning. I know that I promised to post it, so here it is:
"Local musician loses everything in blaze
By Donna Gable Hatch
Special to The Times
A
GoFundMe campaign is underway to help local singer-songwriter Chet O’Keefe
to recoup and regroup after a raging inferno gutted his van on June 1 and
destroyed everything he owns.
O’Keefe
and his 6-year-old border collie-mix, Willie, were traveling in the van as part
of a six-month concert tour of Canada and Washington State, when he noticed the
vehicle losing power as it climbed a steep incline.
“It
always smoked a bit, but this was different, something electrical. Acrid smoke
began filling the van,” O’Keefe said by phone from
Washington.
He
pulled over, got Willie out of the van and began pulling his belongings from
the van.
“I
tossed them about 15 feet from the van, but I’d packed everything I
own, so there was a lot of stuff. The smoke was getting really thick, and it
was so hot, so I grabbed Willie and we got away from the van. I kept waiting
for the gas tank to explode like in the movies.”
A
fire sparked, and much to O’Keefe’s
horror, the fire spread “downhill like a lava flow and burned up the belongings
I had set outside the van. I thought, ‘There’s no stopping it now.’ … I just watched it burn.”
Lost
in the blaze was O’Keefe’s Martin
acoustic guitar, which he’d won in a songwriting
competition; a mandolin; a handmade Telecaster; a Fishman Solo PA; a Bose
stereo; recording gear; a MacBook; an iPad; a solar setup — panels, AGM solar
batteries, charge controller and inverter — and effects pedals; as well as
his clothes, wallet and passport.
“When
I think about the things lost, I think about the things people had given me the
most, the handmade stuff, the stuff given with meaning and loving intent: the
shirt given by my good friend, Shannon, that her deceased husband, Mark
Kneeskern, had made; the white oak walking stick with burned-in lotus flower
designs and faces that my stepfather had made; the beaded eagle necklace given
to me by my friend Mick at a crucial time in my life; the handmade leather vest
made by Mark Ingram, who died a few years back; and the handmade blue
Telecaster that I’ve
been playing for 25 years, made by my buddy, Frank Padellaro.”
A
friend on Sunday started a GoFundMe campaign on behalf of O’Keefe.
To date, the site — www.gofundme.com/27zbb78 — has raised
more than $3,500.
Paying
it forward
O’Keefe
is known for his giving nature and has participated in numerous fundraisers for
local nonprofits, including Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch, a no-kill animal
sanctuary in Medina, co-founded by Kinky Friedman and Nancy Parker-Simons.
“Chet
called me to tell me the horrible news about his van burning up. It broke my
heart, and I was fighting back tears. He lost nearly everything that he owned,”
Parker-Simons said. “We hope that everyone will reach into their pockets and pay
it forward by making a donation to help Chet get back on his feet — and it
certainly wouldn’t
hurt for you to say a little prayer for him and Willie while you’re at
it.”
O’Keefe
got his start at the Kerrville Folk Festival, where he was twice a finalist in
the festival’s Grassy
Hill Kerrville New Folk competition, 2010 and 2011.
Festival
producer Dalis Allen said she would let performers and festival attendees know
about the fundraising campaign for O’Keefe. The festival
continues through Sunday at Quiet Valley Ranch, 9 miles south of
Kerrville on Texas 16.
“Chet
is a great songwriter,” Allen said. “The safety of Chet and his dog is
certainly the good news, but these kinds of losses are devastating to a touring
artist that makes his living from the instruments that were lost. We hope
he is able to get the van and instruments replaced soon and is back playing his
songs for appreciative audiences around the country.”
O’Keefe,
who was awarded the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Song
of the Year Award in 2010, spent nine years in Nashville, followed by a short
stint in Dallas and Northern Washington State before making his way to the Hill
Country.
He
performed with blues master and rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Bo Diddley,
and is known for his unique storytelling sound, which combines a mix acoustic
folk, western and jazzy-bluesy tunes. He recently released his long-awaited
10-track album, “Because of You,” which is available on iTunes, Amazon.com and O’Keefe’s website, among other
sites.
O’Keefe
is scheduled to leave Sunday for a two-week concert tour in Great Britain, and
on Monday, he applied for — and was granted — an emergency passport. He
said he plans to borrow a guitar and necessary equipment to play his upcoming
gigs.
“Losing
these things is pale in contrast to imagining loss of life: There is a great
feeling of thankfulness and appreciation that has emerged from this that I
carry with me everywhere I go, and people seem to recognize and tune in to it,”
O’Keefe said.
“However,
that spirit of helping someone out in times of need is a human quality that
transcends place and social status. The amount of love that has come my way in
the last few days has been warmly encouraging, has given me hope.”
In
true singer-songwriter fashion, O’Keefe said there’s a
bright side to this sad saga: a new song. The working title is “Cleansing By
Fire.”
“The
things people gave me were the most important because each one carried an
imprint of the intention and energy involved between each person and me,” O’Keefe said. “They had deeper meanings attached — hope,
love, trust, family — but none of those attached gifts can be taken away by
fire.”
How
to help
What:
A GoFundMe campaign to aid local signer-songwriter Chet O’Keefe
Details:
O’Keefe
his musical instruments and equipment, as well as a solar setup, clothing,
wallet and passport, in a June 1 fire that engulfed his van
So once again, I want to thank the Kerrville Daily Times and Donna Gable Hatch and everyone for helping get the word out about our good friend, Chet O'Keefe and for making donations. Let's keep paying it forward and please share this in your social media! And that's about it for tonight.
Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!
