Save Andrew Sole

We've been talking about money fairly often. We are getting to the point in our planning, where we need to start thinking about where and how we will get money to buy drums and to pay for other costs associated with our plans. It seems like musicians never have enough money. Have you ever seen the bumper sticker that says, "Real musicians HAVE a day job"? It's usually true, because trying to "do" music rarely brings in enough money to pay the bills.

My older brother, Andrew, has been trying to "do" music every since he has graduated from college, nearly 13 (?) years ago. He is a truly amazing drummer, and when we return to Michigan, we hope that he will work with our taiko group in an advisory/consulting role. If you'd like to see just how good he is, please have a look at this video:


In the past few years, he's actually done alright, financially, from performing and teaching lessons, but one of the challenges facing an independent musician is affording health insurance. And it just so happens that my brother has had back problems, very expensive back problems, for probably around 10 years now.

Recently we heard from him, that his back had started to act up again and he needed to go back to the doctor. He was told he needed to start treatments immediately. Within a week, the bill was already close to $2000, which all has to come out of his own pocket. (Nice timing, with tax season right around the corner) At the moment, his back is too painful to play the drums so if he doesn't get the treatments, he can't play the drums, and if he can't play the drums, he doesn't make any money.

To help my brother cover some of his medical costs, a very close friend of ours set up a web page to collect donations for Andrew. You can find the page here: Save Andrew Sole

I realize that a lot of readers probably don't know my brother and it's not easy to donate money to someone you don't know. But should you feel moved to help him out, please do stop by the Save Andrew Sole Website to put a few coins in the hat. Help, large or small, is more than welcome.