Fellow Orgers:

The Scholarship Fund
As you know, John and Joanne Blackwell have decided to channel their grief over the loss of their precious daughter, Jia, by creating a scholarship fund at John’s alma mater, Berklee College in Boston, for the benefit of women students who are studying how to enrich themselves and the world through music: the Jia Kennie Blackwell Memorial Scholarship Fund.

There is no better way for the NPGMC to prove itself a community united by a common good than for each of us to seriously consider making a contribution to the fund. (For those of you in the U.S., all such contributions are tax-deductible.) For more information about the fund and how you can contribute by mail or via a secure online channel (for VISA or MasterCard donations), go to --http://www.berklee.edu/giving/default.html

Make a generous One-Time donation or -- if you’re budgeting for the next leg of the Musicology Tour -- use the online donation form to set up a more modest Monthly or Quarterly debit schedule that allows you to be generous over time. When you truly commit from the heart, you can be a bigger benefactor than you might think.

The December 11th Concert
By now, you’re also aware that a benefit concert featuring John Blackwell and his musical friends has been scheduled for the Berklee Performance Center in Boston on Saturday, December 11th, at 8:00p.m. Such musicians as Terri Lynn Carrington, Marcus Williams, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Dom Famularo, and Vinnie Colaiuta are slated to share the stage with John. Who knows? Other special guests may join them.

Proceeds from the concert not only will benefit the scholarship fund, but also will be used to promote child water safety, in the hope that other families can be spared John and Joanne’s heart-breaking experience.

Tickets will be available for purchase online via Ticketmaster, beginning Saturday, November 20th at 10:00 EST. The price is $10 for those of us who are not Berklee students. All tickets are General Admission. The following link should get you to the Ticketmaster purchase page: http://www.ticketmaster.com/venue/8199.

Whether you’re a Fam, a Fan, a Purple Hippie, an NPGMC member, a Quaker, a Detroit Crawler, a Bump Squader, a LoveSexyan, a NewPowerTexan, a Dream Factorycan, or someone who’s been just a freakin’ since back-in-the-day, let’s unite by showing our support for John and Joanne. Please consider making a generous contribution to the fund and/or purchasing tickets to attend and enjoy the concert.

December 11th – it’s gonna be a beautiful, gonna be a beautiful night.

Hope to see you there.

Spread the love. Spread the word. Act now.

OneMoJam said:

It would be nice if Prince would support his brother by taking charge, and putting on a benefit concert in honor of Jia Blackwell. Especially, since this trajedy occured during the Musicology Tour. John was so brave to continue to support his fellow band members, especially when he was at his lowest. John truly has a selfless, gentle, kind, considerate, and loving spirit.

God Bless him, Joanne, and family. What a wonderful way of demonstrating love towards his fellow brothers and sisters. Thank you John,and Joanne for demonstrating total unselfishness, generosity, and love to us all by being there for us at such a heartbreaking time in your lives. God truly loves you, and we love you too! God Bless.

Again, it would be nice if Prince would reciprocate, and show the Blackwells, and the world he truly does care. To all: Peace & may God Bless you always.

laws said:

Understandable, but I have a feeling that even though it would bring in plenty of money, having Prince there would change the focus of the event from John and his family to people wanting to come to see Prince and not to support the Blackwells.

avah12 said:

Possibly, you make a good point. However, I have read numerous articles, posts, and reviews regarding the Blackwell's plight. It appears the general public all ready shares in the Blackwell's grief. If Prince properly orchestrated and presented the benefit concert, he would be able to get their message across to its intended audience. Prince, through his creativity, and leadership skills could only enhance the Blackwell's plight. It's just....does he want to???

Its really all about presentation, and ...."heart," & "soul."

avah12 said:

I agree 100%.

And we have no clue what Prince is doing to support John and his family behind the scenes, so we shouldn't assume.

FunkMistress said:

Very true.

laws said:

Couldnt agree more I think P and the rest of the band owe it to John to put on some kind of benefit concert for how strong he was during the musicology tour

kdl6248 said:

I think it'$ a $afe bet that everyone in the band is generou$ly honoring John'$ de$ire to make the $cholarship fund a la$ting legacy. This allows him to keep the focus on his very deeply personal loss and his personal decision to connect that loss to the cause of music education at his alma mater.

I do know from Berklee that there were discussions regarding the involvement of Patti LaBelle on December 11th. Unfortunately, she was put in the position of having to choose between this event and a once-in-a lifetime invitation to sing either the same night or the the night before at a concert (in Oslo/Stockholm?) honoring the woman from South Africa who won this year's Nobel Peace prize. It would take a logistical and physiological miracle for Patti to do both gigs.

It would be nice if a certain dimiuitive Minnesotan would zip into Boston and jam on the 11th. But the reality is that only a small number of us would be there to see it. And, if our hearts are in the right place, we'll go to the jam or we'll donate because we care about what happened to John and his family, period, tiny Minnesotan on stage or no tiny Minnesotan on stage.

In the end, I hope we all put our money where our keystrokes are, so that we can all enjoy going to the Berklee webpage in the years to come and reading about the young women who will benefit from our generosity.
[Edited 11/19/04 18:50pm]

well put.

OneMoJam said:

He could also go to the concert jam and film it and sell it on the npgmc and all the proceeds go to the fund?

maybe this whole concert is meant to be a john blackwell thing, done the way he and his family want it done, and done without the glare of prince's celebrity overshadowing the event. no npgmc stuff, no tiny minnasotan special guests, none of that. maybe this is supposed to be john's time to use his music to grieve and celebrate his daughter in his own way. i know some folks would like prince to intervene so we'll all have something cool to talk about, but maybe this event isn't about that.

i'd love to make it if i could, for mr. blackwell and his family. i think he's an amazing drummer, and a genuinely nice person. if i could afford a trip out there, i'd be right out there. but, as it is, it's cool that we can donate.

I spoke with John today and he is in good spirits. He is looking forward to Jia's benefit concert. John Blackwell will be a guest on the "Upper Room with Joe Kelley & Gi Dussault" in the near future. Stay tuned for details.

kdl6248 said:

One might as well argue that Prince missed a great opportunity when he neglected to crash the funeral with his axe and a camera crew, so that he could enhance the scholarship fund by selling us a DVD or CyberClip.

John has chosen to honor his loss at his alma mater in his way. If I had to bet on someone to be extremely sensitive to someone else's chosen way of dealing with the tragic loss of a child, I'd bet on Prince.

OneMoJam said:

I absolutely agree with you. John should, and did choose how to honor the loss of his daughter, his way. My previous post was in reference to a future benefit concert to enhance the Blackwell's plight, not replace it. Yes, John's benefit concert on December 11, should be handled John, and Joanne's way...I totally agree...but, a future benefit concert supported by Prince somewhere down the line would be a nice gesture.

laws said:

That would be sweet. Perhaps an arena show during the 2005 Celly?

what are you people, nuts? if you've ever followed up on Prince
and his charitative activities you would know by now that he's
most likely already given a considerable amount for this fund.

as has been te case during most of his carreer, Prince doesn't
like to be in the spotlight concerning what he gives and when
he gives it. but he makes his contributions, you bet.

Looks like it's time for a bump.