Damien Masterson

Cyberbegging a SUCCESS!

It looks like my dad was right. I actually did much better at just asking people for money than I have for CD sales, in years! That could lead one to draw many conclusions about my CD’s or the music business… Ack! I digress… THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH for helping! It brought me to tears. It’s incredibly validating to have so much support. Because the response was better than expected, I actually had the chance to help a friend here who’s been helping me a lot:

A few months back, local musician Siré Silva had his keyboard and flight case stolen. The keyboard of choice here, Yamaha DX7, can cost up to $800US, especially the DFII model.
If a musician doesn’t have a keyboard, he has to rent one for around 5,000 cfa, about $10US. As most gigs pay between that and 15,000 cfa, they have to calculate transportation and other hidden costs to evaluate whether it’s worth it to even take the gig.

I first met Siré last year on a gig, and reconnected with him and his family this time around. He’s a real special guy who’s been incredibly helpful, and asks for nothing. Considering how hard that is to find here, or how hard it can be to even get your change returned… When you look at the pictures, and see the guys working, all of them are Siré and his brothers.

So after my appeal for keyboards, I had a generous friend of the family donate 2 Yamahas, with cases, and money to pay for their transport.

It felt really good to be able to give Siré the DXII, with case. Of course, now he’s working again, so work has slowed here a bit, but that’s ok. Check the new pix out to see a surprised Senegalese musician get an early birthday present:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/damienmasterson/sets/72157623875258202

Also included, pix of Wendy’s visit (yes, I’m still married… Keep praying!) and of some of my gigs here in Dakar.

Your donations helped pay for a new air conditioner, soundproofing material, instrument repair, excess baggage, chairs, etc… THANK YOU!

If you still want to donate, or you had committed to and forgot, it’s not too late. Here’s a direct link to the Paypal donate page:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=EMJKBW5D2LHG6

Or email me for account info…

Once again, if you are planning on coming to Dakar in the next 6 months, please let me know. You have a place to crash…. %^)

Still looking for:

- Decent quality headphones & Microphones
- Keyboards (Yamaha DX 7’s are used a lot here) & Keyboard flight cases
- Guitar & Bass strings
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Maslaa now on Facebook! Search: Support Studio Maslaa group

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We’ve done a couple of projects here already for Youssou N’Dours’ campaign against Malaria, out of Touba. Email me for mp3’s if you’d like to hear them!
I’ll try posting them soon somewhere….
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New CD is out and about!

“All over the map”, as well all of my other recordings, is available online at CD Baby and iTunes. Hard copies available at CD Baby…

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I’m also fully equipped to do remote sessions and overdubs, with hi speed internet and a premium Rapidshare account. Send some work my way!

Thanks everyone… Wish me luck!

Damien Masterson http://www.damienmasterson.com
or enter my name in any search engine

http://www.myspace.com/damienmastersonmusic

http://cdbaby.com/all/damienzm

415 305 7138 dzm@damienmasterson.com
Damien Endorses Hohner Harmonicas and Audix Microphones

This was posted on Sunday, August 29th, 2010 at 3:52 am and is filed under What's Happening?. Comments are open.