At the benefit show A Concert for Altadena, generations of stars marked loss and looked forward
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When Liz Wilson saw the Eaton fire advancing, from her home in Pasadena last year, she knew that life would never be the same in her corner of Southern California.On Wednesday, the one-year anniversary of the disaster, A Concert for Altadena felt like the most optimistic place to be.“People didn’t just lose their homes, they lost their community,” Wilson said, in the lobby of the Pasadena Civic Auditorium where scores of local acts had gathered for the benefit show.
Organizers booked it to raise funds for the Altadena Builds Back Foundation, and to give locals something hopeful to attend on the painful day of Jan.7.“This is not just a fundraiser, but a way to reconnect and show support for community that’s surviving,” she said.
“Altadena was and is an arts community, that’s a big part of it.We have so many friends and neighbors continuing to figure out if they’re coming back, if they’re able to rebuild.
The more distant you get from it, you may forget.But we haven’t.” Music In a cruel coincidence, the Palisades and Eaton fires wiped out two neighborhoods with unique significance in L.A.’s music industry.The anniversary of the Eaton and Palisades fires, beginning one of the city’s most difficult years in recent history, was largely marked by quieter reflections on the loss and how much work still laid ahead.
But Altadena in particular was a historic community for musicians and artists.For them, getting together for a show felt like a natural way to honor the occasion and look ahead.Kevin Lyman, the Vans Warped Tour founder and USC music industry professor, is a two-decade Altadena resident who was displaced from his home for four months after the Eaton fire.
He organized the concert for the community to use the day to reconnect, and keep focus on the work left to do.“In this business, I’ve got to be an optimist, and every day I see more trucks ...