Spending Christmas while keeping an eye on Twitter is a pretty amazing experience.
All those stories of mad stuff that don't usually get told til people get back to work in January, and are often forgotten, get told as they happen, in glorious detail, with photos. People spending the day with family members they don't get on with are able to vent online, share in other's joy and generally diffuse their own frustration by laughing about it with friends who understand.
But of course, it's also a way to find out that sadness and tragedy takes no time off for festive holidays.
Such is was with the news, via @kristinhersh, that Vic Chesnutt is in a coma, very seriously ill. All kinds of conflicting info about how and why are circulating, and it would do no-one any favours for me to repeat hearsay here, but from Kristin's last tweet, it sounds like it's awful but there's a glimmer of hope somewhere in the distance:
"you people are so full of love-thank you for sending it vic and tina's way-the situation is complex and sad, but there's still a little hope" is what Kristin wrote.
So, some of you are going to be asking who Vic Chesnutt is.
Short answer - an amazing singer/songwriter, who happens to be paraplegic. His first couple of albums were produced by Michael Stipe, he's collaborated with a host of great people, including Kristin Hersh, and is very prolific.
here's one of his Youtube vids:
His music is all over the place. If you want to help, go and buy some. Seriously.
The US still has freaky medical laws that mean if he gets better, he's going to be massively in debt. Even if he just has to pay a deductible, it could be huge.
Here are some weblinks:
Go, listen, buy his music - give it to people as late christmas pressies, buy it for yourself, play it, enjoy it, and hope and pray that he's OK.
In amongst the sentimental fun of Christmas, it's also a time when thousands of people get off their arses and do something to make the world better. I'm so proud of all my friends who volunteer to help homelesses with Crisis over christmas. Here's a really easy way to help out a guy and his wife, and get some awesome music in return.