My name is Daniel Alvarez. Today, July 7th of 2024 was supposed to be a beautiful, and proud moment of my life. Spilling Pictures Studio would have celebrated its one year anniversary in DC. Instead, today I am struggling to get the words out written here.

On Friday, June 21, 2024, my home in Washington, DC went up in flames. In approximately 8 minutes, an absolutely magical place was destroyed. One of my cats, Sora, died in the fire. Almost every belonging that I and my roommate had acquired throughout our lives was destroyed, broken, or wrecked by the water damage. The house belonging to two of my best friends is now gone. In the process of calling 911 and trying to get the cats out, I burnt my hands--second degree burns on most of my fingers, and third degree burns on two spots. There are a lot of things I regret, that I wish I could've done differently. I wish I could've gotten all the cats. I wish the firefighters could've looked under the beds. I wish I could've stopped it myself.

I wish I could've been stronger.

Unfortunately, these are things that I will have to live with for the rest of my life. Every day gets a little easier, but I am still having nightmares about it every night. I'm still struggling to accept that the twin brother of my baby boy Cygnus is gone forever.

I want their lives to be okay. I hope that one day, I'll also be okay.

I want to thank Kelsey, Katie and Jeff Price for knowing that my cats needed to go to an emergency clinic. They saved their lives just as much as the firefighters did. Thanks to their insane generosity, I was able to get them the help they needed, and I'm so grateful to share that they are okay. They are staying with Cam, Nicole and Sally at their home right now. They're getting so much love, and most importantly they're safe.

Thank you to the entire Blickenstaff family for being so strong through this for us. I have never met a family who has taken me in as their own in the way you all have.

I also want to thank my mom, and my brother Juan for showing up at the hospital and helping me calm down. For driving me back to the house, and saving as many of my houseplants, gathering the guitars Nicole had saved, and for pulling through in a way I could have never imagined. The video you're watching is from Juan, doing a walkthrough to document everything. The damage was catastrophic.

Lastly, I want to thank Andrew, my friend and the owner of the home. Things are hard right now, but he was braver than I ever could've been. Thank you for trying to save Sora. Thank you for finding him and bringing him to Nicole so she could bury him. Thank you for carefully collecting so many of our personal belongings that we were too shocked and numb to care about at the time. Thank you to you and your wife for always believing in me, and supporting me through the pandemic. Thank you for giving me a home. Thank you for giving me an incredible space to create in. I hope that one day I'll be able to pay you back for everything you've all lost.

It isn't easy for me to ever ask for help. I've always been proud of the fact that I've made it on my own. I've been self employed for a long time, and I have helped a lot of people succeed in their own lives. I'm grateful for the connections I have made through the years, and the incredible people I have met and have grown close as friends to through my musical and creative journey. However, I would not have pulled anything out of that house if it wasn't for the help I've received from my family, and the few friends who knew about this before I decided to make it public. If you’re just now finding out about this, please understand that I’ve been dealing with so many things, I just didn’t want to have to keep reliving the story over and over again.

Everyone keeps telling me that I can't do this alone.

So this is me, asking for your help.

I want to be able to get back to work.

I want to be able to find a place to live for my two boys and myself.

I want to rebuild my studio, stronger than ever.

But I've lost a lot. I am very much starting over, with the pieces I have. I'm grateful that my hard drive with everything I've created since I was 13 survived. For any clients and friends whom I've had the pleasure of working with--our work will live on. But in order to move through this, in order to pay the bills that are stacking up, I will need help. If you're a musician and you've ever admired my videos, please contact me. Hire me to come shoot a video for you. Hire me to come take pictures at your show. If you choose to donate, please allow me to create something with you again. I need that more than anything right now. I need my community, and I need your support. I love all of you, and I am so grateful for anything you're able to spare to help. If you're able to share this, that will help a lot too.

I love all of you. I hope you are safe, and I hope something this horrible never happens to you. But I know I will get through this. I know things will one day feel normal again. Maybe you could help me feel normal again.