Community Radio & Original Music

That's what we spend our time working on.

 My name is Guy Schwartz. Her name is Marlo Blue. We need some help.

I've created this GoFundMe campaign to help us keep our home and continue the community work we do though the next two years, after which our financial situation will change for the better.

For the past 15 years, we have done, and continue to do good work for our community in music and media, but, we won't be able to continue that work, or keep my house without help. I'll explain it all in this story, so, please read on.

WHO ARE WE?

Marlo is a former preacher's kid and Princess. The Rev. & Mrs. Thomas Bagby adopted her at birth and she was Princess to the whole congregation. She enoyed art school and culinary school, and worked onstage as an actress and on radio as a DJ. She traveled Southern Africa for selling hair products. She helped Malcolm MacLaren promote the Sex Pistols and bring 'punk' to New York and America, In the ,90s, she and her ex owned the largest non-conglomerate owned publishing house on Nashville's Music Row. For the past decade she has volunteered at Houston's KPFT-FM90.1, doing news writing and anchoring, as well as a daily news magazine show. All of this, she does as a volunteer.

I have been a musician all of my life. It probably happened because my parents were such big fans of the music and musicians. They gave a lot of attention to the musicians they knew (like Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Ella Fitzgerald), that I quickly learned how to get their attention. I did radio commercialss for my Dad's store with a team that included teenagers Donny Kirschner, and the kid who would soon change his name to Bobby Darin. Those were my first recording sessions. When I saw Bobby onstage singing his new hits with the girls swooning in the aisles, I knew what I wanted to do.

I played in bands and had minor regional hits through my 20's-40's. That's when I put money down on this house, and took on a mortgage. Started raising a family. My kids are doing great, both moderately successful adults (and good people) now. I took a break from the road when, at the end of a Duran Duran tour, I told the band that I had to take a few months off to take care of my sick dad, and my sick brothers who he had been supporting. Sending money from the road was good, but, who takes them to the doctor's office?

Those few months turned into a few years. I ran out of my rockstar money and began a company which was a copycat of my father's residential remodeling company , 'Mr. Norman Construction'. After 5 years, my good friend and songwriting partner, Roger Tausz visited one day and said that we should go back to work on music. I shut down the remodeling company and went back to work on our music.

We've put out a lot of music since then, toured the USA a few more times, and have begun a project where we help our local music scene by inviting great original bands and musicians to come to a huge 3-4 day recording session at a local venue, where we and our all-volunteer crew of 12 (as of last year) record and shoot video for all of the artists and invite the public for FREE!

Then Roger and I each put several hundred hours into mixing, and video editing. We've been doing that for the past 15 years. It's an all-volunteer effort, and we offer the musicians the finished, edited and mixed video FOR FREE, too. We hope it helps.

In 2008, Marlo and I lost all of our money in the big crash.

In 2010, the mortgage company started foreclosure proceedings on the house. Not because we were behind in our payments, but, on a contrived technicality.

In 2011, all of my musical, video, and recording gear was stolen.

In 2012, it was clear that my bandmates had gotten too old and comfortable to go out and tour at the minimalistic level which my career (and status as an old guy who hasn't had a hit since 1985) would allow.

For thirty years, I could pick my next artistic project, and we could fund it ourselves. We can't do that any longer.

The first adjustments I made were to stop my personal artistic endeavors. No more recording sessions for MY songs. No more gigs with MY band until I could afford to pay everyone out of MY pocket if we didn't sell enough tickets.

Nobody would hire me. I was too old and overqualified for entry-level positions. My son told me that I didn't understand the corporate culture. Maybe that's a good thing.

I assessed what skills I have to offer and market. I'm a great bass player, and I have video and audio production skills and experience. I put myself out there in the marketplace and have taken on bass duties with any band who will pay my humble rate. I make films and videos for others for cash. I produce albums for those who want me and have the money to pay. I've almost gotten my income to a point where we can pay

The most disappointing things are the cut backs regarding our big local annual community recording project. Although we've shared these recordings on a local TV series and the internet for 15 years, we've had to stop feeding all of the musicians, stop advertising to the public, stop mixing and editing the band's whole sets, and just work on what we need for the TV series.

In 2013, I found an attorney who said that with the income I now had from the playing and producing, he could stretch a bankruptcy filing for me, but would need my word that we could come up with a very large bankruptcy payment.

With Marlo's  agreement, I went ahead with it.

We've made it for three years, but, it's coming so close to blowing up, that I'm turning to you all for help. If we don't get the next bankruptcy payment in within a couple weeks, the judge will dismiss the case, and the mortgage company will foreclose. Even if I sell the house in between, I will lose 80% of my equity and be forced to stop working on my community project.

Marlo keeps submitting applications, but, nobody has hired her. I'm as booked up as I can be with the work I described, but, it's not enough.

I work approximately half a year for my music community - for free, and about a half year trying to earn 12 months worth of money. I'm falling furthur and further behind.

We, and all of these projects we put our time into, need your help in order to keep up our community work, and keep my home. In 2 years time, the bankruptcy will be paid off, the house will be paid off through the bankruptcy court, and I'll be old enough for a social security check. We'll be OK then. But, now, we need another $700-$1000 a month to help us with monthly bills and expenses which are beyond our reach.

Your contribution will help subsidize us, save my house, continue Marlo's work at the community radio station, and continue our work on that music community project (it's called SOUTH BY DUE EAST - google it, or, ME).

BTW - we rescue kitties, too.

If this story resounds with enough of you, we'll help Roger, too, and the whole Houston, Texas, original music scene will owe you a debt of grattitude!

I'm thankful to you for just reading this far.