in memory of becca darling

hey comrades.

many of you knew becca darling, aka becca rosenthal, aka the keeper of the beecharmer blog, aka melissa mahoney from the “oasis” video….and many of you didn’t.
but she was a music-lover, and my friend. she died this past october.
i got the news right before taking stage in london, and i blogged about it HERE.

her dad, bob rosenthal, emailed me asking if i’d write something for a memorial scholarship fund they’ve set up in becca’s name at smith college, where she studied.
it’s set up on razoo, a crowdfunding website (like kickstarter or indiegogo) made specifically for fundraising.

it’s a beautiful idea, and i want share the link with you.
please give in becca’s honor if you feel so moved.

http://bit.ly/BeccaMFF

the project has a year to reach funding, and it’s already at about $5k of $150,000.

this is what i wrote for the site in the “about rebecca” section:

“Becca Rosenthal was an astoundingly curious and art-driven human being…she fed on music, she loved art, she loved the past and she loved to dig. Even more importantly, she loved to share. The internet made possible what wasn’t possible in the age of the mixtape: and Becca took extreme pleasure that her efforts could be appreciated by others. Like a deep-sea explorer, she’d wend down the sonic rabbit-holes of the net, listening through the underwater noise, swimming through obscure music blogs to break through the surface of the water, breathless, with freaked-out, forgotten and lipstick-smeared french pop artists of the early sixties clenched between her teeth. She’d share these treasures on her blog, the beecharmer, and on email with her friends (like me).

Becca worked for me for years, archiving The Dresden Dolls audio and press clippings with a passion. Shortly before she passed away, we had made plans for her to collaborate with a university to get these materials permanently archived at a University where they could find safer haven and organization than my boston apartment. I like to think that this undertaking, this fund, will find and help some souls like Becca – souls who love not only the preservation of art, but, like her, loved the direct joy and salvation that such art and music brings into our lives…”

XXX
AFP

p.s. i was searching through my photos last night, looking for some material for my TED talk, and i stumbled across this photo of becca from backstage at my boston pops show in 2009.
(she’s the one in the middle).

everyone was preparing to stand as living statues outside symphony hall. i loved her so much, and i miss her.