Benefit for Irene McGhee starring Exene Cervenka, Kitten on the Keys, Vinsantos,Ben Fong Torres at the Red Devil Lounge in SF!
Here is what Ben Fong Torres (of Almost Famous ...and he wrote for Rolling Stone) wrote about her situation:
CATCH A FIRE: A dozen or more people may owe their lives to the fact that Free FM (KIFR 106.9) let talk-show host Irene McGee go. As I reported a column ago, McGee was dismissed from her midnight to 2 a.m. Friday show for unspecified reasons. On her first Friday night away from the radio studios in more than a year, she was at work in her apartment in the Western Addition when the electricity went out. Outages were an all-too-common occurrence in the 12-unit building, McGee said. She called the building manager, and when he flipped the circuit switch back on, flames shot out of a wall in McGee's apartment, setting her bed and, in minutes, most of her apartment on fire. It was 1 a.m., and McGee dashed around the building, rousting her neighbors. All of them escaped the flames and smoke, which rendered nine of the apartments uninhabitable. "She's absolutely a hero," said Heather Moon Black, who lives in an adjacent apartment. "Irene left her cat to come and get us first. If she hadn't, it would have been too late for my daughter (8-year-old Exene) and me." It was, in fact, too late for one of McGee's two cats. Star died in her arms, while Sergeant Johnson ran off. Two days after the fire, her second cat was still missing, and McGee appeared to be in shock as she looked through the rubble on Broderick Street and in the blackened shell of her apartment. She grabbed her laptop computer as she fled, she said, but everything else was destroyed. Necklaces were welded together. All her clothes were damaged. So were a new camera and audio recorder she used for her radio work (She continues to do her podcast show, "No One's Listening," Fridays at San Francisco State). Her brother, Bill McGee, a lawyer in Portland, Ore., arrived Sunday morning to lend support. At a nearby cafe, she praised the San Francisco Fire Department for its rapid and compassionate response; one female firefighter, she said, sat with her and offered comfort and assistance. McGee is staying at various friends' homes and slowly accumulating clothes and other necessities. Her grateful neighbor, Black, is helping organize a fundraiser for her at the Red Devil Lounge, with her daughter's godmother, Exene Cervenka, ex- of X, as headliner. A date has yet to be set. Meantime, online contributions can be made via Paypal at www.nooneslistening.org. Through the smoke and depression of the fire, there was one ray of light. Her missing tabby showed up in Black's apartment on Sunday. He suffered some burns but looked OK. "It's a miracle," McGee said, breaking into tears. Moments later, she regained her composure -- and her sense of humor. She'd mused about the irony of it all. If she'd been at Free FM when a shortage occurred, none of her fellow tenants might have been awake. "Thank God I was fired," she said. A beat, and then: "I mean, who else gets 'fired' twice in one week?" FM). Ben Fong-Torres is a freelance writer.
April, 11 2007 at Red Devil Lounge w/ Exene Cervenka, Vinsantos and MORE Kitten on the Keys, Ben Fong Torres
1695 Polk Street, San Francisco, CA
Cost : $15.00
Exene Cervenka of X FAME! Ben Fong Torres (rolling stone writer) KItten on the Keys as Musical MC Vinsantos!
www.myspace.com/vinsantos
www.myspace.com/exenecervenka
www.myspace/kittenonthekeys
www.reddevillounge.com
