Musicians are so often complicated and conflicted.
The Augusta Symphony has established an instrument fund in the memory of slain cellist David Reader.
The fund, which will support Augusta Symphony musicians with the repair, purchase and upgrade of instruments, was started at the urging of Augusta Symphony musicians. Executive director Sandra Self said the organization's board had considered a scholarship fund but decided the instrument fund might have meant more to Mr. Reader, who was in the process of purchasing a new cello at the time of his death.
"People don't always understand the initial price of an instrument, or the cost of maintaining an instrument," she said. "David was in the process of purchasing a new cello and bow and I believe the bow cost $5,000 and the cello was $75,000."
To donate, contact Don Edmunds at the Augusta Symphony at (706) 826-4705 or office@augusta symphony.org.
-- From staff reports
Comments
Musicians are so often complicated and conflicted.
would get a lot more bang for the buck with scholarship fund...could take years to get enough to purchase a decent instrument...and miss out on sending some good kids to school...kids that may never have another chance...
Have I missed something? Was he not in the area to buy drugs when he was murdered?
So are crack head,PT.
Hypo, white people can tell the difference.
Plenty of cellos starting at $150 on Ebay
Okay, I give up, what does your 7:45am post, have to do with what I posted?
peonynut..had the same thought. but it's fine in the south to glorify criminals. look at how well we talk about JB. he beat his wives into divorce, but he is a saint here. amazing!
peonynut...what the hell does that have to do with anything???
tell you what,we'll disallow the fund for David, and as fair play and in keeping with your self rightous indignation we' ll go down and rip up the stupid James Brown statue,an iconic tribute to a wife beating,drug ingesting,tax dodging ,illigitimate child breeding sorry excuse for a man...then we'll change the name of the civic center to something a little more representitive of Augusta as a whole(I like Augusta Center for the Performing Arts)....now are we on the same page???Do you see the stupidity of your comment???
At the age of 16, was arrested for theft and served 3 years in prison. In 1988, Brown was arrested following an alleged high-speed car chase on Interstate 20 along the Georgia-South Carolina state border. He was convicted of carrying an unlicensed pistol and assaulting a police officer, along with various drug-related and driving offenses. another incident, the police were summoned to Brown's residence on July 3, 2000 after he was accused of charging an electric company repairman with a steak knife when the repairman visited Brown's house to investigate a complaint about having no lights at the residence
During the 1990s and 2000s, Brown was repeatedly arrested for domestic violence. Adrienne Rodriguez, his third wife, had him arrested four times between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s on charges of assault. In January 2004, Brown was arrested in South Carolina on a domestic violence charge after Tomi Rae Hynie accused him of pushing her to the floor during an argument at their home, where she suffered scratches and bruises to her right arm and hip. Later that year in June 2004, Brown pleaded no contest to the domestic violence incident, but served no jail time. Instead, Brown was required to forfeit a US$1,087 bond as punishment
playlikethunder....."Do you see the stupidity of your comment"?
nope not at all...but i agree with you about taking that eye sore of a statue down.
btw...where is there any evidence this young lad was on crack??
he may have been on the hunt for a little smoke, something a lot of muscians are not strangers to.
maybe some of you who know this area so well ought to turn in some of these crack dealers,and be part of the solution, not the problem, eh justus????
Who says that they knew the crack dealers? I know where you can find hookers but I do not know them personally. As far as James Brown is concerned, he did not die looking for weed and nor is this young man comparable to Mr. Brown as far as talent is concerned.
so the musicians vote to accept money for themselves rather than find ways to support aspiring musicians who aren't yet symphony players. surprised no one has commented on the self-serving nature of this decision.
After reading this paper and all the comments since David Reader was MURDERED by a psychopath from your community I am compelled to say I have never witnessed such a group of ignorant, self righteous, vicious people in my life. If I had to live around you I'd be smoking dope too. I suppose the south hasn't changed much. A woman enters the wrong bar and she "deserves" to be raped? David goes into the wrong place to buy a bag and he "deserves" to die? He was a young, kind man trying to reach his goals and find the same peace we all seek. His talent was born of hard work, a lifetime of practice to become all he could be. How disingenuous of you all to not want to support excellence. Instead spend the money on kids who have not made the commitment to music David did? I think not. Before I disappear into the wilderness-do any of you own a dictionary?
Some might be missing a dictionary but have enough sense not to buy dope late at night in a housing project.
Well spoken. But do we all just continue to let ever greater chunks of America become no man's zones? Mr. Joes is a stone killer. Someone knows exactly where he is. He's done it before and he'll do it again. Take back your streets Augusta.
most urban areas have similar problems, wilderness. taking back the streets is not as easily done as you might believe - but feel free to pull a thoreau if you believe it'll get you to a better place. i wish mr reader had not been murdered and i hate that he made the decision to go into an awful area for something so trivial as a small amount of marijuana. i strongly believe in supporting artistic excellence, but i don't think the decision to start a fund for new instruments is the best way to demonstrate this support.
bone...you are absolutely right.
Orchestras ought to do things to support aspiring musicians. They are the future.
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