Jules - Side By Side / Alone In A Crowd Charity Record Auction for Japanese Relief

When Tim and I started doing Double Cross three years ago this week, one of the people we really wanted to catch up with was Jules, singer of legendary NYHC bands Side By Side and Alone In A Crowd. Kinda a no brainer for us - we're big fans, and nobody has really heard from him in a very long time.

We'd heard, however, that Jules enjoyed his privacy and that hardcore wasn't on his radar. Hesitant to be a weirdo and bother the guy, I emailed him expecting little or no response. Pretty quickly, though, I was talking on the phone with Jules and he couldn't have been cooler. We talked quite a bit over the course of a few days, but he explained that he really didn't know if he felt comfortable publicly talking about the hardcore scene he was involved with more than twenty years ago. Now living in Florida with a family and practicing law, hardcore simply isn't on his plate these days, and hasn't been for a long time. He said he would think about it.

A few weeks passed, and tragedy struck in Japan. I woke up one day to an email from Jules, saying he thought about the interview and decided he'd do it as a one shot deal. But more importantly, he wanted to do something to actually put it all in context. He didn't just want to revisit some "glory days" for the sake of revisiting. He decided that in conjunction with an interview, he wanted to sell his old hardcore records and donate all of the money to the Japanese relief effort, and wanted us to help him do it through Double Cross.

I don't want to speak on Jules' behalf on too much of anything - because I think he's a guy who has zero difficulty explaining himself and can put his thoughts into words as well as anyone. But, I can tell you we are 100% behind him on this and are very happy to be involved.

Over the next couple weeks, we'll be auctioning off items from his collection, some of which are extremely rare. We'll also be running his gigantic interview, which is pretty much must-read material.

Tim and I encourage everyone to stay tuned and bid on these items.

Enough about us, though. Here's what this is all about in Jules' own words: -Gordo DCXX


Jules with Side By Side at CBGB, NYC, Photo: Jen Buck Knies

You are all no doubt aware the nation of Japan has suffered a disaster of biblical proportions. As I write this, the current death toll is 10,000 with 17,000 still unaccounted for. The record 9.0 scale earthquake, followed by a 23 meter high tsunami which traveled 8 kilometers inland, flattened or washed away more than 25,000 buildings. 1.2 million homes are without electricity, 1.4 million without water. As many as 100,000 children have been displaced as a result of the almost total devastation of this natural disaster. The damage is estimated at $309 billion. Hurricane Katrina, previously believed to be the costliest natural disaster ever, was $81 billion.

As if this were not enough, the looming specter of a nuclear disaster of equal, if not greater proportions, makes this trifecta uniquely positioned to become the single greatest disaster in history. At the time of this writing, several workers trying to cool the most critical reactors at Fukushima were exposed to radiation levels 10,000 times higher than normal. Measurable concentrations of radioactive iodine-131 and caesium-137 in seawater samples were taken 18 miles from land. Japanese officials initially evacuated persons within 12 miles from the nuclear plant, but as of today a "voluntary" evacuation has been urged by the Japanese government for those living between 12 and 18 miles from the plant. Despite valiant efforts, it appears the situation is worsening.

It does not take a particularly compassionate person to recognize the scale of human suffering in Japan right now. It does not take a particularly imaginative person to realize that it will get worse before it gets better. The Japanese people need help, both immediate and long term, to deal with the life threatening issues of exposure, dehydration, disease, starvation, and radiation poisoning.



If you are like me, you probably feel like there is little or anything that you can do to help. What money I can donate seems like a grain of sand, when a beach is what is needed. Tim and Gordo at Double Cross asked me about doing an interview with them. I have always been very reluctant to do so in the past. When this event occurred in Japan however, I approached them with the idea of raising money for the Red Cross and Save The Children relief efforts.

So Double Cross and I agreed to auction all of my old hardcore records through the website. Every penny will go to relief efforts in Japan. I secured a matching donation which will double the value of the money raised through the auction. Please consider bidding. If not, I encourage you to give a donation in whatever amount you can to one of the many relief organizations who will need your help. If you can make the difference in one person's life, however small, it is worth it. Please help me to let the people of Japan know they are not in this alone.

- Jules
Side By Side
Alone In A Crowd

"He who saves one life, saves the world entire." - Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 4:8 (37a)

www.savethechildren.in
https://american.redcross.org/