Who is Pete Krebs? Really? Rather than repeating a summary of the seminal musician’s career, I’ll repost my somewhat recent article here.
Suffice it to say that Krebs is a foundational member of the Portland music scene, having arrived precisely at the time that the music world was just beginning to notice the local talent’s potential. While his band Hazel never took off at the national level for whatever reasons, Krebs made and continues to make a very influential contribution here. He has been in a bunch of bands, sure, but he also has encouraged other musicians in their efforts. He has played innumerable cabarets and play-alongs, and has provided lessons for many aspiring musicians. He has worked diligently–his January blog post lists at least five weekly and bi-weekly gigs that he’s been keeping up–and he was scheduled for a show tonight as I write this at the Edgefield. But now he is facing a medical crisis. I didn’t know this, but apparently he had Hodgkin’s lymphoma in his 20′s, which has been in remission. However, he has just learned that he now has a rare form of melanoma that may be uncurable. He is scheduled for surgery on Monday to see if it can be isolated.
In the meanwhile, the financial impact is already hitting. Like an unfortunate majority of self-employed musicians and artists, he does not have health insurance, and the bills are mounting. Even a mortgage payment was in doubt, forcing his family to put his house up for sale. His many fans have put together a quick fund-raiser, which looks like it has surpassed its short-term goal. But I’m sure that’s just the beginning; they’ll know more about the prospects after Monday. In the meanwhile, check out the page set up on his behalf.
The site now says that donations will be tax deductible, through the Jeremy Wilson Foundation. For those unfamiliar with this program, it is named after another of Portland’s legendary musicians, lead for the great band The Dharma Bums. Jeremy Wilson suffered a series of medical emergencies after discovering a congenital heart defect. He started the foundation in honor of those who helped him out in his time of need; the program now provides support for musicians who face similar crises. Readers who decide against giving money to the specific fund above would be wise to consider a general donation to the Foundation. Anyone who supports music should know the odds against any individual artist making enough money to survive in this field, leaving aside all discussion of the impact of illicit downloads and paltry payments from streaming services. Whatever anyone’s thoughts on the subject, we should agree that health care is a basic need for the artists that we care enough about to do crazy things like write about them for an online magazine (for example). Please consider a donation as well.
