Saturday, September 01, 2012
Kelly Clarkson and The Fray To The Rescue
:antiMusic.com: See, celebrities DO care ... especially Kelly Clarkson and The Fray -- who went into their own pockets to help cover medical bills for a stagehand who suffered a stroke while working on their tour.
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Often times in today's society, we only hear about all the bad things happening around us: war, disease, and murder. So it's good to read a story every once and a while that highlights the best of humanity. While reading this story, I initally thought that Kelly Clarkson and the Fray simple had their accounting department write a check to the stagehand. However, upon reading the article entirely, I was much more surprised and moved to read they actually went around personally to collect cash from anyone who could give. Far to often we read of the over indulgent and selfish singers and celebrities. The fact that these artists went around themselves to aide a stagehand is a brilliant example as to how one should act when in a position of power.
Reading this made parts of me scream they're covering their butts.
While a stroke is a different incident entirely, this article reminded me of the multitude of tour accidents that have been occurring in the last couple years. The stage collapse, or the truss collapse from this summer. I'm less curious about how the musicians and celebrities are dealing with stagehand deaths, and more about how legislation will change. I think that that there is an eye on tour and stage safety right now.
Hmmmm....I'm not quite sure how I feel about this. Part of me thought it was nice, part of me thought they could have been a little more proactive than just grabbing the cash they had out of their pockets, and part of me wonders why this guy was still on the job if he was so close to having a stroke. Okay, to be fair, a number of strokes are random and come with no prior warning signs or previous health problems. But many people who have them have existing health conditions or have at least been informed by a doctor that they are at risk. I feel that a lot of backstage workers (many CMU students included) have the mentality that they "have to do this now no matter what." Which is sometimes (okay, a lot of the time) rewarding, but, as we see here, can have very detrimental effects.
I love when celebrities act like real people and try to help people for no other reason than they want to. There was nothing in it for these super stars they did not do it for publicity and they were not asked to do anything more than sign a card. This gesture that probably seems small to them has made a huge difference in one man’s life. Small gestures of kindness can make a big difference in people's live and I was recently reminded of that so anything we can do to help is always worth it.
Why didn't he sign up for the work insurance? In this line of work you must have insurance, in fact any line of work you should have insurance. This makes me wonder how many other people are working on shows or concerts or whatever without insurance. As Ariel stated, accidents are occurring more and more all the time and you should ensure that you are covered. Unfortunately for him now insurance companies will make him pay a higher premium after his stroke, but if he is able to work after he recovers I do hope that he investigates getting insurance.
All in all, yes it was a good deed that they assisted with his bills because in reality they really didn't have to. I hope that he fully recovers.
I think it was dumb of him to not sign up for health care, but he could of had his reasons. I agree with Ariel that they are covering for themselves. The article said that other people helped raise money and they raised $2200. That is not a lot of money. That would maybe cover a day in ICU. Probably not. This happened at the beginning of August. His hospital bill must be 10 times that by now.
Kerry also said they are acting like real people for once. I dont think a lot of real people would do that today and that makes me a little sad.
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