Embracing The Invisible

“I get asked to be part of a benefit recording once a week,” Merchant says. “What was arresting about this one was the chance to work with unknown artists—and these who were homeless.”

Merchant, who once worked for a year as a daycare volunteer in a homeless shelter in New York, wanted to produce not one, but a half-dozen of the tunes. She was especially struck by the bleak honesty of “There Is No Good Reason,” written by a 15-year-old Nichole Cooper while in a shelter in Duluth, Minn. Merchant ultimately spent her own money to come to Q Division Studio in Somerville, Mass., to work three days with homeless musicians, including Mighty Sam McClain and Ms. Cooper, to record the songs. “I strongly believed these homeless artists deserved the privilege of working in a great studio,” she says.

While Merchant took the lead, McGah found another music-industry contact, Appleseed Publishing head Jim Musselman, the guiding hand for last year’s critically acclaimed The Seeger Sessions. (Musselman gave time and money generously to McGah’s CD effort, and gets credit in large measure for the project).

Musselman shuttled songs to Bruce Springsteen and Pete Seeger. Soon, Jon Bon Jovi joined the cause and, before long, McGah found himself with an unexpected all-star lineup of artists: Keb’ Mo’, Bonnie Raitt, Dan Zanes, Jewel, Sweet Honey in the Rock and others, plus contributions by actors Danny Glover and Tim Robbins, all performing with homeless musicians or doing their songs and spoken word. The CD has a buzz, and McGah is shopping it to big retailers for marketing this fall.

The snowballing support for a homeless-relief CD naturally got the attention of Blodgett, who flew to Boston and met McGah. The two men instantly recognized a complementary chemistry—synergy, in corp-speak—to their projects. Though unable to work out a joint release of book and CD, Blodgett and McGah have a loosely linked commitment to support one another. The pair has also formed—with Raoul Goff, the CEO of Palace Press, and David Langness, vice president of public relations at Santa Monica-based Fraser Communications—the Finding Grace Institute. The organization is dedicated to the raising and distribution of funds to help fight homelessness across the nation.

Merchant will give a kick-off benefit concert for Give US Your Poor in Boston on Nov. 16, with guest performances by McClain, Mario Frangoulis and others. The show is a coming-out for the renovated Strand Theatre, a historic art-deco venue where entertainment greats of the past century, such as Cab Calloway, once performed. Songs from the CD will be the evening’s fare, and Blodgett’s photos, blown up to huge dimensions, will backdrop the show.

Other concerts are in the works for major cities, with stars on the CD playing alongside homeless musicians. Meanwhile, Blodgett’s photos will be used in the national Help the Homeless campaign, a major effort sponsored by Fannie Mae and United Way, and participants in the Nov. 17 Homewalk marches in a number of cities will see the photos in major exhibits.

It all means that the spotlight on homeless relief, after years in the "off" position, will switch back on in November. For McGah, it can’t come a minute too soon. He tells the story of Julia Dinsmore, a poet who was formerly homeless. She was “fiddling on the web,” McGah says, when she came across the liner notes for the CD. Dinsmore has a spoken-word piece on the compilation, read by Danny Glover. She also has a 21-year-old son living in extreme poverty.

“Julia told me she burst into tears,” McGah says. “She immediately called her son and said, ‘Hang on, honey, there’s this CD coming out, it’s got an important audience. I can see a ship in the distance.”

McGah pauses thoughtfully after this story.

“I sometimes get caught up in the sexiness of Springsteen and Bon Jovi and Natalie Merchant, all that. Then I hear a story like this, and I focus again. We have to keep our eye on the ball. That's what this is all about."

There's a slight thickness in his throat as he continues.

"It's such a complex issue, but we do have the resources to end epidemic homelessness. There's just not the will. At least not yet. But we don't have to research this and find a miracle cure. We can just end it."