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Greetings from snowy Hamtramck, and wishing the best for you all in these tumultuous times, 
Passenger is excited to announce that our online 12-step meeting is two years old this week – What began as a support system for people on tour quickly developed into a method of connection for people in lockdown. As the wheels begin to turn again, we continue to meet every Tuesday at 11am EST. Check our directory for info on joining, as well as information on other weekly support meetings for musicians and creatives.
The Guardian posted an article this week about organizations bringing support to musicians in recovery, and we were honored to be part of it. The focus of the article is Music Support’s Addiction & Recovery Workshop, which is an outstanding free program for anyone in the music industry seeking to learn more about the science of addiction, and pathways to recovery.
We’re also proud to now be part of the TEMPO member network. TEMPO is an extension of the Gibson Guitars Foundation, and

an overdose prevention program focused on harm reduction and naloxone distribution for musicians, music venues, and the industries that support musicians. Currently, Fentanyl is the leading cause of death in people 18 – 45;  Working with TEMPO means that at any of our events, people will be able to watch an eight minute video, take a five minute test, sign a release and walk away with a product that is able to save a life in an overdose emergency.
If anyone in the Detroit area is attending the Alcoholics Anonymous March Round Up this weekend – Chris will be part of an “Artists in Recovery” panel on Saturday. Please come say hello!
Finally, we want to thank our ally and fellow Detroiter-via-Austin Marta Stefaniuk for providing links to effective organizations that are working to assist both during the invasion in Ukraine, and the aftermath. If you can, please consider giving to one of these charities:

United help Ukraine 

https://unitedhelpukraine.org/

Sunflower Peace

https://www.facebook.com/sunflowerofpeace/

Save the Children 

https://www.savethechildren.org/us/where-we-work/ukraine

Greetings and happy change of season to you all!

This season Passenger debuts our newly revamped website. We’ve spent the better part of the year compiling information and redesigning our layout, to make it easier to navigate. You will find a new catalog of resources for those touring in recovery, a directory of support meetings that are specific for music workers on tour and working remotely, as well as more about our team. We’re incredibly proud to premiere the site, as it is filled with information that has been useful to us as creatives in recovery. Please have a look, email us with any questions or suggestions, and share as you see fit with anyone who might benefit. 

Holly and I attended Mental Health First Aid training this week through the Behind The Scenes Foundation. MHFA is a program that teaches individuals how to speak to people in times of potential crisis, and direct them from peer support to professional help in an emergency. As someone who just got done with a month on tour, I can say that it was a harrowing experience; Coffee shops close early, support meetings that once existed are no more. What seem like creature comforts can often be lifelines for relief and connection to someone struggling on the road. Beyond the usual issues that someone in recovery faces in the entertainment workforce, there are new variables that change every day regarding Covid. Being able to connect with those in the world of recovery has improved drastically thanks to Zoom meetings and expanding resources, but day-to-day issues have amped up. This is why outposts like Passenger are so important; outposts that keep the lights on for those struggling with traveling work environments and daily changing variables, who may need space for maintenance and positive reinforcement. We’ve already seen an up-tick in inquiries about the Clean Green Room, and have risen to the challenge (see photos below of our studio space and green room).

Last month I talked with Laura Chandler from Sacred Stream about my experience and how things have changed where touring is concerned on the Sacred Stream Podcast. 

Thanks to everyone here for your continued support, and please remember that November 30th is Giving Tuesday. If you have the means, please consider the organizations below – These folks are making broad strokes for people working in the music industry, and they need your help!

SIMS Foundation

Michigan Music Alliance

The Roadie Clinic

Music Support

Dissonance

Thank you as always for your time, 

Chris 

Hello and Happy Mental Health Awareness Month to you all!

It’s been a busy season here at Passenger, and we hope that time has allowed you some freedom, hope and happiness. Over the first few months of the year, we’ve been continuing to host online meetings, and have helped with over 2K in grants for those seeking treatment, and financial assistance for substance use-related medical bills. We’ll be back in the coming months with another drawing for Detroit musicians and music workers, with the help of our friends at the Playing In the Detroit Area Tonight FB group. Please check their page for updates, and join the group for upcoming events in the area. None of this could happen without your support, and we continue to give gratitude for your help and generosity. We are small, but together we are mighty!

We’ll be debuting a new website this month introducing our team, a new resources & partners page, and information regarding online meetings for musicians and crew on tour and working remotely. In the meantime, here’s an interview Chris did with Amy at Wellness Provisions last month discussing Passenger’s mission, and staying healthy in recovery on tour.  

(And here’s a link to their full roster of interviews with musicians regarding mental health over the last year) https://www.wellness-provisions.com/interviews 

Finally – sharing some info here on our friends at the Roadie Clinic in Niles, Michigan, who are working on regulated, discount telemedicine and pharmacy plans for road crew members. See below to fill out their survey, and follow their socials for updates! – 

“We are thrilled to share with all of you that The Roadie Clinic and MakoRX are currently in the process of building a discount telemedicine + pharmacy plan that will be a game changer for touring crew members. This service will provide 24/7 access to a doctor through telemedicine for acute illnesses that can be treated with a simple phone call and possible follow-up medications. It will also allow highly discounted rates for prescriptions by partnering with local pharmacies across the country and cutting out the “middle-man” insurance companies.”

Click Here For The Survey

Greetings all, and we hope that the end of the year is bringing hope, peace, and positive change in your lives!

As rules and regulations continue to ebb and flow here in Michigan, we’re staying busy with continued weekly 12 step meetings for musicians and music workers. We’ve also partnered with the Playing In The Detroit Area Tonight Facebook group to raise money for musicians and crew who may be struggling here in Detroit. Despite it being a very difficult year for all of us, we can foresee how the post-holiday season could be darker with seasonal depression and further restrictions on the ability to work in the entertainment industry. Leading up to Christmas, we’ll be matching donations up to $500 towards relief funds and grocery cards, which will be given away on the PiDaT page each Sunday as part of their weekly drawing. We’re sensitive to the fact that this has been a difficult year for many people in many different ways; If you have the means and desire to contribute, please send via paypal – passengerrecovery@gmail.com with a note “musicians fund”. Every dollar will go towards assistance for music workers here in Detroit!  

Click here for a video summary

Finally, I’m excited to share that I’ve been a volunteer for Music Support UK this year as well. As MS’s first American volunteer, I’ve had the honor of helping them set up and run 12-step meetings online since March. It’s been a privilege to help with a like-minded organization across the pond. 

Our goal with these 12 Step meetings (both Passenger and MS UK) was to be as inclusive as possible for people coming from all recovery programs and walks of life, relying on the steps and a desire to work through addictive behavior as a means of connectivity. At the time these groups were  intended to be spaces for people on tour to connect. However, as people have been kept apart this year, the ability to share and relate  online has proved more important than ever. Working with and relating to people around  the world has given me incredible gratitude for our global recovery community! See the attached article for more info.

Speaking of being grateful, we’d like to give a huge thank you to anyone who has contributed this year, as well as our core group; Holly and Matt for their social media and web design work, board members Ken and Keith, Victoria D, Cody and Shawn for volunteering their time and knowledge. You are all so appreciated! 

We thank you again for the continued support, and wish the best for you and yours through the holiday season and new year

Chris

Greetings and we hope that Autumn is bringing hope and growth for you, amidst turbulent times.

We’ve stayed busy here at Passenger throughout lockdown and the changes in season. While I’ve been helping with three weekly 12 step meetings online, Matt and Holly have been busy promoting online support for musicians via our socials, and finding ways to make the Compass current when the time comes to continue inputting updated meeting information. As the live music world continues to pause, we’re attempting to shed some light on those who help; If you were planning on contributing to us this season, we thank you and respectfully ask that you consider one of these fantastic options instead:

SIMS Foundation – An Austin org that provides mental health and substance use recovery services and support for musicians, music industry professionals, and their dependent family members.

Musician Treatment Foundation – The MTF assists in providing surgical and nonsurgical care for the shoulder, elbow, and hand injuries of uninsured and underinsured professional musicians so they can maintain their livelihood and keep the music playing. 

In July I was fortunate to take part in an online addiction special through a UK org called What’s Going On In Your Head (you can check it out here). The WGOIYH crew created an online, interactive special featuring musicians, DJs and more, bringing refreshing perspective and light to some very dark topics.

Finally, in honor of World Suicide Prevention Day, we leave you with an uplifting video from our friends at Sweet Charity Choir. Last month SCC edited hundreds of video submissions from volunteers to put together a virtual choir performing “Come Alive” by the Foo Fighters. This video brought great joy in strange times, and we hope it does the same for you!

Thanks as always for your time and continued support!

Chris

Hello everyone, first and foremost we hope you’re staying safe and healthy,

As the music industry has come to a halt on the live front, it seems that everything has frantically transitioned to the online arena. It has been both exciting and exhausting trying to keep up!

The online 12 Step meeting that began in January was originally intended for those on tour and working remotely. In the current climate, that meeting has blossomed to include an afternoon “coffee break” or open forum for people who are looking for new ways to promote their creativity online:

Tuesday 12 Step Recovery Meeting – 8am PST/11am EST/4pm UTC –  https://zoom.us/s/5432688005

Thursday “Coffee Break” Open Forum – 8am PST/11am EST/4pm UTC –  https://zoom.us/s/5432688005

We continue to populate the Compass in the midwest, for that time in the future when we’ll all be able to see each other face-to-face around the table, when people hitting the road will need that help. 

In the meantime, please share our online information with anyone who could benefit, or email us with any questions. It’s just as important for people to have a way to connect from home as being on the road, and these meetings have been a great way to do that.

Thanks as always for your support!

Greetings and happy holiday season 2019 to all!

As we wrap up the year at Passenger, we’re excited to make two announcements: One is that we have begun putting QR codes in the green rooms of gigs across the midwest and the UK. The other is that we’ll begin holding a weekly online meeting for folks on tour in the new year.  Giving Tuesday is coming up, so we should mention that too! A quick, easy way to support Passenger is through Amazon Smile – Simply sign us up as your charity of choice, and we’ll receive a small percentage every time you shop through Amazon Smile! 

Please keep us in mind, and here’s that link:

https://smile.amazon.com/ch/81-1037667

1. QR Code Posters for green rooms

These codes will make it as easy as scanning a poster in the dressing room for artists to see what’s around a gig where meetings are concerned. It’s a matter of removing one more step to getting help in a situation that needs to be swift, and handled with discretion. Our ultimate goal is to make finding help a faster process than acting on the wrong impulse, and we hope these codes will speed up the support process while being discreet. See photo below

2. Onilne Meeting – Thanks to the Zoom Platform, and the wisdom and guidance of our friends at Problem Gambling & Recovery, we’ll be hosting a weekly online meeting starting in 2020. This 12-step meeting will be directed towards people who travel for work, tour etc, but will be open to anyone with addiction concerns. The Zoom platform operates under health care privacy standards, thus allowing for complete anonymity to remain an option.

Our belief is that it takes a community and activeness to remain both sober and healthy. People that tour or travel for work often lose that anchor. Our mission is to keep those people connected wherever the road takes them. Thank you for helping us do that, and happy holidays from all of us at Passenger!

Greetings and happy holiday season 2019 to all!

As we wrap up the year at Passenger, we’re excited to make two announcements: One is that we have begun putting QR codes in the green rooms of gigs across the midwest and the UK. The other is that we’ll begin holding a weekly online meeting for folks on tour in the new year.  Giving Tuesday is coming up, so we should mention that too! A quick, easy way to support Passenger is through Amazon Smile – Simply sign us up as your charity of choice, and we’ll receive a small percentage every time you shop through Amazon Smile! 

Please keep us in mind, and here’s that link:

https://smile.amazon.com/ch/81-1037667

1. QR Code Posters for green rooms

These codes will make it as easy as scanning a poster in the dressing room for artists to see what’s around a gig where meetings are concerned. It’s a matter of removing one more step to getting help in a situation that needs to be swift, and handled with discretion. Our ultimate goal is to make finding help a faster process than acting on the wrong impulse, and we hope these codes will speed up the support process while being discreet. See photo below

2. Onilne Meeting – Thanks to the Zoom Platform, and the wisdom and guidance of our friends at Problem Gambling & Recovery, we’ll be hosting a weekly online meeting starting in 2020. This 12-step meeting will be directed towards people who travel for work, tour etc, but will be open to anyone with addiction concerns. The Zoom platform operates under health care privacy standards, thus allowing for complete anonymity to remain an option.

Our belief is that it takes a community and activeness to remain both sober and healthy. People that tour or travel for work often lose that anchor. Our mission is to keep those people connected wherever the road takes them. Thank you for helping us do that, and happy holidays from all of us at Passenger!

Hello and Happy Fall 2019!

A quick update on Passenger and the Compass:

Over the summer, Michael McDonald the chairman of MusiCares (The Grammy/Recording Academy’s critical assistance program for musicians and mental health) reached out to us about a partnership. Michael is in recovery, and tour managed the Dave Matthews band for nearly twenty years. As a person who has spent a lifetime on the road, he immediately saw the value in a small org that helps those coming through town with getting the support they need. After a few conversations about our mission, we’re proud to announce that we’re part of MusiCares’ Sober Touring Network. This was a huge honor for me personally, as MusiCares helped me find treatment eight years ago when I’d hit rock bottom. We are humbled to be recognized, and have already had a significant uptick in people reaching out to us while on the road here in Detroit. 

To promote this update, we’ve partnered with MusiCares and Third Man Records – Cass Corridor to create travel packs for those coming through on tour. These packs contain picks and plugs, and will eventually expand to include cables, adapters, and other things people generally need on the road. Our goal is to give travelers tools and info in order to reach out during tough times on their journey. 

On a final note, Passenger was part of a great story on Spotify for Artists recently that included many orgs with a similar focus on helping musicians in recovery. 

We continue to develop the Compass App, and will have some exciting news this winter about meeting updates. As always, we are grateful to all who have helped and contributed!

Hello all and Happy Spring/Summer!

It’s been a busy season here at Passenger – Beyond continuing our development of the Compass from web to mobile app, we were at Ferndale Spring Fever festival last month, providing a clean green room for the artists and crew. We were honored to join in and everyone had a great time! (see photos below)

A few weeks ago, we joined Detroit artist Jo Caputo for his photo gallery at the Detroit Center for Design and Technology. Jo lost his older brother to an overdose, and his exhibit was a brave visualization of those effected and the people who helped them through. Nearly everyone has a story about the impact addiction has had on their lives, but it’s hard to start that conversation. Jo’s bravery and creativity helped to build a positive and open atmosphere for those discussions, and we were honored to be part of that. 

We thank you as always for contributing to our development and community outreach. We could not do this without you!!

Greetings from snowy Hamtramck, and wishing the best for you all in these tumultuous times, 
Passenger is excited to announce that our online 12-step meeting is two years old this week – What began as a support system for people on tour quickly developed into a method of connection for people in lockdown. As the wheels begin to turn again, we continue to meet every Tuesday at 11am EST. Check our directory for info on joining, as well as information on other weekly support meetings for musicians and creatives.
The Guardian posted an article this week about organizations bringing support to musicians in recovery, and we were honored to be part of it. The focus of the article is Music Support’s Addiction & Recovery Workshop, which is an outstanding free program for anyone in the music industry seeking to learn more about the science of addiction, and pathways to recovery.
We’re also proud to now be part of the TEMPO member network. TEMPO is an extension of the Gibson Guitars Foundation, and

an overdose prevention program focused on harm reduction and naloxone distribution for musicians, music venues, and the industries that support musicians. Currently, Fentanyl is the leading cause of death in people 18 – 45;  Working with TEMPO means that at any of our events, people will be able to watch an eight minute video, take a five minute test, sign a release and walk away with a product that is able to save a life in an overdose emergency.
If anyone in the Detroit area is attending the Alcoholics Anonymous March Round Up this weekend – Chris will be part of an “Artists in Recovery” panel on Saturday. Please come say hello!
Finally, we want to thank our ally and fellow Detroiter-via-Austin Marta Stefaniuk for providing links to effective organizations that are working to assist both during the invasion in Ukraine, and the aftermath. If you can, please consider giving to one of these charities:

United help Ukraine 

Home

Razom (means “together”)

https://razomforukraine.org

Sunflower Peace

https://www.facebook.com/sunflowerofpeace

Save the Children 

https://www.savethechildren.org/us/where-we-work/ukraine

Hello All!

Well we wrapped up the Third Man Raffle last week, and the big winner is Frank S of Herndon, VA! A HUGE thank you to all who contributed, and all other bundles will be going out by November. To watch the raffle drawing, see below:

We’re excited to announce that there are now Compass home pages in other cities! While we work on the app, the beta version will begin to have other homepage locations like the one below for Austin

Stay tuned to FB for updates as cities get completed – and if you believe in the work we’re doing, remember that continued and monthly contributions can be made by donating at passengerrecovery.com, or by clicking here