Saturday, January 4, 2014

JACK AND MISTY


Jack and Misty - nearly homeless

(From the Book "Finding Her Voice", by Robert Oerman and Mary Bufwack.) "Misty Morgan and her husband Jack Blanchard are so different that nobody can figure out exactly what they are. Born in Buffalo, New York, Misty was a piano prodigy who entered professional music in pop combos of the sixties. In 1967 she married Jack, a wonderfully off-center songwriter, and they teamed up in Florida to perform jazz, rock, Dixieland, or anything else it took to put bread on the table. Misty hooked up all kinds of electronic devices to her piano, so the two never really needed more band members."

 We had some great hit records in the seventies but with changes in country music, our fans eventually moved on and we are now retired and living in Florida. There are no residuals from music and most of the proceeds during our performing years were taken by studios and managers. The rest of our income we lived on during that time, eventually moving into and living in an older motor-home.  We now live a modest lifestyle in our little mobile home rarely selling a CD and living on a meager fixed income with no reserve, savings or cash on hand. We are admittedly and humbly broke. Had it not come to this plight, we might have convinced the world that we were doing fine for a couple who had some great and humorous hit records and appeared and performed on talk shows and the CMA awards.

Friends of ours heard of our plight when the mobile home park we are living in sold the land and many of the tenants like us couldn't afford the thousands of dollars to move their homes. The land is being bulldozed, people are moving away and their trailer homes are being destroyed one by one. We thought we would retire here but other plans were made that have broken our hearts. We can't afford to move the trailer and we have thirty days to vacate.

Our lives have been turned upside down. After writing and performing hits like "Tennessee Bird Walk and Humphrey The Camel" our royalties and CD sales have dried up and our situation is currently dire. We are considering selling our small collection of memorabilia from our performances just to get into an apartment, however we have no means to move anything and have no storage area to take it to. It is heartbreaking to ask for help from our friends, our fans and others.
  • Your contributions will help us to get help relocating, finding a moving company and movers and to come up with security deposits and utility deposits. We otherwise have no options and with failing health can not do it ourselves. 



Friends of Jack and Misty ask for your help!


  • Ideally it would take $10,000 to pack, ship and relocate. If we can not secure help with that, then we will be forced to take our clothing and family treasures and leave our furniture behind hoping that some charity will help furnish an apartment we find. In this case, our belongings will be destroyed along with our home.

  • We have very few possessions in life but they are ours, and we have each other for which we are very grateful. Our greatest blessings are our friends, family and fans who have stood by us through the test of time.

  • Our stress level has been high with mostly sleepless nights and worry. Our daughter now has terminal cancer.  With our age and current housing crisis we are unable to be at her bedside in Salt Lake City. (Jack's health is declining and Misty is not well enough to even take an airline flight to see her daughter.)

  • Even if we don't reach our entire goal, we will be grateful for any help that is offered to us and will make do with what we have.

  • You will receive the satisfaction of knowing who you are helping and how. We will post updates on our Facebook.

  • We are grateful for your help.


The Impact

You will help us find another little place to call home, it doesn't need to be fancy or large, but it will bring amazing peace of mind to two retired folks who have loved to sing about chickens and camels for many years.


Other Ways You Can Help

Some people just can’t contribute, but that doesn't mean they can’t help:
  • Spread the word about this situation. Someone may have another mobile home available or perhaps they own a moving company. The more people come to know about this situation, perhaps they will know someone who can assist.

And that’s all there is to it.

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