November/December 2007 Issue

Bettye LaVette: The Scene of the Crime

Bettye LaVette. <i>Anti-</i>.

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Like a bumpy country road, sixtysomething Southern R&B veteran Bettye LaVette’s singing is full of rough spots, all the better to spotlight her thrilling intensity. Continuing the resurgence that began in 2005 with I’ve Got My Own Hell to Raise, the remarkable The Scene of the Crime features a sizzling band that includes members of Drive-By Truckers—just imagine Tina Turner fronting the Stones circa 1968. As the voice of hard-earned experience, LaVette ponders the ravages of alcohol (“Choices”) and time (Elton John’s “Talking Old Soldiers”) and looks back at 45 years of career struggles in the funky “Before the Money Came (The Battle of Bettye LaVette),” exclaiming, “I’ve got so much to say.” Long may she roar.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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