December 17, 2007

All I Want for Christmas, Part 2: Tenori-On

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mojo-photo-tenorion.JPGIs it a Lite Brite? An etch-a-sketch? An elaborate “NextBus” sign? Nope: it’s a musical instrument. Tenori-On means “sound in your palm” in Japanese, and this eight-inch square little miracle (made by Yamaha) lets you make beats and loops by touching—well, caressing—its surface. The instructions are a little opaque: draw the wave form! Assign individual sounds to each key! Hold the key down to create a repeating audio loop! Huh? But the video of somebody who knows what they’re doing making (an admittedly pretty noodly) little techno number is positively jaw-dropping. Watch it after the jump.

Tenori-On is only available in the UK right now, but with a low low price of $1200 you can afford a round-trip flight to pick it up for me, right, Secret Santa?

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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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