As flames engulfed the Hawaiian island of Maui in early August, Jessica Rogalski immediately thought about how to help all her friends dealing with the widespread destruction. Many of them were fellow musicians living in the town of Lahaina on the northwest coast.
“When I saw the devastation happening there, it just really hit my heart,” says the singer of Longmont bluesy rock band Mojomama. The natural disaster reminded her of the 2021 Marshall Fire that broke out in Boulder County. “I couldn’t stop thinking about that correlation of what we all went through with the fires here.”
Over the past decade, Rogalski alongside her husband and bandmate Paul have regularly vacationed on the Big Island and enjoy visiting the Konalani Yoga Ashram, which is akin to their local Eldorado Mountain Yoga Ashram. Both are meditation centers of the ShambhavAnanda School of Yoga. The Marshall Fire initially started near the Eldorado Canyon, not far from the ashram. Though the flames spared the yoga center, the Marshall Fire destroyed more than 1,000 structures and is considered the most destructive wildfire in state history.
In Lahaina, 2,200 structures were damaged or destroyed, many of which were residential. Three months later, people are left to pick up the pieces and try to rebuild their beloved hometown.
“Things are slowly coming back for them,” Rogalski says. “Not as it was, but people are still struggling. Some people are still homeless or without jobs, and three months [from now] they’re still going to be struggling.”
To help those in need, Rogalski organized the upcoming Music 4 Maui benefit concert slated for Sunday, Nov. 12, at Roots Music Project in Boulder. The concert will feature local musicians Taylor Shae, Clay Rose, Danny Shafer, Wendy Woo, Scott “Shack” Hackler and Mojomama. Proceeds from ticket sales will go toward the Maui Rapid Response Fund.
Rogalski also teamed up with longtime singer-songwriter and friend Tempa Singer-Nave, who moved to Lahaina from Boulder 10 years ago. Singer-Nave started a fundraiser called Lahaina Strong. If patrons donate $30 to the Lahaina charity, they’ll receive a commemorative T-shirt, Rogalski explains.
“She did that from the get-go and has had a lot of success with that,” she says. “We’re going to give people the option to donate directly [at the show], as well as the Maui Rapid Response Fund.”
Pieces from local artists Faith Stone and Melissa Pickering will also be available for purchase during the event, with all art sales contributing to the Maui fund donations.
“We are still gathering more artists’ works, too,” Rogalski adds.
The entire benefit, including a finale jam session that’ll bring Mojomama and all the musicians on the bill together on stage, will be livestreamed on Mojomama’s Facebook page.
“It’s going to be a great day for sharing our love of music and our love of Hawaii and the people and community there,” Rogalski says.
‘I need to do something’
For Rogalski, the upcoming benefit concert is the least she can do to help the land and people she’s come to love so much. And what better way than through the universal language of music, she thought.
“I said, ‘I need to do something. I can’t sit here.’ I just started to brainstorm,” she says. “Well, we’re musicians, let’s play music and gather some of the really well-known, staple Boulder musicians and bring our efforts together to try to raise awareness and help people.”
When first approached with the idea of putting together the show, everyone involved immediately agreed to support the cause, Rogalski adds, since many share the same special connection with the islands as she does.
“Everyone really felt strong and engaged with the concept, because everybody has some beautiful memory or experience in their life that’s connected to either Lahaina or the islands of Hawaii,” Rogalski says. “All of these people are also close, dear friends of mine, so we all have a story and a connection to the islands. We all just felt that it was an important thing to take part in together.”
As the co-founder of Mojo’s Music Academy in Longmont, Rogalski also recently put together a “Music 4 Maui” student showcase fundraiser at the Dickens Opera House on Nov. 5.
She hasn’t ruled out hosting another benefit moving forward, if there’s still a need. But the current outpouring of empathy for a community similarly ravaged by wildfire is evidence that Boulder and Hawaii are more connected than one may realize, even if the two are separated by thousands of miles on the map.
“There are a lot of these correlations that really affected my interest in wanting to help the people of Hawaii,” Rogalski says. “Hawaii is this big chain of islands, but they’re all one big island, really. Even though something happens on one island like Maui, it still affects the Big Island; it affects the people of Kauai and all of the surrounding areas. The people there are very community-based and loving and in tune with nature.”
ON THE BILL: Mojomama and Friends Present: Music 4 Maui. 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 12. Roots Music Project, 4747 Pearl St., Suite V3A, Boulder. Tickets here.
