September/October 2007 Issue

100 Days, 100 Nights

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings. <i>Daptone</i>.

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Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings have recently appeared on recordings by such newsmakers as Amy Winehouse, Rufus Wainwright, and Lily Allen, but they’re hardly trendy. This funky Brooklyn outfit plays classic ’60s soul without a hint of archival mustiness: You can practically feel the heat coming off their greasy, horn-driven grooves. Suggesting a more flexible Tina Turner, Jones is a commanding shouter whose odes to sex (“Let Them Knock”) and self-respect (“Nobody’s Baby”) could be spontaneous outbursts rather than meticulously crafted pieces. Along the way, she fires off some cutting double entendres, warning an unreliable lover, “Your crafty little pencil is running out of lead.” Like a gathering storm, she shouldn’t be ignored.

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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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