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As some of you may be aware, Chris of Bacchanal wine shop and his wife Otter of the Backyard Ballroom were involved in a very bad car accident last night. Both have suffered multiple critical injuries. Chris had undergone surgery and will be ok in the long run. Otter suffered more extensive injuries and is in "guarded condition". The driver of the car did not survive the accident.

A bank fund/online paypal donation form is in the works, but in the meantime and in general, please help these vibrant folks that have invested so much of their time, energy and money into our community by going to Bacchanal and purchasing some wine. If you've never been to or heard of Bacchanal, now is the time to go for a visit - they have a wonderful variety of wines at even more wonderful prices. So please stop by and purchase a bottle or two of wine from the always friendly staff - and, at the moment, cash purchases would be appreciated as the employees and friends helping keep Bacchanal open do not have access to the credit card account - and, as we all know - cash flow is key to keeping business open.

In the next few days we will have a bank account set up and an online donation form for anyone who is capable of the generosity of making a donation to help Chris and Otter through this time. We will let you know when this is set up. And in a few weeks we are planning a fantastic all day fundraiser with bands and an art auction, so keep tuned for details (and, if you're in a band or an artist interested in contributing, please respond to andrea@lartnoirneworleans.com.

You can visit Bacchanal's website http://www.bacchanalwine.com.

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Chris from Bacchanal, Otter from Backyard Ballroom Update

Just to keep everyone in the loop here's the latest.

1) The bank account/trust is in process and will hopefully be set up by Thursday. There's some legal stuff that has to be taken care of, as soon as we have the information for donations, I will post it here.

2) Tony's body is being flown back to New York to his family there and the funeral will be Saturday in New York. If I get any more specific details on that, I will also post it.

3) There is a movement to make Otter's house wheel chair accessible and move their stuff to the first floor. Chris may be out soon, and will need a wheel chair accessible home to get around in.

Construction help may be needed for certain projects, stay tuned.

4) There are other fund raisers being planned, hopefully a benefit with bands that will be held at Backyard Ballroom, dates and information to follow. Also, there will be an art auction, dates and details to follow.

5) If you would like to offer services or for other information, please go here to stay informed on the latest:
http://lartnoirneworleans.com/mailman/listinfo/chris_ot...rtnoirneworleans.com

6) Also, the girl from New York, please email me at drunah at livejournal dot com. We ran into other New Yorkers who want to help with a benefit in New York for Otter. We'd like to connect y'all. (This is me, I have just emailed her)

7) I have no other updates on Chris and Otter's conditions as of today.

Thank you all, we can do this and help our neighbors. Continue to support Bacchanal with your purchases.

http://bacchanalwine.com/
http://www.backyardballroom.com/

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If you haven't heard, Otter is out of ICU as of yesterday. Apparently
she managed to get herself out of bed and unhook herself from various
things and then wandered into a few neighboring rooms asking the
folks in them if they had wine and decrying the fact that she was not
being given wine. So while she's got a long haul ahead of her, we
think she's going to be just fine