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On Friday I had a lengthy discussion with Brent Knopf (of Ramona Falls, Menomena) about the sheer generosity of the Portland music scene, and now here is a perfect example of that.

On the evening of Sunday, August 2, Rachael Jensen—keyboardist and violinist for the Portland-based pop group Parenthetical Girls—suffered a major tragedy: four members of her immediate family were involved in a fatal car accident while traveling home from an annual family reunion. Her father and two brothers were rushed to an intensive care facility, and are now in the early stages of their recovery. Tragically, Rachael’s mother Kris, 51, passed away at the scene.

Here is what Luke Wyland of AU had to say:

I've had the pleasure of meeting her entire family a few times before and they are a unique family that are incredibly tight. Most of the siblings are incredible musicians and are a huge part of the local community around Boise/Nampa Idaho having also traveled up to Portland quite frequently to play shows as well (I believe the Very Most, Rachael's oldest brothers band, was actually scheduled to play a show this week somewhere in Portland). [see our post from Friday about this]

In an effort to raise some much-needed money for the Jensen family, there will be a sliding-scale benefit show—Holocene Presents: an Evening to Benefit the Kris Jensen Memorial Fund—on August 25th. The lineup will feature performances from YACHT, AU, Copy, May Ling, plus there will be an Art and Services auction as well. Doors are at 8:30pm and it's $5-15 at the door.

If you can't make the show, they have a PayPal donation account, and you can read the band's post about the accident here.