The Gift Of Purpose, il cd che Nick Didkovsky, John Roulat e Steve Feigenbaum hanno deciso di produrre in ricordo del compianto Hugh Hopper e a sostegno economico della sua famiglia, è finalmente pronto. Doveva uscire qualche mese fa, ad aprile, ma ne è stata ritardata la realizzazione per poter ospitare, oltre al concerto del trio Bone a Baltimora nel 2008, anche un brano di Didkovsky e Roulat con Daevid Allen e Colin Marston registrato proprio per questa occasione. Ne sono disponibili poche centinaia di copie, e a distribuirle sono Downtown Music Gallery e Wayside Music/Cuneiform Records, gli unici che hanno garantito - o addirittura anticipato - l'intero ricavato alla famiglia di Hopper.
Nick Didkovsky illustra i contenuti dell'album e ricorda gli scopi dell'iniziativa: "I got a message a few months ago from Hugh Hopper's wife Christine. She reported that since Hugh's passing, she's been struggling with finances. Of course she's also struggling emotionally, as she misses him terribly, but the gist of her message was a call for financial help. She recalled that Hugh told her that if she ran into trouble, to ask their friends for help. So she did. In response, John Roulat, Steve Feigenbaum, and I decided to produce a limited edition benefit CD, The Gift Of Purpose. The CD features a live concert by Bone (Didkovsky/Hopper/Roulat) that was beautifully recorded at Orion Sound in Baltimore. There is also a bonus track by myself, John, Colin Marston (Behold....the Arctopus, Dysrhythmia, Krallice), and Daevid Allen (Gong, Soft Machine, etc). Daevid contributed some very moving vocals which pay tribute to Hugh. John, Steve, and I are splitting the manufacturing costs and donating the gross income to Christine. Steve has already wired her some money in advance. The Gift of Purpose is a Cuneiform Record, in digipak format, with cover design by Bill Ellsworth. So it looks and sounds very, very good! For those of you new to Bone, we were a trio that was initiated when Hugh contacted me some years ago suggesting we collaborate on a record. Our record Uses Wrist Grab came out on Cuneiform a few years back, and we figured we were done. However, we were sort of drafted into doing live performance by Bruce Gallanter of Downtown Music Gallery, who invited us to perform at a festival he'd organized. Once we discovered we could pull off this material live, we did a handful of gigs, including the one on this record. We're very proud of the performance we unleashed in Baltimore, and thrilled that we can make it available to all of Hugh's friends through this benefit CD! I hope you will support this project by purchasing a copy of The Gift of Purpose."
Steve Feigenbaum aggiunge: "It pained me greatly to learn that after 40 years of giving such great music to the world (and definitely being one of the coolest people in the world), that Hugh's family would find themselves in such circumstances and I am doing everything I can to help. If Hugh's lifetime in music means something to you, I hope you will consider helping too. Thanks."
