Hey all,

Thank you so much for your kind support for our film, D Tour. I just wanted to let you know that this week we made new Rogue Wave tune (listen to a stream on iLike) with special guests The Japonize Elephants when you donate. It is called “Positive Hero Worship” and it was written specifically for the film.

We’re still looking for donations of ANY amount to help us pay for these immense post-production costs. Every donor will receive a code and a link for their download gift. For those of you who have already donated, again many thanks! Your code and link will be in your inbox shortly.

Go to our DONATE page to do this.

Look for D Tour making its debut sometime this spring! We’ll keep you updated.

Happy New Year,

Jim Granato
Director & Producer
D Tour

While this film focuses on Pat and his story, the bigger story that we’re trying to get out is about organ donation.

In 2006, more than 6,000 transplant candidates – one person every 90 minutes – died while awaiting transplantation in the U.S.  Right now 18 people die every day waiting for a transplant. Many of these patients may have lived if the families of every medically suitable potential donor had said “yes” to donation. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), across the country there are currently nearly 100,000 individuals waiting for a life-saving organ transplant. As of February 2007, about 20% of the waiting list are children younger than 18 years of age. The need for kidneys tops the list, followed by liver and heart. Transplant hospitals place individuals on the national waiting list, after they are given careful medical evaluations. Each month, approximately 500 people in the United States are added to the national waiting list.

Each year in the United States, approximately 15,000 people die under conditions that make them medically suitable potential organ donors. However, only about one-third of those who died in 2006 became organ donors. This translates to an estimated 20,000 Americans (about 55 each day) who receive organ transplants each year.

You can navigate over to the Donate Life America web site where you can find more information.

Okay. Here’s a little background on where we’re going with this film and web site.

First and most importantly, Jim is pretty much getting there (and thank god cuz it’s just in time for a bunch of festival deadlines). It’s been a long and rewarding haul. So thanks everyone who has helped us get this far and those in San Francisco who came to the screenings and gave all your rad feedback.

Secondly, Zach, Pat and co. just wrote and recorded a brand-ass spanking new song tentatively called “A Song For It” (update:  it might be called something else). The plan is that we’re going to be giving it away to anyone who makes a donation to the film. So, it is a song for it. “It” being your donations. Thanks guys!

Lastly – but not leastly, finally or forgetfully – over the next couple of months we are gonna try to raise some money. Not just for us, but for the charities keeping the organ donor machine well oiled and, especially, for Evan’s family.

So stay tuned. We have a lot more coming your way in the form of clips, tunes and ways to help us get the word out.

Thanks for stopping by and best wishes this holiday season!

(ps: we are socially networked out the ass with Facebook, MySpace and YouTube thingers. Be our friend.)

We are excited to tell you that our fiscal sponsorship from the SF Film Society has come through.  This means we are officially a non-profit and can collect donations that are tax deductible.  Go here for more information about SF Film Society and here to make a donation.

We’re not looking for Obama-like numbers but as he proved, small donations can add up!