Help Dubrobot and Miss Tara rise from the ashes

The path forward for Dubrobot and The Hummingbird Conservatory.

The home base of music producer Brian Wallace and Opera Diva Tara Wallace was lost in a wildfire. Their lives are now smoke in the air and this is a plea for support to rebuild a new path forward. The shock of the devastation is setting in and we are reaching out for help and financial assistance to move forward and recover. This place was more than a structure; it was the embodiment of everything my parents dreamed of building. We don’t yet know if rebuilding will be possible, but we are determined to continue our creative work, rebuild our lives, and find a way to support others along the way.

We are asking for help to recover from this loss. Every contribution, large or small, will help us replace equipment, instruments, and begin to imagine a new future, whatever shape that may take. We are grateful to everyone who has shared in our story and supported us over the years. With your help, we hope to find our way forward.

Thank you for reading, sharing, and contributing in whatever way you can. Every bit of support makes a meaningful difference as we face this challenge.

For more detail here is a short chronicle of Dubrobot and its fateful day.

Where I grew up.

My parents met in college studying art. They purchased a small house on a hill in a neighborhood of other creative/scientific people. It was a really cool community. After teaching in public schools, they gathered some friends and converted the house into an art and music school. In my teen years our creative programs were cut by Prop 13 and so the students came to the house to learn. I helped my dad build the house and deck additions while the school grew. His vision of a creative live/work space was achieved with mid century beauty and function. When my Sister and I went to pursue our creative lives, our rooms were turned into classrooms. The house shaped many lives and was known as a safe and creative place.

In the chaos of the 2016 election, we learned both my parents were suffering with variations of Alzheimers/dementia. My wife Tara and I closed up our studios in LA and moved into the Camarillo house to help with the in home care. My sister and her husband setup an amazing care situation for them that we have been operating for my parents ever since. A true circling of the wagons.

Tara and I were so honored to take the helm. It was the best sounding studio I have ever worked in. Such a peaceful place for artists to work. The Hummingbird Music Conservatory was a natural fit. Tara’s students could be heard ringing through the canyon, and her graduates were getting placed at the top music universities. We had graduated from the windowless music industry spaces to a place that was truly our own.

Then, predictably, unfortunately, seasonally… The chaos of the 2024 election arrived along with a brush fire that traveled 7.5 miles through our community. Tearing through our neighborhood and indiscriminately burning everything to the ground. Trees, houses, barrancas, coyotes, bats, owls, tacos, everything…. Our house was surrounded with succulents and ice plants. I thought it might have a chance as I sprayed it down with a hose. Then the burning embers came, and we pulled what we could into the car and left for the last time. I looked at Dubrobot in the driveway and made a plan to come back for it but by the time I got to the road blockade I knew it was up to fate. It and all the amazing art and music inside is now ashes.

So this is the place that shaped me and so many others. We are going to tackle this crisis creatively and with the support of others. I am so grateful for the messages of support and the donations. This is what I have learned from all of the nights on earth we have spent together. Together on projects, stage, street, studio, set, van, over beers, ska, reggae, dub and soul.

We are so fortunate to be uninjured, have each other and enough equipment to carry on at a super basic level. Cars, place to stay, instruments, computers, and internet. Everything else will need to be replaced. It’s a giant mess. We need help moving forward through this.

We are reaching out for financial support to rebuild our life.