HE IS IRONMAN

That’s Mick Management head Michael McDonald crossing the finish line of the 2019 VEGA IRONMAN World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, where his strenuous efforts raised north of $394k for MusiCares (of which he is Chair Emeritus) and The IRONMAN Foundation. Artist Leon Bridges added an additional $75k contribution.

The mighty McDonald, as part of Team IMF, crossed the finish in 12:42:22; he biked more than 3k miles, ran 800+ and swam 69 miles on the way to this moment, which happened in the year he turned 50, his sobriety turned 20 and MusiCares turned 30.

“When I was a tour manager and prior to getting sober, I spent many lonely mornings in hotel rooms, full of regret, and too hungover to do anything besides watch TV,” said McDonald, who calls crossing the finish line in Kona “one of the greatest honors” of his life. “I vividly remember watching the broadcast of the IRONMAN World Championships and crying as people struggled to cross the finish line,” he recalled. “Somewhere deep inside, a seed was planted that finally came to bloom.”

As you know, MusiCares is a philanthropic arm of the Recording Academy (which established it in 1989); it provides much-needed assistance to members of the music community in times of financial, medical or other hardship and has thus far delivered $60m+ to 150k music folk. IRONMAN Foundation, meanwhile, supports community-building athletic programs, humanitarian aid and more.

In other Hawaii news, the last time we were there we smoked a lot of weed and ate spam and eggs, but we really meant to get some exercise.