Category: Benefit

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Benefit News

Save the Date: June 10 Benefit Concert for She’s the First

My friend and colleague Tammy Tibbetts is the founder of She’s the First, a global education campaign. She’s the First leverages the young women’s powerful platforms and networks on social media (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube) to promote the idea that education gives every girl a chance to be “the First.”

I met with Tammy and Cynthia Hellen two weeks ago to discuss planning a benefit and quickly fell in love with the cause. The three of us are working together to host a benefit concert for She’s the First on Thursday, June 10 in NYC. We’re currently in the process of booking four to five female artists to perform, so if you have any suggestions, feel free to let me know in the comments!

Proceeds of the concert will  go toward sponsoring a girl in Tanzania via AfricAid. Recently, AfricAid piloted The Kisa Project, an initiative that gives a Tanzanian teen a scholarship and enrolls her in a two-year leadership training program. The girls take digital storytelling workshops and learn to share their lives with their sponsors through videos. Everyone who attends GIRLS WHO ROCK will be co-sponsors for a girl in The Kisa Project and be able to connect with her via shesthefirst.org throughout the year!

For more information on She’s the First, be sure to visit their Web site and watch the video below. Tune into You Sing I Write for the latest updates and artist announcements. You can follow the makings of our benefit concert on Twitter here. Can’t wait to see you all June 10!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwrYyTl0YNI]

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Benefit Features News

Musicians & Media Get Involved In Haiti

By now you’ve heard about the devastation in Haiti and the aftermath of the earthquake. Many musicians and media outlets have been doing their part to raise money and I thought I’d fill you in on two music related ventures — Paste Magazine‘s “Songs For Haiti” and MTV’s “Hope For Haiti.”

Paste Magazine is offering those who donate money to the Haiti earthquake relief unreleased songs from diverse artists including Ludacris, Of Montreal, Andrew Bird, Hanson, Low Anthem, Umphrey’s McGee, Switchfoot, Derek Webb and over 200 others. If you’ve already donated you still can still participate (just say where you made your donation) as all will have access to “Songs For Haiti” MP3s. All the money raised through Paste will be spread equally among three charities active in Haiti relief: Doctors Without Borders, The Red Cross and Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund.

“We obviously don’t think people would need incentive to donate in this effort, but perhaps the campaign will inspire more music fans to get involved, or to encourage people who have already donated, to donate again,” said Josh Jackson, Paste Magazine Editor-In-Chief. “Music has always been a force that brings people together, and to have so many fantastic artists drop everything to contribute to this effort was very touching,” Jackson added.

I couldn’t agree more. For more information on “Songs For Haiti” and to donate click here.

Friday night, at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT and 7:00 p.m. CT, MTV along with many other networks will host a night of performances to raise money for Haiti relief. The lineup includes Madonna, Taylor Swift, Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Dave Matthews, John Legend, Justin Timberlake, Stevie Wonder, Wyclef Jean, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige, Shakira, Keith Urban, Sheryl Crow, Kid Rock, Sting, Coldplay, Bono, the Edge, Jay-Z and Rihanna.

Additional appearances include former President Bill Clinton, Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt, Robert Pattinson, Will Smith, Julia Roberts, Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep, Muhammad Ali, Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Clint Eastwood, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Jon Stewart, Matt Damon, Morgan Freeman, Nicole Kidman, Samuel L. Jackson and more.

“Hope for Haiti Now” will begin accepting donations at 12 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT on Friday, January 22 via the following methods:

Online: www.hopeforhaitinow.org
Phone: 877-99-HAITI
Text: Text “GIVE” to 50555
Mail: Hope For Haiti Now Fund, Entertainment Industry Foundation, 1201 West 5th Street, Suite T-700, Los Angeles, CA 90017

All musical performances will be available for purchase for 99 cents per song through iTunes beginning Saturday, January 23. iTunes customers will be able to exclusively pre-order both the “Hope for Haiti Now” full performance album ($7.99) and the full two-hour video telecast ($1.99). Pre-orders will be delivered in the days following the telethon. All proceeds will benefit relief funds managed by Hope for Haiti Now charities.

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Benefit News

You Sing, I Write + The Jew Spot Benefit For TWLOHA TONIGHT!

The night is finally here! Hoping to see you all at You Sing, I Write and The Jew Spot’s two-year blog anniversaries and benefit for To Write Love On Her Arms!

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19
DON HILLS, 511 GREENWICH ST.
DOORS 6P | SHOW 7P | ALL AGES

Tickets available at the door for $15. Raffle tickets inside. $5 for 1 auction item, $8 for two tickets. See you there!

Related Links:
• The Article That Began It All
• You Sing, I Write + The Jew Spot Present A Benefit For TWLOHA
• You Sing, I Write Celebrates Two Years
• Why Benefit To Write Love On Her Arms?

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Benefit News

“A Holiday Benefit, vol. 3" Charity Concert December 16

What better way to celebrate the holidays than to purchase a CD and attend a show where all the proceeds are donated to a worthy cause? A Holiday Benefit, vol. 3 does just that. Comprised of 12 tracks from some of New York City’s finest emerging artists, all the proceeds made will be donated to 826NYC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6-18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.

I’ve been covering the annual benefit show the past two years and it’s always a great night of music by talented New York musicians. This year will be no different. The charity CD release party is set for December 16th at Pianos and will feature performances from Bess Rogers, Bryan Dunn, Casey Shea, Paula Valstein, Emily Easterly, Chris Cubeta, Martin Rivas, Chris Abad, Misty Boyce, Ruby Rivers, Benjamin Wagner and Emily Zuzik.

Watch the video for “Christmas Is The Time To Say I Love You,” a collaboration between the artists featured on A Holiday Benefit, Vol. 3 below. You can preview and buy the album on CD baby here. And be sure to catch the performers live at Pianos next Wednesday at 8pm!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fNA0_bTo-4]

Related Links:
• A Holiday Benefit Concert Recap
• A Holiday Benefit Concert
• December 1st Holiday Benefit Concert
• A Family Holiday Album to Benefit Young Writers

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Benefit News

Buy a Record, Save a Life

Music plays such a major part in my life, it’s always inspiring when an artist goes out of his way to make a difference. One band, Georgia-based The Goodfight, is making their impact on the world by donating their record sales to charity: water.

The Goodfight will give away 100% of the revenue generated by their latest album, Good & Evil, to provide thirsty people with access to clean water. The goal is to sell 10,000 records for charity:water which will help build wells, provide clean water solutions and save countless lives.

Their plan is simple: Buy a record, listen to it, tell all your friends and change the lives of people around the world.

Good music for a great cause, it’s not too hard to convince you to participate is it? For more information, watch the video below and visit The Goodfight’s site here to purchase a copy of their album.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAV3zU8Z-5M]
Categories
Benefit

Why Benefit To Write Love On Her Arms?

Monica and I have been contacting venues and bands throughout the New York scene in pursuit of our joint benefit concert for the non-profit To Write Love On Her Arms. In between talks with friends and explaining the organization, I thought I’d fill you in on the history of TWLOHA and how I originally discovered it so you get more of a sense why this charity concert is so important to us.

History
Jamie Tworkowski founded To Write Love on Her Arms (TWLOHA), three years ago when he met a girl who was dealing with depression, addiction, self injury and had attempted suicide. The girl was denied entry at a treatment center in Florida and for five days, he and a group of friends tried to encourage and help her. The girl gave Tworkowski permission to tell her story, which became the To Write Love on Her Arms article featured in Relevant Magazine. To help raise money for her treatment, Jamie began selling T-shirts, which bands like Switchfoot, Paramore and local New Yorkers Lights Resolve wore at concerts, helping to spread the word of TWLOHA.

The Vision
TWLOHA is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for those struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire, and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery. For an in-depth interview with Jamie, click here.

Why TWLOHA?
I’m not sure exactly how I first heard of TWLOHA. Maybe it was at a Switchfoot concert, could have been MySpace, whatever it was, the message resonated with me. Perhaps it was my desire to change the world with writing meaningful articles, but I tried everything I could to pitch what TWLOHA was doing at two of my internships at the time. While each editor acknowledged their interest in the story, for whatever reason the article never ran.

You can imagine my excitement then, when seeing more being written about TWLOHA in countless publications. The benefit concert is my way of bringing awareness where my unpublished article failed. In the upcoming weeks, in between announcing each performer, I plan on posting my article, one page at a time on You Sing, I Write. While it isn’t entirely music related, I hope you’ll read it.

Nearly three years ago, I spoke with three college students who dealt with and overcame self mutilation and depression as well as a counselor at Rutgers University and staff member of TWLOHA. While it was written a while back, I think the issues brought up in the article are still relevant today and finally these three stories will be told. Stay tuned.

For more on TWLOHA, visit their Web site. Have you heard of TWLOHA previously? What are your thoughts on the non-profit? What bands have you seen supporting the cause?

Related Links:
• Q&A; with Switchfoot
• Q&A; with Jon Foreman
• Q&A; with Lights Resolve
• What Music Do You Want At YSIW’s Anniversary Bash?

Categories
Benefit Features

(RED)NIGHTS: A Concert That Saves Lives

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocUn3_p3Do8]

I’m sure many of you have heard of (RED), or come across advertisements in Starbucks, Gap, Hallmark, Apple and many other locations. The company was founded by Bono of U2 and Bobby Shriver of DATA to raise money for the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. (RED) works with companies that create products where a percentage of the profit from each product sold is given directly to Africa to provide medication and help those in need.

In addition to partnering with various brands, (RED) works with artists to create (RED)Nights where the money made from each concert helps save lives. Previous artist activists have included Santigold, O.A.R., The Veronicas, Lisa Hannigan (see above video) and more.

The fall line-up has just been announced and includes concerts by Ingrid Michaelson, Joshua Radin, Brandi Carlile and more. Check out the tour dates below and for more on (RED) visit the Web site here.

Ingrid Michaelson @ Paradise, Boston on September 12th & at the House of Blues, San Diego on October 3rd

Sondre Lerche @ Paradise, Boston on September 13th

Joshua Radin @ the House of Blues, Chicago on September 24th

Brandi Carlile @ the House of Blues, Chicago on September 25th

Thievery Corporation @ the House of Blues, Dallas on October 4th & @ the Fillmore, Miami on October 9th

Built To Spill @ the Fillmore, San Francisco on October 31st & November 1st

The (RED)NIGHTS Web site provides live video footage as well as photo and video uploads for those who attended the show. Watch above for a recap of Lisa Hannigan’s concert and below for Matisyahu.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t21uM0SRRcE]

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Benefit Song of the Week

Song of the Week: “Healing Time”

I made Josh Charles an “Artist of the Week” feature a few months ago after discovering his music on MySpace. Since then, Josh has been extremely busy promoting his single, “Healing Time,” in which all the proceeds go to the Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans to help rebuild the city after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. With a recent feature on CNN, Josh’s earnest goal of 1 million downloads seems closer to reality. 

Watch him perform “Healing Time” and download the song on iTunes as well as Amazon here.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEKHU4aOhic]

To watch the full CNN report, check out the video below.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdYTFtQS8HI]

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Benefit News

CompassionArt Releases Album to Charity

Just over a year ago I interviewed Martin Smith of UK band Delirious? about his most recent project, CompassionArt. The idea was in it’s infancy, as musician friends of his were meeting in the upcoming weeks to write songs which would eventually become the album, CompassionArt, where all the proceeds are donated to charity. While this isn’t the first time musicians have decided to donate a song to charity, it is a first for an album to take this route.

The versatile 15-track album features 19 artists from various musical genres, all united for one goal: creating freedom from poverty. CompassionArt will support four main charitable projects and 12 individual songwriter projects. In addition, a 50-minute DVD documentary is available upon purchase of the album. For more on the project, visit the Web site here.

I have received the album for review, but after reading fellow inReview.net writer Bert’s review, I really could not have written anything better myself. Read Bert’s write-up here.

For more on this great cause, be sure to visit CompassionArt’s Web site or read my interview with Martin Smith here. What do you think? Do you hope more musicians follow this cause? I sure do.

Categories
Benefit Features

Help Rebuild New Orleans With Josh Charles

Some of you may remember singer-songwriter Josh Charles from my “Artist of the Week” feature a few months ago as well as my blog anniversary bash last month at Maxwell’s in Hoboken. Since then, Josh has been busy working on song, “Healing Time,” partnering with Amazon and Tunecore for the release, which benefits the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans.

Having a deep love for New Orleans, Josh was in the process of making New Orleans his home when Katrina hit. Scheduled to record the very next day at Ultrasonic Studios, the studio was destroyed by the storm, resulting in Josh leaving New Orleans on one of the last buses to Houston.

In December 2005, just three months after the devastation of Katrina, Josh went back to New Orleans to record at Piety Street, the only recording studio left after the storm. While there, he went on a congressional pass tour of the Lower 9th Ward, allowing him to see sections that were not open to the public. Moved by the devastation, he wrote “Healing Time” in an effort to bring light in a time of darkness to people’s lives affected by Katrina.

Visiting New Orleans again in 2006, performing at Jazz Fest and Piano Night, Josh was shocked at how little had been done. This is where the idea for “Healing Time” comes in.

All proceeds for “Healing Time” will go to Make It Right which helps build green, sustainable homes in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans. You can help Josh and Make It Right by downloading the song on Amazon here for less than a cup of coffee. The goal is 150,000 downloads by New Year’s Eve which will raise enough money to build a new home for a family in New Orleans.

I just downloaded my MP3 of “Healing Time.” Did you?