Summer Concerts to Benefit Gulf Coast Musicians
by Mairi Beautyman, Berlin, Germany on 03.29.06
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita had a field day on the Gulf Coast region—and the recovery process continues. The more immediate housing concern has inspired much discussion and several proposals. But what about other possessions lost during the storms, say, musical instruments? Starting this Saturday, April 1, you can buy tickets from more than 80 online auctions on Ticketmaster, and every dollar you shell out will be donated to Music Rising, a musical instrument replacement fund.
Founded by U2’s The Edge, legendary music producer Bob Ezrin, and Gibson Guitar Chairman and CEO Henry Juszkiewicz, along with the Guitar Center Music Foundation and MusiCares, Music Rising will use ticket proceeds to help replace instruments and equipment lost by Gulf Coast musicians, churches, schools, and community groups. For the fundraiser, 60 musical artists—to play in venues throughout the U.S. this summer—have joined forces with Ticketmaster and four of the nation’s largest concert promoters, Live Nation, House of Blues, AEG Live, and Nederlander Concerts, along with Gibson Guitar. The concert line up includes select performances by Tim McGraw/Faith Hill, Def Leppard/Journey, Queensryche, Melissa Etheridge, Sammy Hagar, Ben Harper, Brad Paisley, and New Cars/Blondie, among others. Several of the Music Rising Auctions feature advance tickets (i.e. fans have the opportunity to purchase seats in high demand before they go on sale to the general public) and an Epiphone guitar autographed by one or more of the show’s performing artists or band members. ::Ticketmaster
Image from left: Tim McGraw; Blondie; The Edge, courtesy of Frank Balthazar.
Why is this TreeHugger?
Because we have a social conscience?
I guess strictly speaking, this is not about the environment. But we have been advocating a sustainable and sensible reconstruction of the gulf coast, like our friends at WorldChanging, and anything that might help - directly or indirectly - is of interest. That's my opinion, anyway.