Howdy citizens of 2008,
Hoping your all your holidays and new year and stuff have been as nifty as our own. I got an actual stocking.
Just a quick little – yet important - news item for this next week. Charles has been invited along with an impressive handful of much cooler musicians (see below) to participate in a 3-day artist retreat and benefit show in New Orleans put together by the Future of Music Coalition and Air Traffic Control.
This retreat, the third since Katrina, is designed to promote social justice activism by musical artists and to encourage and facilitate the engagement and support of national artists with the local New Orleans music community as our community struggles to rebuild.
The retreat culminates in a benefit show for Sweet Home New Orleans (SHNO), an umbrella organization for 14 non-profit agencies serving New Orleans' music community. SHNO provides relocation, housing, and social services to musicians and tradition bearers in need. Thousands of New Orleans musicians have yet to find stable housing in their neighborhoods since the flood of 2005. SHNO's mission is to help these artists return to their communities, where they can revitalize the city and share their unique culture with future generations.
Details for the benefit show:
Indie Artists Perform Benefit for New Orleans Musicians Thursday, January 10 at The Parish @ House of Blues New Orleans 9:00pm
On January 10, at the House of Blues Parish Room,
Jon Langford & Sally Timms of The Mekons,
Patrick Hallahan of My Morning Jacket,
Charles Bissell of the Wrens,
Kimya Dawson (who recently contributed eight songs to the hit movie Juno),
Timothy Bracy of Mendoza Line,
Janet Bean of Freakwater
Craig Klein, Matt Perrine, Eric Bolivar & Bert Cotton of Bonerama
And as of today, Nellie McKay
…come together to play a benefit show for musicians displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Showtime is 9 pm.
Find out about Sweet Home New Orleans
And if you’re not in the neighborhood to make the show Thursday, consider donating online through their website.
Thanks as always and when we come back online a little later this month we’ll have some new muzak news for you.
take care,
the wrens