This never ceases to inspire me.
If you haven’t seen or heard of Playing for Change do yourself a favor and check out this clip. It’s from the documentary “Playing For Change: Peace Through Music” and features street performers from across the globe singing ‘Stand By Me’.
I’ve probably seen that a million times, but it still gives me chills. Playing For Change is all about ‘connecting the world through music’ – a really cool message that’s moving because it really is possible. That’s what I think gets me about watching these clips. They’re simple and perfectly depict how strong a song can be in uniting people.
Check out this incredible version of Sam Cooke’s A Change Is Gonna Come. It’s already one of my favorite songs, but this version takes it to another level. Here several of the musicians from the above video come together for the first time ever to perform live. This was recorded in New Orleans. It’ll make you believe that change really is coming.
Not sure why, but these clips popped back into my life today and felt the need to share! Check out the Playing For Change website. They’re not just making really cool videos. They are working to build schools, connect students and inspire communities in need through song.
It would be an understatement to say that Tullahoma, TN is an economically diverse town. It boasts a whopping 9.2% post-graduate degree rate, while 17.2% of it’s residents live below the poverty line (the Tennessee state average is 13.5%) [1]. As one of the middle-upper class residents, it is easy to forget that so many live with so little. Not so for Andrew Rigney. Andrew is a high school student with tons of crazy talent. He won the Tennessee state guitar championship two years in a row and a number of other titles in guitar and mandolin. He plays with his family in the Rigney Family Bluegrass Band, who just released their second CD.
But Andrew’s plethora of accomplishments and awards are not what sets him apart. This year, he founded the community service project Acoustic Athletes, a volunteer musical outreach program. It works like this: once a week, after school, Andrew meets with a group of middle school students from lower income families, who could not otherwise afford an acoustic guitar and lessons. He teaches them the basics and they are given time during the week to “check out” the guitars from the music room to practice what they have learned. The idea is simple. Give the kids a creative outlet to express themselves and they have a better chance of being sucessful in the future.
“Music is such a blessing in my family’s life; hopefully we will have a chance to turn that into a blessing for some of these kids,” Andrew says of the program. Besides the free lessons, students have another incentive to stick with the program. “Once the kids have logged twenty-five class hours, and twenty-five solo practice hours, we will give them a guitar to keep.” So far, nine middle school students are signed up for the program and others have had to be turned down.
Andrew hopes to get more volunteers to join in the future, but for now he’s happy with the help of friends and family. “I hope that Acoustic Athletes will eventually grow into a multi-school program so that kids all over can have the opportunity to learn acoustic music,” he says.
And what happens in two years when Andrew graduates and moves off to college? Let’s just say his younger brother, Grant, is poised to step in. “He’s won National Instrumental Entertainer of the Year at the Smithville jamboree three years in a row,” says Andrew. “He’s a shoe-in for the job.”
Have extra cash or an old unused guitar lying around? Acoustic Atheletes needs you! You can contact Andrew through the Acoustic Athletes website, or directly at rigneym@charter.net.
The crew at Invisible Children reveal their soundtrack to changing the world. Pretty hilarious.
We’re doing an event with the IC roadies this November as part of their Face-to-Face Tour! It will be allowing people of northern Uganda to tell their stories directly at screenings across the country. Looking forward to seeing them and also helping a local high school set up a new chapter. Find out how you can get involved by checking out their site or stay tuned and join us for one of our upcoming events.
The Haiti Poster Project is a collaboration of artists and designers from around the world, benefitting victims of the earthquake in Haiti.
Launched three days after the January 12th earthquake, this collaborative project has brought together designers from across the globe to create something beautiful out of an event surrounded by darkness.
Leif Steiner, creative director of Moxie Sozo, and Josh Higgins, creative director from San Diego, CA are the guys behind this incredible effort. The two have each individually done similar projects in the past – Leif’s Moxie Sozo organized a poster project after Hurricane Katrina and Josh organized the 2007 So-Cal Fire Poster Project. Each project has raised and continues to raise thousands of dollars for relief efforts.
Visit: TheHaitiPosterProject.com
Facebook: Like them!
Twitter: @haitiposters
The above poster is from Jeremy Tyson of South Lake, Texas. It’s only $25. There are tons of others and they’re all great. The site is also still taking submissions if you’re a designer and would like to help out.
We also still have copies of our album, My Heart Is In Haiti, available. Click here to get yours!
“We are part of a giving, creative community.”
An epic music event, Rock for Love, will be turning 4 this weekend and you’re invited. We had the chance to speak with Marvin Stockell and Jeff Hullett, two guys who help head this up. Both are known Memphis music guys: Marvin is in the band Pez and Jeff is all over the place with his band Snowglobe and tons of other music projects. (Jeff’s band Jeff James and the Haul gave a track to our project My Heart Is In Haiti)
Not only are they music guys, they also work with the Church Health Center.
Marvin explains, “The Church Health Center provides affordable health care for working uninsured people and their families.” Rock for Love allows the two to unite the Memphis music community behind something they both really care about. “I think musicians having been served by the Center – they get it. They realize how needed it is.”
Each year the event has raised several thousand dollars for a clinic that works to serve it’s community. Marvin says,”I think our music scene has a great big collective heart. It’s nice to see it come together across genre lines. We’ve got hip-hop, the lighter end of indie rock, some louder bands. It’s great to see the music scene come together and say – we’re going to do something for the community. We’re going to give back to something that has helped many of us.”
In the Memphis area? Rock for Love 4, a benefit for Church Health Center Aug. 19-21. Lucero, Amy LaVere, Glorie, the Magic Kids and the Dirty Streets are just a few of this year’s performers. Tickets are available at HiToneMemphis.com or at the door.
Not in the Memphis area? Check out the awesome online silent auction at http://auction.infolexa.com. The auction will close at midnight on Aug. 21.
Take a listen to the full interview. You’ll hear snippets from a few of the bands who’ll be there, plus get to know Jeff and Marvin a little better.
A week from today, starting next Thursday night, Memphis is welcoming another weekend of homegrown music, with all of it benefiting a worthy cause. Rock for Love 4, the fourth-annual benefit concert for the Church Health Center, will be Aug. 19-21, and will feature some of the best music to come out of Memphis, including Lucero, Amy LaVere, and Love In Stereo favorites, the Magic Kids.
Since its founding in 2007, Rock for Love has been produced in partnership with Makeshift Music as a way to raise money for the Center and celebrate the diversity of Memphis music with performances by some of the city’s best bands and artists.
Want to come? Here’s the schedule and ticket info:
Thursday, Aug. 19 at the Hi Tone
$5. 9 p.m. 18+
Star & Micey, Holly Cole & the Memphis Dawls, Teflon Don, the Candy Company (emcee: Blair Combest)
Friday, Aug. 20 at the Hi Tone
$10. 9 p.m. 18+
The Dirty Streets, the Magic Kids, Skewby, Glorie (emcee: Ross Johnson)
Saturday, Aug. 21 at Shangri-La – Sounds of Memphis Rock for Love 4 Day Party
FREE. Noon to 5 p.m. All-ages.
Amy LaVere, Oracle and the Mountain, the Near Reaches, the Burning Sands, Chinese Lanterns
Saturday, Aug. 21 at the Hi Tone.
$15. 9 p.m. 18+
Lucero, the Bulletproof Vests, Jeremy Stanfill (emcee: Al Bell)
Tickets are available online at HiToneMemphis.com or at the door. Shangri-La will donate 20 percent of store sales from the day party to the Church Health Center. There will also be a Rock for Love 4 silent auction at http://auction.infolexa.com. The auction went live on Aug. 1 and will close at midnight on Aug. 21.
To find out more about Rock for Love 4 and how to get involved, visit www.churchhealthcenter.org or www.makeshiftmusic.com.
Last week we told you about Gift Card Giver, an innovative group that has found a way for you to take those gift cards wasting away in your back pocket and use them to help people in need. It’s a seriously cool idea. Think about it: everybody has gift cards. In fact they’ve found that billions of dollars go unused on gift cards every single year.
This summer they took their message on the road and set out collecting gift cards and driving up the east coast, west through the Great Lakes region, through Tennessee and back to home sweet home in Atlanta, GA. It was 30 cities in 30 days. We had the chance to spend some time with Russ, Summer and Leslie as they neared the last leg of their impressive journey:
Watch as Summer shares what happened when we were able to connect Gift Card Giver with our friends in Waverly, TN:
The Gift Card Giver + Waverly Story from Love In Stereo on Vimeo.
Got gift cards lying around at your house? Want to throw a gift card party in your town? Visit their site to find out how easy it is for you to get involved: giftcardgiver.com
We mentioned a few weeks ago here on the blog about the homeless of Nashville’s Tent City and how the flood affected them. Our friend Will wanted to help and we wanted to help him. (See the original post here.)
After the flood in middle Tennessee hit several ‘We Are Nashville’ shirts, hats, etc were released. Will designed this cool shirt and wanted to make sure that the ‘we’ included Nashville’s homeless.
We recently sold the first batch at an event and sold out completely in less than 3 hours! Everytime we got close to selling them online we sold out before we could!
For just $12 you get a shirt and you’ll be helping Nashville’s homeless. Pick yours up in our online store now!
Disney World, the Grand Canyon, the local pool, the park, any place that has air conditioning. All these are primo spots for kids to spend their summer vacation. Their minds are as far away from school as possible, so what could possibly bring them back to the classroom in the middle of their summer break?
Camp Create!
Three days a week for every week during the month of July, Jane Edwards Elementary on Edisto Island in South Carolina is transformed into a place where about 50 students can continue their learning and still have fun at the same time.
The learning essentials, like math and reading, are striped of their mundanity as kids use Bingo and basketball to help them stay sharp just in time for school to start back up.
It’s by no means a solo effort, teachers, local volunteers, and the non-profit Sidewalk Chalk chip in to help coordinate and run the camp. (You may remember our article earlier this year on Sidewalk Chalk.) Lead by John Caspian and Jana Hodge, the Sidewalk Chalk folks brought that extra WOW factor. They helped lead activities that a lot of the children had participated in before.
Activities include:
-Painting
-Sand art
-Learning to take pictures with digital cameras
-Putting on a student produced play
-Book raps
-Concrete poetry
-Field day
-World’s Largest Word-Search
-Haiku’s
-Field trips to the beach
-And much more!
A local wildlife refuge even brought in real life turtles and a snake much to the delight and horror of students and adults.
Our own Chad Biggar went down to Edisto Island with the awesomely talented people from Sidewalk Chalk to help a couple days a week. He sent us back these videos and pictures.
Pics:
YouTube:
Chad had this to say about his experience:
“Despite getting up earlier than I thought humanely possible, Camp Create is totally worth it. When given complete creative freedom kids can came up with some pretty amazing things you wished you had thought of. I’d much rather know they were debating whether or not to do a play about taxes was a good idea than be sitting around playing video games till the sun went down. It’s also great to see enthusiastic and positive volunteers who want nothing more than to give these kids the best four half-weeks of their lives. It’s been an great and eye opening experience all around. One of the best summer vacations I’ve ever had.”
Last week I was watching TV, and little did I know, was about to watch something that would alter my perspective on life.
Its the story of Ed Thomas. A man who was much more than just the high school football coach, he was a pillar of strength in the small town of Parkersburg, Iowa. He lived a life of service and leadership and was an inspiration to generations of families.
But this is not just your typical sports story. It is a story of compassion. Community. Faith. Forgiveness. Legacy. Courage. And all of it exemplified on an unbelievable scale. This is what loving your neighborhood is truly all about.
Please watch this video. Its a story that needs to be heard.
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