The title of this post is a Simon Mainwaring quote that has had me thinking since the moment I heard it. And by thinking, I mean squirming. It’s one of those lines that in one way makes you wish that you hadn’t heard it, but in another way makes you want to work harder. I heard it last week when some members of the Love In Stereo crew (Brad, Kristi, and Jonathan – that’s me) were at Plywood Presents: Social Innovation, a one-day conference at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta that I was so grateful to be a part of. Produced by the good folks at Plywood People, the event was all about sharing ideas, inspiration, and bringing a room full of big-picture thinkers and doers together to experience the powerful things people are doing around them.
So many stand-out things were said, but to keep this short, my plan here is to give you the lines that sent me back in my chair and made me think, and just like the quote above, have had me thinking ever since.
“We have the resources in every community to meet the needs of that community.”
- Blake Canterbury, Founder of beremedy, @beremedy
This idea is so true (some call it crowdsourcing or collaborative consumption) and is being achieved in a powerful way by beremedy, an Atlanta-based non-profit that uses social media to announce a need and almost always sees that need met by the end of the day. I love the idea, I love the simplicity, and I’m looking forward to watching beremedy grow. (I’d love to help.) The take-away here: Start looking to your friends and neighbors to share more than just a spot in line at Target and start looking to meet the needs of each other on a community level. Bonus points for using a program like beremedy to get started.
“Throw limitations out the window.”
- Scott Thomas, Designer, @simplescott
Scott said this in relation to the book he created documenting his design work for Barack Obama’s successful presidential campaign. He knew he wanted to compile the book, and in his words, “If I had thought about the amount of work this book would be, I probably would have never started.” Throwing the limitations the book carried with it out the window allowed him to consider the importance of the work, focus on the end goal, and get going on what needed to be done. He reminded me that every project will have limitations, so get used to it, and start building.
“Push big brands to do more.”
- Simon Mainwaring, Author of “We First,” @simonmainwaring
I’m paraphrasing Simon a bit here, but love them or hate them, big brands are here to stay, and they have the capability to do so much more than just make a gigantic profit. What if we, the little consumer, could tell them how we wanted them to act? News flash: We can. Brands have no choice but to listen — and some already are. As he noted, “86% of global consumers believe that business needs to place at least equal weight on society’s interests as on business interests.” It’s our job to get them to hear this, and we can do this simply through what we buy. The simple idea here: Start making product decisions with a purpose.
“Who we are is not our circumstances.”
- Esther Havens, Humanitarian Photographer, @estherhavens
Esther led her talk with this idea, mentioning it in relation to the struggles she had seen and photographed in Africa while working with charity:water. Previously, people had seen places in need of clean water as places without hope, but she realized that where these people were was not who they were. They are proud, they are capable, they are strong, and we are all equal.
Well, there you go, four nuggets of brain power to get you thinking. Take some time, give each some thought, then decide that now is the time to get them out of simply being a write-up you read online and start making things happen.
Together we’re louder.
This is going to be an amazing show! If you live anywhere near the Nashville area join us for this special night as we celebrate people bringing hope to Nashville through music!
The event is FREE and is Monday August 15th beginning at 5 pm at PoPo Cool Kid Stuff.
The adorable, talented and all around awesome Natalie Prass performs ‘Hold Me Close’ at Southern Girls Rock & Roll Camp in Murfreesboro, TN!
We spent the day at camp wishing we could go back in time and be a 14 year old girl and be a camper. They’re promoting collaboration and positive self-esteem and we think that’s pretty awesome. Their goal is to empower young women through music education in a supportive and challenging environment. That’s exactly what they do.
Totally awesome.
We’re excited because a few of the girls from camp are going to be performing at our upcoming concert with RABBIT! in Nashville! Are you coming? Join us!
Event Info:
Love In Stereo presents Rabbit! + Southern Girls Rock and Roll Camp
Monday August 15 at 5 PM
PoPo Cool Kid Stuff // 4017 Hillsboro Pike Suite 309A //Nashville, TN
RSVP on Facebook
Help us spread the word about this awesome night:
Twitter: Join me at the @love_in_stereo party with @saverabbit and @sgrrc!
(You can do better than the above tweet, but you get the idea right?)
links:
Rabbit!
Southern Girls Rock and Roll Camp
PoPo Cool Kid Stuff
Natalie Prass
The Voice Project is amazing.
Here’s the basic story: women in Northern Uganda have a very important message they are trying to send out to their sons. The message: “Dwog Paco”. These are the Acholi words for “Come home.” Joseph Kony’s LRA has abducted countless young children and forced them to do unthinkable things. Many of these abductees and former soldiers escape but hide in the bush, afraid to return home because of reprisals for the atrocities they were forced to commit.
The Voice Project supports these women and the peace movement in Uganda. They use money from donations, sponsors and advertisers to support programs on the ground in Uganda that aid peace and rebuilding efforts.
It’s about seeing how far a voice can carry.
Many of the women in Uganda record themselves singing songs and chanting the message: “come home”. These messages are then broadcast on radio with the hopes that these former soldiers know they are safe, they are missed and they are forgiven.
The Voice Project has been working on something really cool. Artists do covers of songs they love. They then pass it on in the hopes that the artist will then cover someone else. The videos serve to amplify the message of the peace movement in Uganda. They’ve had some incredible artists: Andrew Bird, Peter Gabriel, Billy Bragg, Broken Social Scene (just to name a few). Recently our pal Koji recorded his cover of Ted Leo‘s “Biomusicology”. It’s beautiful. It’s embedded above. Enjoy.
Koji also recently hit the road on the Amplify Peace Tour. There he used his influence and energy to spread the message further. You can now do the same. Purchase one of the tour shirts and spread the “Dwog Paco” message everywhere you go:
Our latest album, One For The Team, is the result of a lot of love. We set out from the start to make this something special. 100% of the proceeds go directly towards helping Special Needs Athletics build a new field. It’s an important cause and we wanted some of our favorite artists to be involved. The album would be nothing without the support from these amazingly talented people . . .
Here’s a few reasons we love Shaky Voices:
1. He’s been with us from the beginning. He just had to bring his music back for our second album because he’s just way too cool. You may remember his song “Lets make an album tonight” as the first track on our first album My Heart is in Haiti. Shaky even performed at our first album release party. Shaky and LIS go way back so we just had to keep him on the second album.
2. He’s wickedly inventive. We’ve been told that to make some of his music he doesn’t always use your average Gibson or Casio. Things like empty computer cases, boxes and children’s toys have been known to make appearances in his recordings. Sounds like equipment that would be perfect for a children’s album right?
3. His music is worth spreading. His quirky style and inventive lyrics make for the perfect addition to any music library. If you like what you heard on our One For the Team Album you can find more awesome hits like “Phil Collin’s Head” and “So Cool” for free on his Bandcamp Page.
We are honored and excited to once again have Shaky Voices join us in our newest effort to help those in need. You can find his track “Ken Griffey Jr.’s Rookie Card” alongside several other songs on our new album One for the Team.
Listen to Shaky Voices’ music
Shaky Voices on Facebook
Purchase One for the Team
Our latest album, One For The Team, is the result of a lot of love. We set out from the start to make this something special. 100% of the proceeds go directly towards helping Special Needs Athletics build a new field. It’s an important cause and we wanted some of our favorite artists to be involved. The album would be nothing without the support from these amazingly talented people . . .
Here are just a few reasons why we love SNOWGLOBE:
1. They are at the center of a really cool collective called Makeshift Music. It’s purpose is to serve as an outlet and motivator for the creation and distribution of Memphis art. These guys are a supergroup made up of talented southern dudes who blend old and new to create a truly unique sound. They are also instigators for the creation of a lot of really great work.
2. Infinitely creative. Their music can go from southern rock to beach pop to psychedelic in an instant. Perhaps much of their diversity stems from the wealth of projects the group is involved in. These guys dip their toes in film, art and loads of other endeavors. Our pal Jeff Hulett even had a track on our first album My Heart Is In Haiti (as Jeffrey James & the Haul) and helps head up Rock for Love, an annual benefit concert series that helps bring healthcare to those who need it via the Church Health Center in Memphis.
3. Their music needs a wider audience. You might have seen the guys on MTV a few years ago. They were one of the bands featured on $5 Cover, a short series from director and Memphis native Craig Brewer. They’ve since continued to create interesting and remarkable music that demands to be heard. Check out what Pitchfork had to say about last May’s release from the band, Little More Lived In:
“It’s an interesting exercise to go through their five albums in order, ending with this one, and consider where the indie rock mainstream was in relation to this band for each of them. When they were first starting out, they were on the fringe, but their style of emotionally straightforward, heavily arranged music has become one of the defining sounds of indie rock.” – PITCHFORK
We could not be happier to have Snowglobe’s track ‘Happy’ as part of our album One For The Team! Thanks to these guys for creating great music and using it to help such a special cause. We love Snowglobe!
Buy Snowglobe Music.
Like Snowglobe on Facebook.
Buy your copy of One For The Team NOW.
Yesterday we opened our hearts to you and revealed our love for SUPERCUTE! If you’ve purchased our latest album One For The Team then you’ve experienced the magic of “The Hula Hoop Song” (and have likely had it stuck in your head ever since.) We adore SUPERCUTE! for their music and for sharing it with us to help the kids of Special Needs Athletics.
The girls are working on their first album and need your help. We told you about their Kickstarter project yesterday, but thought you might want to hear a little bit more from the girls directly. So, here’s a nice little interview we did with one of the coolest girls on the planet, Rachel Trachtenburg:
What can we expect from a full length Supercute! album?
We spend lots of time writing our songs but when recording them we are just too excited for everyone to hear them that we don’t spend much time really making them extra special. We are going to have all of our old time hits plus some new psychedelic never heard before ones with more whistles giggles and harmonies : ) and we also plan to write a song for the album with Kate Nash.
What’s the current band lineup and how’s that going?
SUPERCUTE! is currently consisting of myself Rachel Trachtenburg age 17 on uke, our new drum pad (it’s name is babies bum because its soooo soft) and vocals. Julia Cumming age 15 on uke, guitar and vocals. Julia and I are the original members and commit all our time to the band.
We have two different wonderful girls on keyboard. Olivia Ferrer age 12 & Delilah Brierley age 14. SUPERCUTE! is always a trio but since we are so busy it’s hard to find girls who can stay out late and play shows all the time. So we just split up our events and whoever can make it comes. Its been working out great for everyone!
Kate Nash is producing. That is so awesome. She’s been super supportive of you for a long while now. What are some things you’d say you’ve learned from her?
Kate is one of our favorite people! We have gone on two tours with her, one in the U.S and one was a 12 country tour of Europe. We are really good friends and have lots of fun together. I think that after touring with her so much and watching her on stage every night and seeing how she connects with her fans and really goes for it has inspired us. She is so caring and hard working. She is 24 years old but we are all just so much on the same page as far as wanting to make a difference with our music. We are both evolving so fast as performers and we learn lots for each other. Pretty much just really staying true to who you are and having fun along the way.
What advice would you give to any kids out there wanting to start a band?
It takes lots of work and dedication but if this is something you really want to do it always pays off at the end of the day. Push yourself and see where it takes you. For Julia and I it’s everything to us. Music is one of the best parts of life and making it is even better.
Our latest album, One For The Team, was a labor of love. We set out from the start to make this something special. 100% of the proceeds go directly towards helping Special Needs Athletics build a new field. It’s an important cause and we wanted some of our favorite artists to be involved. The album would be nothing without the support from these amazingly talented people . . .
Here are just a few of the reasons why we love SUPERCUTE!
Some band names can be misleading (Barenaked Ladies, Extreme, Good Charlotte) yet every so often there comes a band that can be perfectly defined by the name on their drumkit. Supercute! is that band. The infectiously catchy “Hula Hoop Song” featured on our album One For The Team is the creation of this indie teen pop band from Brooklyn, NY. To say we were thrilled when this song came into our inbox would be a total understatement. We couldn’t wait to share this song because it’s the perfect fit for the fun little album we were trying to create.
1. Rachel Trachtenburg is the coolest. Just deal with it. She was in a band at age 7 touring the country with her family, The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players. She’s an artist. She’s had her own television show. She makes cool handmade dolls. When she’s not wowing audiences she’s also an activist, speaking out on issues she’s passionate about. She’s assembled a supercool team to create music on her own terms.
2. Kids need to see cool kids making music. We hope some kids get inspired to start their own ukulele powered band with their friends. Somehow these girls have risen above the introspective angsty music most teens write and instead sing about happy things. The band even has a song titled “To Not Write About Boys”.
3. Kate Nash is recording and producing their upcoming album. Their currently untitled debut is described by the band as “our psychedelic-indie-acoustic-pop opus”. We can only hope the album sees the light of day soon. You, in fact, can help make it happen! Check out the Kickstarter campaign for the album. There’s only a few days left! Help these kids out – they helped us.
Help SUPERCUTE! make their first album.
Buy SUPERCUTE! music.
Buy your copy of ONE FOR THE TEAM!
It’s a concert in a toy store! What could be more awesome? Join us Monday August 15th for a special free event celebrating people bringing hope to their community through music! The magic will all go down at our favorite toy store: PoPo Cool Kid Stuff in Nashville, TN. This will be the setting for a special stop on indie rock band Rabbit‘s current tour.
“We want to use this summer tour to shine a little light on individuals who are finding creative outlets for our nation’s youth,” said Ashton Allen of Rabbit! The tour is called Rabbit’s Music Stand and will be a cross country adventure spanning 45 cities in 48 days. Along the way they’ll be filming a documentary, performing and promoting community programs that are providing arts and music to students.
The party will also feature some very special guests: a few students from the Southern Girls Rock and Roll Camp!
Southern Girls Rock & Roll Camp is a summer day camp for girls ages 10-17. SGRRC’s mission is to support a culture of positive self-esteem and collaboration among girls while building community through music. This is just one of the many awesome programs from our friends at YEAH (Youth Empowerment through Arts & Humanities). We want to celebrate the work they are doing and can’t wait for these girls to open the show!
There will be other surprises too! So don’t miss it! It’s free. It’s for kids of all ages. It’s a celebration of people making a difference.
Event Info:
Love In Stereo presents Rabbit! + Southern Girls Rock and Roll Camp
Monday August 15 at 5 PM
PoPo Cool Kid Stuff // 4017 Hillsboro Pike Suite 309A //Nashville, TN
RSVP on Facebook
Help us spread the word about this awesome night:
Twitter: Join me at the @love_in_stereo party with @saverabbit and @sgrrc!
(You can do better than the above tweet, but you get the idea right?)
links:
Rabbit!
Southern Girls Rock and Roll Camp
YEAH
PoPo Cool Kid Stuff
Our latest album, One For The Team, was a labor of love. We set out from the start to make this something special. 100% of the proceeds go directly towards helping Special Needs Athletics build a new field. It’s an important cause and we wanted some of our favorite artists to be involved. The album would be nothing without the support from these amazingly talented people . . .
Here are just a few of the reasons why we love Katie Herzig.
1. Katie’s song Two Hearts Are Better Than One is track number 5 on our album. The song, a sweet catchy little number, perfectly encapsulates all that we’re about. We knew the moment we heard it that it had to be included – somehow, someway. . .
2. This Grammy award nominated singer-songwriter continually crafts songs that go beyond the standard songwriting formula. You might have heard her work on any number of films or television shows. There’s a hopeful sincerity in her voice. When she sings things like “I Hurt Too” or “Wish You Well” you sense that she means it.
3. Katie lives in our backyard of Nashville, TN, but can currently be seen all over the country as she tours to promote her upcoming new album The Waking Sleep. We’re looking forward to it’s release September 20th. It promises to be the perfect next step in her growth as a songwriter and performer. Watch this trailer for the album.
Last week at the final game of the season we were set up, announcing the release, selling CDs and meeting people from all over who are involved with Special Needs Athletics. The album was playing over the stadium speakers the entire night. As the kids were preparing to receive their trophies for a season well done, Katie’s song began to play. We looked out at all the volunteers, parents and supporters who had made that moment possible and knew it wasn’t just a nice song on an album for kids – it was a truth that we hoped could be lived out. Thanks for the song and the reminder, Katie.
Purchase your copy of One For The Team here.
Visit KatieHerzig.com
Follow Katie on Twitter. (You won’t regret it.)
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