NEW ORLEANS, LA – On January 10, Nellie McKay, 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 the Mendoza Line, Janet Bean of Freakwater and Craig Klein, Mat Perrine, Eric Bolivar and Bert Cotton of Bonerama come together in a benefit for musicians displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The following night, OK Go and Bonerama play a show to aid New Orleans music legend Al “Carnival Time” Johnson and Sweet Home New Orleans — a coalition of non-profit organizations that helps find affordable housing and provides rental assistance for the city’s cultural ambassadors. OK Go and Bonerama have also collaborated on an EP for the same cause, to be released in February.
“Musicians Bringing Musicians Home III” is sponsored by Air Traffic Control and Future of Music Coalition, and will take place in the Parish Room of the New Orleans House Of Blues at 9 p.m. on Thursday, January 10. Admission is $10. The concert is the culmination of FMC & ATC’s annual Artist Activism Camp, which brings together established and emerging artists to discuss best practices for artist advocacy. During the two-day meeting, participants go on a tour of New Orleans, visiting the Ninth Ward and hearing from some of the city’s musicians about the efforts to revitalize their music community.
WHAT: “Musicians Bringing Musicians Home III”
WHY: A benefit for Sweet Home New Orleans
WHEN: Thursday, January 10, 2008 at 9 PM
WHERE: The Parish Room at the New Orleans House Of Blues, 225 Decatur St., New Orleans, LA
Tickets are $10 and available at www.hob.com/venues/clubvenues/neworleans or by calling 504-310-4999.
On Friday, January 11, indie-rockers OK Go unite with New Orleans’s funk-rock favorites Bonerama for a show at Tipitina’s. OK Go spent the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina in a studio in the Upper 9th Ward of New Orleans collaborating with Bonerama. With the help of producer Mark Nevers, they put together an EP that adds a brash, unmistakably New Orleans swagger to the OK Go’s infectious rock. The collection, called You’re Not Alone, will benefit New Orleans R&B legend Al “Carnival Time” Johnson — who joins in on a cover of Bob Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released” — as well as Sweet Home New Orleans, an organization dedicated to helping the thousands of local musicians scattered by the storm.
“New Orleans is one of the last places in America where music is truly a fundamental part of everyday life,” says OK Go’s Damian Kulash. “People get together on the weekends and parade through the streets just playing songs; 12-year-old-kids learn funk on the tuba; everyone actually dances. Life elsewhere in the world simply isn’t as awesome. If we allow the culture of New Orleans to die by leaving its musicians marooned around the country, it will be a terrible blow to American music.”
WHAT: OK Go & Bonerama
WHY: Concert to benefit Al “Carnival Time” Johnson & Sweet Home New Orleans
WHEN: Friday, January 11, 2008 at 10 PM
WHERE: Tipitinas, 501 Napoleon Ave., New Orleans, LA. (504) 895-8477
Tickets are $20 and are available at www.ticketweb.com or the Tipitina’s box office
Johnson, who gave Mardi Gras its unofficial anthem with the R&B classic “Carnival Time,” lost everything when Katrina destroyed his longtime Lower 9th Ward residence. Proceeds from You’re Not Alone will go towards building a new Habitat For Humanity home for Johnson and provide funding for Sweet Home New Orleans to assist other similarly affected musicians with their housing needs.In honor of New Orleans’ vibrant musical culture, the release date is set for February 5 — Mardi Gras 2008.
Future of Music Coalition is a national non-profit education, research and advocacy organization that seeks a bright future for creators and listeners. FMC works towards this goal through continuous interaction with its primary constituency — musicians — and in collaboration with other creator/public interest groups. More