WASHINGTON, D.C.— On February 2, OK Go and Bonerama will join forces for a benefit at Washington, D.C.’s 9:30 Club. The show is in support of You’re Not Alone, a digital EP the two bands put together after OK Go spent the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina recording with the New Orleans funk-soul band deep in the city’s Upper 9th Ward. One hundred percent of the proceeds from the EP — available exclusively at iTunes — will benefit Al “Carnival Time” Johnson and other members of New Orleans’ music community who are still struggling to rebuild their homes and their lives in the wake of Katrina. The five-song mini-album will be released on February 5 — Mardi Gras.
“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.”
The show builds on previous efforts to aid New Orleans artists.
Earlier this month, two benefit concerts raised over $6,000 for Sweet Home New Orleans — a coalition of non-profit organizations that helps find affordable housing and provides rental assistance for the city’s musicians — and Big Easy music legend Al Johnson, who lost everything in the storm.
On Thursday, January 10, Future of Music Coalition and Air Traffic Control co-presented “Musicians Bringing Musicians Home III” at the New Orleans House of Blues. The concert included performances by Nellie McKay, Jon Langford & Sally Timms of The Mekons, Patrick Hallahan of My Morning Jacket, Charles Bissell of The Wrens, Kimya Dawson, Timothy Bracy of the Mendoza Line, Janet Bean of Freakwater and Bonerama.
The following night, on Friday, January 11, OK Go and Bonerama played energetic sets — separately and together — at the celebrated New Orleans venue, Tipitina’s.
The concerts were the culmination of FMC and ATC’s annual Artist Activism Camp, which brings together established and emerging artists to discuss best practices for artist advocacy. For two days prior to the concerts, the benefits’ performers toured New Orleans, visiting the Ninth Ward and hearing from some of the city’s musicians about the efforts to revitalize their music community.
The ongoing collaboration between OK Go and Bonerama grew out of the bands’ participation in last year’s Artist Activism Camp.
For more information on OK Go, please contact — Bobbie Gale at bobbie [dot] gale [at] capitolmusic [dot] com
WHAT: OK Go and Bonerama
WHY: A benefit for Al “Carnival Time” Johnson and Sweet Home New Orleans
WHEN: Saturday, February 2, 2008 at 9 PM
WHERE: 9:30 Club, 815 V ST NW, Washington, D.C.
Tickets are $20 and available at www.930.com, www.tickets.com or the 9:30 Box Office
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