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Blogger King |
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July 2008
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When most people think of hard rock music, they immediately imagine the headache that accompanies the loud guitars and booming drums. When I think of hard rock music, I think of more than driving beats. I think of hearts- giving back—to their communities and to the world, and several local bands are setting great examples. Earlier this month, heavy metal band Queensryche played three nights at the Moore Theater. They asked fans to bring food donations to help stock the shelves at Northwest Harvest. Fans responded in droves, but one man in particular went above and beyond the call of duty. Kevin Erlandson flew up from Sacramento, California, helped his sister (who lives in Lynnwood) stock a U-Haul filled with food and drove the donation to the Moore Theater! This isn’t the first charitable act for Queensryche. They support various charities, including “Save the Music”, which aims to keep music programs alive in public schools. Every year, the band holds a blood drive to benefit the Puget Sound Blood Center. One year, they set up the drive in the Moore Theater’s lobby. Fans gave blood, got some juice then rocked out at the show. Another band with tremendous heart is Pearl Jam. They’ve given to so many causes and charities, I’d need way more room than I have here to list even a miniscule portion of their good deeds. A visit to their website (www.pearljam.com) shows you the causes, issues and groups they support. The beneficiaries range far and wide, local and global. Are you interested in issues surrounding Healthcare, Women’s rights, Native American issues, Human Rights, Arts, Education, the Environment? You’ll find them and more. And it’s not just the band that gives. Individual members do their own thing to help. Eddie Vedder has recorded songs to benefit a school in South Africa. Mike McCready is very visual in his support for the “Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation”. Jeff Ament has climbed mountains for “Save the Children.” And I know even these acts barely scratch the surface of their individual good deeds. Most of them go unreported because the band DOES NOT WANT THE PUBLICITY. I’ve mentioned two rock groups, but I know that more bands across the country are choosing to give back, and no one has been doing it better or longer than Irish rockers U2. You know you’ve made it when your singer is nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. I am a music fan. But I find myself gravitating toward bands that do more than take my hard earned money and party with it. It may be just me, but I find bands that have giving hearts, seem to make better music. 2 Comments |
When a voice rises with passion, feeling for a cause, it is hard not to notice. It takes but a moment. Just as these good people who give so freely in their chosen profession, your hailing of their efforts certainly encourages a domino effect. . . perhaps even an altered perspective to seeming stereotypes and the call to step outside of the box to imitate, emulate, which would seem to me the true motive of those most giving and caring. And in the end we may all listen to music with a renewed purpose and desire!
Interesting email commentary
SOURCE
FWD: Email to xxxxxx
from: xxxxxxxx
ON HANUKKAH
Dear Friends:
Hanukkah "is about a savage insurgency and civil war." (1)
Placing a Hanukkah symbol anywhere near a display of the Child of Peace is a hypocritical encroachment on our Christian Festival of Peace and insulting to Christians everywhere. Jonathan Woof
(1) so eloquently stated by Charles Krauthhammer:
".......The real Hanukkah story, so absurdly twinned (by calendric accident) with the Christian festival of peace, is about a savage insurgency and civil war........"
Source: "Tolerance: A Two Way Street " Charles Krauthhammer, Sept 22, 2006