charity

Do Good: Peter Gabriel Teams With Oxfam America

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

We love Oxfam America and the great work that they do.  Today, marks the world premiere of a new collaboration for them with Peter Gabriel.

According to Bob Ferguson, Oxfam America’s music artist relations coordinator, “Oxfam America has built some fantastic partnerships and alliances with other organizations that also use music as a tool of social change. One of those organizations is The Voice Project.

The Voice Project is a song-driven movement inspired by the women of Uganda who are using their voices as vehicles for change in the war-ravaged region of Northern Uganda, Southern Sudan, and Eastern Congo, an area that has been marred by violence for the last 24 years. The Voice Project is an attempt to support these incredible women and the peace movement in the region, and an effort to see how far a voice can carry.

Today, Oxfam is proud to join The Voice Project partners Invisible Children, Resolve Uganda, Witness, and HOPE Campaign, in premiering the new video of Peter Gabriel covering Tom Waits’ classic song, “In The Neighborhood.””

Read more about the project on Bob’s blog here and enjoy the video below.

Peter Gabriel » Tom Waits from The Voice Project on Vimeo.

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Do Good: Zoe’s Place Using Cupcakes For Good

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

Zoe’s Place is a small non-profit organization that is doing something unique, a “social enterprise”.  They have committed to helping pregnant teens, teen mom and their babies, by providing services such as a helpline, support group and mentors.  But, by adding Zoe’s Cupcake Cafe to the big picture, they can now provide a delicious product, thanks to pastry chef Kim Testa, and job training and valuable learning opportunities for the teens.

With the help of Habitat for Humanity, Zoe’s Place will be opening their first home in Garfield, Nj in the near future. The highly successful cupcake cafe is in Teaneck, NJ and the cupcakes were one of the biggest hits of the recent Great American Food and Music Fest.  (We personally saw lines 40 people deep at times!)   Click here for more info on Zoe’s Place and visit the official website for Zoe’s Cupcake Cafe here.

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Do Good: “Robin Hood” Lionhearts Initivative Needs You!

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

The Robin Hood: Lionhearts Initiative recognizes the modern-day Robin Hoods who dedicate their time to change the world…the heroes who inspire us by making outstanding and selfless contributions to their communities.

You can become a Lionheart, or nominate friends, family or colleagues who should to be recognized for their good works.  Lionhearts will have the opportunity to win cash prizes to share with the charity or organization of their choice.  (3) Grand Awards of $10,000 and (10)  First Awards of $1,000 will be offered.  To enter and/or learn more click here.

Robin Hood opens in theaters May 14, 2010. Enjoy the trailer below!

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Food: Eat Baskin Robbins And Do Good Too

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

Today is 31 cent scoop day at Baskin Robbins. Stop in from 5-10 tonight, pick a flavor and do some good for the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. Click this link for more info. Enjoy!

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Oxfam America Blog: Music activists rally in support of Haiti

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

Truly inspiring and powerful reminder that music can change lives and that one of people’s basic instincts is to help in times of crisis.  Oxfam America Blog » Blog Archive » Music activists rally in support of Haiti

To support Oxfam’s response in Haiti, please donate to the Haiti Earthquake Response Fund.  Donations can be made atwww.oxfamamerica.org, by phone (1-800-77-OXFAM), by fax (1-617-728-2562) or by mail (Oxfam America, Haiti Earthquake Response Fund, PO Box 1211, Albert Lea, MN 56007-1211).

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Heartwarming Hip: Country Star Rodney Atkins Receives Special Honor

Monday, August 24th, 2009

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It warms your heart to hear stories about people who had a rough start in life, but went on to achieve great things and remembered to give back to those who helped them along the way.  

 

To those who don’t know, country star Rodney Atkins started live as “Jimmy Holston” at Holston Home.  He was later adopted and was re-named Rodney Atkins. 

Atkins returned to his first home in Greenville, Tennessee this week to help celebrate their newly renovated campus. He spent part of the day performing a special acoustic concert, signing autographs and getting to know the children one on one.  Atkins also participated in the official ribbon cutting ceremony in which the “Rodney Atkins Youth Home” was named and dedicated. 

“This is absolutely one of the greatest things of my life,” says Atkins. “This isn’t a career achievement. This is a life achievement. Just to have the opportunity to try and positively affect those kids’ lives is wonderful.  I am so thankful for the folks at Holston Home and their hard work.  They absolutely are some of the greatest people alive.  It’s really hard to express how grateful I am to be a part of Holston’s mission.”   

 

To learn more about Rodney click here.  To learn more about Holston Home and the great work they do, click here

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New Music Monday: Arctic Monkeys!

Monday, August 24th, 2009

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It’s tough to keep the momentum going when you start at the top and its been two years since your last album. But, Sheffield, England’s (also home of  the always awesome Def Leppard) Arctic Monkeys, who released the fastest-selling debut album in British music history, are up for the task. The band’s third album is the highly anticipated Humbug .  They also released a limited edition 7″ single of “Crying Lightning” to benefit Oxfam.  Classy move lads!  Enjoy the video of “Crying Lightning” below and marvel at its’ creative use of the word gobstopper!

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Extra Hip/Hidden Gem Alert: The Damned United

Monday, August 24th, 2009

Take a peek at the trailer below for a little British football movie coming out October 9th. Starring Michael Sheen ( Frost/Nixon), Jim Broadbent (Moulin Rouge)  and Colm Meaney (he’s the new Michael Caine! What hasn’t he been in?), The Damned United tells the confrontational and darkly humorous story of Brian Clough’s doomed 44 day tenure as manager of the reigning champions of English football Leeds United. Previously managed by his bitter rival Don Revie, and on the back of their most successful period ever as a football club, Leeds was perceived by many to represent a new aggressive and cynical style of football – an anathema to the principled yet flamboyant Clough.  

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New Music Monday: Reality TV Music- Daughtry and Crosby Loggins

Monday, July 13th, 2009

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We like Daughtry, the man and the band. Too bad we can’t post his acoustic version of “Poker Face” from a German radio appearance, but you can find it here on youtube. Yeah, he got a little cocky as his time went on on American Idol and who can forget his true look of shock when it was him and McPhee in the bottom two and he was probably thinking ” Later McPhee”, and then America reminded him that they pulled the rug out from under Jennifer Hudson too. But, no matter. Daughtry is huge and so is his band. And, he’s gone on to speak out on behalf of the ONE campaign and we like that too.

If you don’t like anyone in the Creed/Linkin Park/Nickelback genre, then you probably won’t like Daughtry, but he’s a great singer, he’s smart enough to put poppa Vince Gill on his record, and he does what he does and doesn’t apologize for it. Check out his website here for more info.  Read a great review of the cd here.  Enjoy “Every Time You Turn Around” below.

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Now there’s “TIme of Day” by Crosby Loggins, son of Kenny Loggins.  We admit we were one of a handful of people who watched the trainwreck known as “Rock The Cradle” on MTV.  The show featured the offspring of famous singers and attempted to find the next generation of talent.  In the end it came down to Jesse Blaze Snider (son of Dee Snider) and Crosby.  And, while Jesse Blaze wasn’t perfect, he was a throwback to some kick-ass rock and roll times that we kind of enjoyed.  But, America voted and this is what we got.  Have at it if you must, but don’t expect anything near the greatness of Kenny or even Dee for that matter.  We put a clip of Crosby’s winning performance on the finale of “Rock The Cradle” below.

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PBS Takes Its Smarty Pants Self To The Web

Thursday, April 23rd, 2009

 
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PBS announced today the beta launch of the PBS Video Portal (www.pbs.org/video), featuring full-length videos from PBS. The offerings span all PBS genres and  award-winning programs, as well as content from local PBS stations, and will ultimately include feature-length films and documentaries, and live events and performances, with more content arriving literally every week.

 

The portal will bring thousands of hours of PBS programming to the Web — together in one place for the first time ever — including iconic PBS programming such as American Experience(including the recent documentary series We Shall Remain), American Masters, Antiques Roadshow, Frontline, Frontline/World, Great Performances, Julia Child Cooking With Master Chefs, Masterpiece, Nature, The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, Nova,  Nova ScienceNow and more. PBS producers are also planning to deliver regular web-original content to the PBS Video Portal, which will include a state-of-the-art player and curated “collections” of content across PBS’ deep video library.

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