I met Blake, John and Zak Suhar when they were volunteering for Reverb at the Jack Johnson 2010 Alpine Valley & Rivers Edge shows. They helped out with the tour's All At Once booth and in the Village Green, and were so amazing.
photo: Jack Johnson Alpine Valley 2010 All At Once booth - Blake & John.
During the Alpine Valley show they offered to come help us out the following day, at the Rivers Edge show. They then drove 12 hours round-trip so that they could help us out at Rivers Edge, driving through the night on the return leg, so that Blake could be at work early the next AM. We were so lucky to have them with us for two shows.
photo: Jack Johnson Rivers Edge 2010 show Village Green - Zak, Blake, me, John.
Zak has entered he and his brothers in a National Outdoor Leadership School/Patagonia-sponsored competition to win their collective dream adventure trip. Please check out Zak's video submission, and then vote for them!
About the contest:
Zak's entry:
To vote for "The Suhar Dream Expedition" go here, click on the tab that says "View Entries", and then look for their video. Once you find their video, click on the thumbs up arrow on the upper right corner of the page, to cast your vote for the Suhar Brothers.
You can only vote for them once, and must vote by Oct 31.
The annual Bioneers Conference, held each year in Marin County, just north of San Francisco, CA is coming up again.
I went through the program and picked out some things that I wouldn't want to miss, if I were going to Bioneers this year (which I am not):
Two panels:
Generation Ahead: New Legions of Activists Share How Leadership Is Inspired, Activated & Sustained Join inspiring emerging leaders at the forefront of environmental and social change movements for a lively conversation. Moderated by Anisha Desai, Director of New Leaders Initiative and Brower Youth Awards at the Earth Island Institute. With Jessy Tolkan, Political Director of Green For All; Rachel Barge, Program Director of the Business Council on Climate Chnage; Shadia Fayne Wood, founder of Project Survival Media, a global network of youth journalists; and Annie Loya, Executive Director of Youth United for Community Action.
In The Groove: Cultural & Social Change Through The Power of Music Music and the community it creates have shaped our culture and politics. Explore the cutting-edge of how musicians and music industry activists are catalyzing environmental and social change. With host Michael Martin, founder and CEO of Effect Partners and MusicMatters; Brian Allenby, General Manager of Reverb, a non-profit that engages musicians and their fans to promote environmental sustainablity; others TBA.
More info about the Campus Consciousness Tour and Reverb in this previous blog post.
In addition to the tour dates mentioned in that blog post, here are the additional Campus Consciousness Tour dates. Ben Harper did the previous shows; these new dates are with Drake.
April 26 - University of Missouri April 27 - University of Kentucky (Lexington) April 29 - University of Massachusetts (Lowell) (postponed) April 30 - Syracuse University May 4 - College of the Holy Cross May 5 - Towson University May 7 - Cornell University May 8 - Plymouth State University
The Surfrider Foundation's Washington, DC Chapter had an outreach booth at the Pier 6 show. Check out their review here.
It's not mentioned in the above video, but HeadCount also has a rep traveling with the Campus Consciousness Tour - Liz O'Donnell.
To stay up to date on the Campus Consciousness Tour (and view more photos) check out the tour's (awesome) Facebook page.
I'd mentioned Reverb's newer initiative, Green Music Group, in a previous blog post. Here's a recap.
Green Music Group is a coalition of musicians, industry leaders, and music fans using our collective power to bring about widespread environmental change within the music industry and around the globe.
I love that HeadCount is a GMG non-profit partner:) Check out this video to learn more about GMG:
If you're new to GMG, then maybe this is a good time to check it out ... :)
Every two weeks, a GMG Artist will challenge YOU to make an eco-friendly change in your life. We'll be taking these challenges along with you, and we'll all be learning as we go. There are lots of cool prizes in the mix, so join us!
To get started, you must first create a GMG Challenge Profile. Then, look for instructions on how to participate under each challenge video! Your first challenge begins on April 10th.
We're giving one lucky challenge participant a grand prize: the chance to drive away in a 2010 Honda Insight Hybrid LX! All you have to do is take one of our nine challenges. Good luck!
Check out this awesome video from the GMG launch event, featuring an interview with Brett Dennen:)
Created by non-profit group Reverb, Campus Consciousness Tour is half music, half environmental campaign aiming to inspire and activate students in a fun and exciting atmosphere while leaving a positive impact on each community and college that the tour reaches.
This video is a recap of the 2006 Campus Consciousness Tour. It features a fellow Lehigh University alum, Grady, who is now a grad student at Yale:)
Ben Harper and Relentless7 2010 Campus Consciousness Tour Dates:
04/15/10 - Thu 7:30pm - DeKalb, IL United States - Northern Illinois University Campus Consciousness
04/16/10 - Fri 7:00pm - Athens, OH United States - Ohio University Campus Consciousness
04/17/10 - Sat 7:00pm - Williamsport, PA United States - Lycoming College Campus Consciousness
04/20/10 - Tue 7:00pm - Baltimore, MD United States - Pier Six Pavilion Campus Consciousness
04/21/10 - Wed 7:00pm - Winston-Salem, NC United States - Wake Forest University Campus Consciousness
04/24/10 - Sat 3:00pm - Nashville, TN United States - Rites of Spring Campus Consciousness
Here's a video of Ben singing a beautiful song "With My Own Two Hands." -
Watch the new music video for "Lay There & Hate Me" here.
Here's a video for the song "My Father's House". Buy the song now at iTunes and AmazonMP3 to benefit Artists for Peace and Justice Haiti Relief. This single is part of a split digital single released with Eddie Vedder's version of "My City of Ruins." The song, written by Bruce Springsteen, was performed live at the Kennedy Center Honors, Dec 6 2009. Ben Harper and Relentless7 will be opening for Pearl Jam in Europe this summer.
Ben also autographed a guitar along with Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Joan Baez and Ry Cooder, and donated some of his merch for a raffle, with proceeds going towards Haiti relief.
If you check out Ben's "activism" page on his website, the first nonprofit listed that he supports is the Surfrider Foundation. YEAH, Ben:)
photo: Johanna, Jack & I @ Blossom Music Center in Ohio, June 2008
During the summer of 2008, as a volunteer for the nonpartisan nonprofit HeadCount, I ran a voter registration drive on Jack Johnson's Sleep Through The Static Tour.
The HeadCount Traveling Team included Abby, Cassie, Johanna, Mike and I.
photo: Me, Abby, Mike & Cassie @ the Tweeter Center in MA, August 2008. photo by Abby.
In June Johanna and I followed the tour around the Upper Midwest to 5 of Jack's shows, and down to Bonnaroo in Tennessee, adding 3,000+ miles onto our fuel-efficient Kia Rio rental car. We saw a lot of the Upper Midwest!
photo: Johanna in our Kia Rio.
In August Abby, Cassie, Mike and I crisscrossed the country behind the tour in a minivan, extending to the four corners of Massachusetts, Georgia, Washington, and Southern California.
photo: We made use of every possible opportunity to get work done. Here Abby and I are confirming volunteers for our next show and completing HeadCount show reports in the minivan.
We received tons of help from 134 HeadCount volunteers, who each helped us at 1-2 of Jack's shows.
photo: HeadCount volunteer training at the DTE Energy Center, in June. I'm in the gray hoodie and jeans.
Together, we set up a voter registration booth at 21 of Jack's 2008 appearances (3 major festivals and 18 of his headlining shows) and registered 6,173 of Jack's fans to vote in time for the November 4, 2008 US elections.
We averaged more registrations per show than any other 2008 concert tour. Additionally, HeadCount recently learned that over 71% of the music fans that the organization registered in the field (at shows) in 2008 actually went to the polls and voted on Election Day! This was one of the best performances of any nonprofit that registered voters in 2008.
photo: Los Angeles August 2008 show -- the Village Green crew - from L to R: Mike (HeadCount), Brande (HeadCount), Davis (Reverb), Josh (Reverb), Shawn (Climate Counts), Jessica (All At Once), Elissa (Patagonia), Cassie (HeadCount), Elizabeth (Surfrider), and me.
The Village Green and the 4 traveling nonprofits were managed by Reverb's On-Site Coordinators Andrew, Davis and Josh.
photo: Alpine Valley, June 2008 - Andrew, Elizabeth, Johanna, Hillary, Davis. I love this photo.
Here's a great new video from Reverb that talks about the work that the nonprofit does on tours, including Jack's tour!
You'll see clips of Josh, Davis, and Andrew! You'll also see a brief interview with Dave, from the amazing catering staff. And there are even some clips of Elizabeth who represented the Surfrider Foundation on the tour, as well as some clips of a HeadCount booth from another tour.
These 4 nonprofits (HeadCount, Climate Counts, Vote the Environment, Surfrider) had outreach booths in the Village Green at every venue. At each show we were joined in the Village Green by 5-10 local nonprofits, who were coordinated by Jessica Scheeter, director of the newly established Johnson Ohana Charitable Trust.
The Village Green was part of Jack's All At Once campaign.
"Individual Action, Multiplied by Millions, Creates Global Change."
photo: the Village Green - Raleigh, NC, August 2008. Photo by Abby.
You can learn more about the Village Green and All At Once in this fantastic video that was recorded at our Indianapolis, IN show in June. It originally appeared on www.Treehugger.com --
At almost every show Jack stopped by the HeadCount booth in the Village Green before the doors opened in order to meet that night's volunteers.
photo: Columbia Meadows in Oregon, August 2008. Yeah, it rained sometimes ...
You can see photos of the HeadCount volunteers from every show here on HeadCount's Facebook page.
You can read a short article that I wrote last summer between shows, here on Jambands.com.
Then check out this recent post that I wrote for the HeadCount blog that talks about HeadCount's inclusion in Jack's newest film and audio release "En Concert."
Here's a summary of my HeadCount 2008 Jack Johnson Tour Report. (Full report was too large for online hosting.) Enjoy!
And MusicMatters who also created the environmental messaging for the tour, here.
Thanks to absolutely everyone who made all of this happen - the Johnsons & the entire Jack Johnson Team, the venues, Reverb, MusicMatters, Patagonia (our corporate sponsor), the tour staff, the Village Green Team, HeadCount, and all of the HeadCount volunteers!
A special shout out to my mom, my friends Jeff and Kelly who came to the Blossom Music Center show, Megan and Chris who came to the Camden show, Jay and Ilyse who came to the San Diego show, and to my brother, Justin and his friend Brian, who came to the Salt Lake City, Utah show.
photo: Justin and I @ the SLC show, August 2008.
Thanks, too, to my friend Eric who traveled a distance to help me out at the Camden, NJ show in August. Eric was the HeadCount Team Leader and a Reverb Coordinator for the 2008 John Mayer Tour.
photo: Eric and I @ the Susquehanna Bank Center show in Camden, NJ.
