Rockin’ for charity
Ho, ho, ho and Merry Christmas. Everyone knows that Christmas is a time for giving, receiving and laughing at carolers as they stand outside your door singing about reindeer with incredibly bright red noses.
In many ways, rock concerts are like Christmas.
This Saturday on the second floor of the Taggart Student Center, the Campus Independent Music Association (C.I.M.A.), along with the help of many other sponsors and individuals will be putting on a show for the student body and residents of Cache Valley. Everyone is invited to enjoy an evening of music and fun all done in the spirit of giving. The event boasts fifteen bands, five DJs and several other talented performers from the Logan area.
And the whole kit and caboodle only costs $3.
With the natural disasters that have been sweeping the globe, people from everywhere have united to help those in need. Some help through charitable organizations, others fight the calamities with their music.
The Live 8 concert held last summer, put on in four different countries and earned over $80 million, was organized with the sole purpose of ending global poverty. Just like children selling lemonade to raise money for a family in Indonesia affected by the tsunami, the concert epitomized the spirit of service and the desire to benefit others.
The Rock the Red Cross benefit concert has the same goal in mind: benefiting those struck by tragedy. All proceeds from the evening will be used to aid six families that lost their homes to hurricane Katrina and since have found refuge here in Logan.
Rock the Red Cross will begin at 5:30 p.m. and go until the fat lady sings, or in our case, until after The Rock Bandits perform. (They take the stage around 10:00 p.m.) After the concert, representatives from the Red Cross will be invited onstage to personally accept all donations earned throughout the course of the evening. The organizers will also be raffling off a variety prizes. The grand prize for the raffle is an acoustic guitar donated by KSM music. So if for some reason you find yourself leaving for a couple hours, make sure to come back for the drawing.
At this festival of hope, you can jump to the sounds of bands like Swill, MoJam, Flocked Cows and many others.
Dallon Williams, a singer for the band Smooth Like James, said Swill is a wicked awesome ska-regae band.
“I love Swill; I love their sound. They are sure to make your head bob and your toes tap,” Williams said.
Todd Milovich, a member of the Utah State University faculty and one of the chief organizers for Rock the Red Cross concert, said that MoJam is a really interesting band in that they are a hip hop band that actually uses real instruments.
For all those that would rather spin on their heads than tap their toes, there will also be a variety of DJ’s present to mix-up and spin-up some groovin’ tunes. The evening’s artists include: Turntable Willie, DJ Keebs and Albert Bergado.
Do yourself a favor and do something good. But don’t take my word for it, spend $3 for a great cause and come enjoy the sounds of some really great bands. After all, in the words of good ol’ Abe Lincoln, “when I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad.”
So why not get yourself an early Christmas present and “feel good” as you attend Rock the Red Cross.
Josh is sophomore majoring in International Studies and reviews local bands bi-weekly. Josh can be reached at jlaw@cc.usu.edu
(Michael Sharp)