OUR
GRATITUDE: 2007
Thank
You to Swish's Wishes and KFOG!
Thanks to non-profit Swish's
Wishes, a project of Oakland A's player Nick Swisher, Bay area children
and their families are invited to a free exclusive movie prmiere of The
Water Horse, Legend of the Deep on Friday, December 7 at the Century
9 Theatre in Westfield San Francisco Centre. We would like to thank our
good friend Sheri Nelson of KFOG
for partnering with us on this wonderful opportunity! So far, dozens of
kids from the Glide
youth program, Destiny
Arts, and Big
Brothers Big Sisters of the Bay Area all sent kids there.
Thank
You to the Employees of the Westin St. Francis!
On September 4, the Westin
St. Francis hosted their first "St. Francis Idol," an employee
talent show. The event was so popular, they sold videos of it, and donated
the $350 proceeds to us. Thank you, Westin St. Francis employees!
 Thank
You to Alonzo King and David Dunlop!
We would like to thank Alonzo
King and David Dunlop for donating 17 tickets for Alonzo
King's Lines Ballet on November 10! We selected San Francisco youth
drum and dance troupe Loco
Bloco to be the recipients for these tickets. After the performance,
the kids got to go backstage to meet Alonzo and the dancers! View the
online
photo album!
Thank
You to the Vinyl Room
We would like to thank Jon Stoll and Juan Loredo of the Vinyl
Room in Burlingame for choosing Music in Schools Today as the beneficiary
for their "Mixing Music & Fashion" fashion show fundraiser
on Saturday, November 10! We would also like to thank everyone who attended
the event ~ we received over $1400!
 Our
Gratitude to the Stars on Staff Team!
View
the slideshow!
We would like to sincerely thank the many people who helped make the Stars
on Staff Celebrity Waiter Luncheon and auction at Ana
Mandara in Ghiradelli
Square on Saturday, October 27 a huge success! This year's Honorary
Co-chairs were David
Gockley, Mayor
Gavin Newsom and Michael
Tilson Thomas. The Master of Ceremonies was Bob
Sarlatte, and entertainers included the Glide Youth Choir, the Presto
Quartet from Youth
Music International, Larry
Batiste, Dick
Bright Trio, Mike
Greensill, Sony
Holland, Bill
Keck, Denise
Perrier and Andrea President.
We
would like to thank our celebrity waiters: Peter
Albin, Wilkes
Bashford, Willie
Brown, Celia
Fushille-Burke, Leah
Garchik, Lois
Lehrman, and Pat
Yankee.
We
would like to thank our media sponsors, the Nob
Hill Gazette, KDFC
and KFOG, and our corporate
sponsors, Wells
Fargo and peermusic.
We would also like to thank our individual sponsors: Jack and Gail Anderson,
Carol S. Brooks, Ludmila Eggleton, Delia Fleishhacker Ehrlich, David and
Vicki Fleishhacker, Mr. and Mrs. Hugh W. Foster, Ray and Mandy Haas, Marcia
Hill, David and Barbara Kimport, Marie and Barry Lipman, Donald and Brenda
MacLean, Teresa Medearis, David and Jacklyn Pettus, Missy and Guido Saveri,
and Darian and Rick Swig.
We
would like to thank everyone who attended, with special gratitude to all
those who donated and who bid on our fantastic auction
items!
Last,
but certainly not least, we would like to thank our fantastic volunteers:
Becky Pringle, for tirelessly organizing such a fantastic auction, Erin
Kenny (MuST staff) for organizing the entire event, Mary Destri (MuST
staff), Gillian Etherington, Jane Hopkins, Ellen Kenny, Wei Li, Rene McIntyre,
David Polakovs, Dale Posner, Hilary Stancil, Jonna Weston, Betsy Wilkins
(MuST Board member), and Allison Young. We'd also like to thank the photographers
Scotty Morris and Susana
Millman for capturing the magic of the event so well!
Thank
You to Stanley R. Gatti Designs
We would like to thank Stanley
R. Gatti Designs for donating 140 tambourines to our Adopt
an Instrument program! There will by many new masters of rhythms in
the years to come, thanks to these tambourines!
 Thank
You to Jay LeBoeuf and Digidesign
We would like to thank Jay LeBoeuf, Senior Audio Engineer at Digidesign
in Daly City, for organizing an in-house instrument drive for our Adopt
an Instrument program this summer! On August 31, we received dozens
of instruments and other equipment, which will be going to several public
schools and youth centers in low income areas. Digidesign also donated
six brand new MBox 2s, which will be going to: Boys
and Girls Clubs, The
DJ Project, Destiny
Arts, DUSTY,
and Youth
Movement Records. Not to be outdone, when Digidesign's Menlo Park
office heard what the Daly City office had done, they decided to hold
their own drive!
Thank
You to KFOG and the Local Scene CD Artists!
Join us this Saturday, August 25 at Slim's
in San Francisco for a MuST benefit concert featuring four bands on the
KFOG
Local Scene 4 CD:
Honeycut,
Lotus
Rush,
Elliot
Randall
and
The J Band.
In addition to catching a great show, every ticket holder received a copy
of KFOG
Local Scene 4 CD.
Thank
You to AfroReggae and the Red Poppy Art House!
 Brazilian
superstars AfroReggae
led a very special Music Mentors
workshop for us on August 22, 2007, for the kids in the Rec
Connect program of the Hunters
Point Family. The kids watched the award-winning documentary about
AfroReggae's work in the slums of Rio, Favela
Rising (watch the online
preview or the YouTube
video) followed by a Q&A session with AfroReggae founder Anderson
Sa and other members of AfroReggae. The event took place at the Red
Poppy Art House. Four
kids from Destiny
Arts were in attendance at their show the following night at the Great
American Music Hall as well, courtesy of AfroReggae.
 Our
Thanks to Stern Grove Festival!
Music in Schools Today was invited by the Stern
Grove Festival to teach two of their new KidStage
programs for children before each main stage performance. On August 5,
Tracy Welsh taught percussion with drum circles prior to the Hugh Masekela
and Goapele concert, and on August 19, Lisa Bolin taught a children's
opera workshop on The Pirates of Penzance prior to the performance by
the San Francisco Opera (view the online
photo album). We would like to thank Stern Grove for collaborating
with us on these workshops, and for again providing us with an outreach
booth at all 2007 Stern Grove performances!
At left: Ready for the Pirates of Penzance opera workshop!
 Thank
You: W San Francisco & "Who Rocks" Bands
View
online photos from SF Chronicle
On Saturday, August 18, W
San Francisco presented "Who
Rocks San Francisco?" an exclusive benefit concert to benefit
Music in Schools Today. "Who Rocks San Francisco?" included
performances by seven hot Bay Area bands:Built
for the Sea, Cold
Hot Crash, LoveLikeFire,
Mister Loveless,
Poor Bailey,
The Hundred Days
and The Federalists,
and was MC'd by Aaron
Axelsen of Live 105's weekly radio show, Soundcheck.
Attendees
also had the opportunity to meet the bands and pick up a complimentary
copy of their compilation CD, Rose
Hill Collective – Volume 01. All proceeds from the $15 entrance
fee benefited MuST. We'd like to thank the wonderful staff of W
San Francisco, for making this such a wonderful event, particularly
Nicolle Blanco, who did such a great job organizing it all, in addition
to all the bands who played, as well as to all the attendees!
Thank
You to Yale School of Music and Hank Conlan
Meg Madden, Executive Director of Music in Schools Today, has been selected
as a recipient of the Yale
Distinguished Music Educator Awards for 2007. Educators from 35 cities
across the country received their honors at the Yale
Class of '57 Inaugral Biennial Symposium on Music Education, held
May 30-31.
 The
awards are part of the Music
in Schools Project of the Yale Class of '57, in honor of their fifty-year
reunion. Meg was nominted by Harvard alum Franklin P. Conlan, who stated,
"I have known Meg for the past 10 years, ever since I began a music
survey for the Yale Class of '57 Music Project. She is the most instrumental
person in public schools' music programs in Northern California. She's
a real inspiration in the Bay Area."
Robert Blocker, Dean of the Yale School of Music, added: "Your musical
achievements have transformed the lives of countless students, and your
work honors our discipline."
Thank
You to KFOG and the Local Scene 3 CD Artists!
 We
would like to thank KFOG
and Jude Heller for again selecting Music in Schools Today as the beneficiary
for the KFOG
Local Scene 3 CD, as well as all of the amazing local performers whose
work is showcased on the CD: grown,
Alexis Harte,
Brigitte DeMeyer,
Keith Varon,
The Bittersweets,
Etienne De Rocher,
Forest Sun, Mike
Therieau, Nya Jade,
Chris Brown,
MiGGs, The
Lovemakers, The
Mother Hips, and Pollo
Del Mar!
Thank
You to Greg Lamboy
We would like to thank Greg
Lamboy and everyone involved in his CD release party on Sunday, July
1 at the Cowell
Theater at Fort
Mason Center, to benefit Music in Schools Today. Performing along
with Greg and his band were special guests Katie
Garibaldi, Austin
Willacy, and Gail
Dobson's Youth in Jazz, producing an evening filled with uplifting
music performed by artists who directly benefited from school music programs
in their youth.
Thank
You to Don Miggs and Lisa DeBartolo!
We would like
to thank Don Miggs of the
band MiGGs and
his bride Lisa DeBartolo for inviting their wedding guests to make a donation
to Music in Schools Today in lieu of wedding gifts for their big day on
May 10. We wish you a wonderful life together!
Thank
You to Animal Liberation Orchesta!
We would like to thank Animal
Liberation Orchestra and everyone who stopped by our information table
at their CD
release party at the Fillmore on May 5 for their newest release, Roses
& Clover, on Brushfire Records. Steve
Adams, ALO's bassist, is one of our online music mentors. And we made
new friends with our tablemates, the wonderful people of Bread
& Roses!
Thank
You to Everyone Who Helped San Francisco School of the Arts
During spring break, thieves broke into San
Francisco School of the Arts (SOTA), and stole several instruments
from their jazz band, among other things. Meg Madden, our Executive Director,
received an e-mail from Lorraine Magsanay of SOTA:
"I'm
writing to you in the hopes that perhaps you may be able to help us
out. Last week was spring break, so school was out for the entire week.
On the 1st day off, Monday, we had a terrible break-in, which resulted
in the theft of music instruments of our jazz ensemble. One of the instruments,
a tenor sax, belonged to one of our artists-in-residence, who was lending
it to a student of parents who couldn't afford one for their son. That
sax was a gift to our artist from Jon Callaway.
"Since
it's now the end of the school year and our budget is totally depleted,
the school cannot replace any of these instruments. Thus, in the afternoons,
during the time when all the art disciplines are in session, the jazz
musician students are unable to practice. This is the time of year when
there will be back-to-back art exhibits, shows, presentations, plays,
musicals, etc., at the school, and of course, there is scheduled to
be a jazz performance.
"Basically, I'm asking that perhaps in some way your organization
may be able to help us replace some of the stolen instruments and if
not replace them, at least loan us some until the end of the school
year which is just 2 1/2 months away. Stolen items were: 1 tenor sax,
1 baritone sax, 1 electric bass, BS amplifier, a complete drum set,
timbales. I hope to hear from you soon regarding my request, and thank
you so much for taking the time to read this."
Since
we didn't have any of these specific instruments in-stock through our
Adopt an
Instrument program, Meg contacted our friends at several Bay area
radio stations and print media to request their assistance in publicizing
this crisis. KFOG's
morning show DJs called Lorraine live on the air, and asked her to explain
what happened, and generous KFOG listeners responded by donating instruments
and cash to SOTA.
Leah
Garchik of the San Francisco Chronicle also wrote the following in
her column of 4/13/07:
"After
reporting that a whole band's worth of instruments -- tenor sax, baritone
sax, electric bass, BS amplifier, drum set and timbales -- were stolen
from the School of the Arts in San Francisco over spring break, KFOG
morning show host Dave Morey put out the call for donated replacements
and money. One response came from a former road manager for Clarence
Clemons, Bruce Springsteen's sax man. The manager had heard the plea
and told Clemons about it. The station's Peter Finch says, 'It looks
like a member of the SOTA jazz ensemble will ... be playing a saxophone
donated by Clemons.'''
If
you would like to help as well, please call us at 415-392-9010.
Thank
You to Sequoyah Country Club, Sponsors & Golfers! PHOTOS
Music in Schools Today held our First Annual Golf Tournament at Sequoyah
Country Club in the Oakland Hills on Monday, April 30th. Proceeds
are going towards our Music
Integrated Literacy Enhancement (MILE) program in the Oakland Unified
School District.
Golfers participated
in the Jet
Blue Challenge, Hole-In-One and Closest-to-Hole contests. Each golfer
also received gift bags with gifts from Golfsmith,
Bay Area Golf Guides,
CLIF Bars,
Peet's Coffee, Maker's
Mark, MuST baseball caps from Sequoyah
Country Club, and
unbreakable tees from Playing
Pro Golf Company, (thanks, Chris
Embree!) Students from Oaktown
Jazz Workshops played for the reception, and our good friend Scott
Chernis was on hand to capture all the magic of the day in photos!
View the online photo album!
Congratulations
On-Course Event Winners:
- Eric Olson,
winner of the Longest Drive
- Birgit
Hoffman, winner of the Jet Blue Challenge Shoot Out
- Studebaker
foursome, the overall winning foursome
- Fujita
foursome, the runner-up foursome
Our
Thanks to Auction Item Donors:
Our
Thanks to Beverage Donors:
Our
Thanks to Tee Sponsors:
Thank
You to Kohl Mansion
At each of the Music
at Kohl Mansion concerts from October through April, instruments were
collected for our Adopt
an Instrument program,
at each of their concerts in their Chamber
Music Series, their Family
Concerts and Children's
Concerts. We would like to thank Kohl Mansion, as well as everyone
who donated instruments!
Thank
You to STAR 101.3 FM, Don Bleu and Jersey Boys!
STAR
101.3 FM broadcasted their morning show with Don Bleu live from the
Curran
Theatre on April 20, which offered Jersey
Boys ticket presales to their listeners from 7-10 a.m. A donation
in the amount of $5000 was made to Music in Schools Today in conjunction
with this event. We would like to thank STAR 101.3 FM, Don Bleu, Jersey
Boys and Best of Broadway
for this donation.
Thanks
on Behalf of John Muir Elementary
On behalf
of everyone at John
Muir Elementary in San Francisco, we would like to thank the two gentlemen
(who wish to remain anonymous) who donated $9000 to Music in Schools Today
to create a music program at John Muir. The majority of the funds will
go towards the purchase of instruments for the school.
Thank
You to Jack Mercer
We would like
to thank 13-year-old Jack Mercer for choosing Music in Schools Today as
one of three non-profits to benefit from a concert he produced on April
14 at the Terra Linda Recreation Center in San Rafael. MuST, along with
the Lung Cancer Foundation and the National Kidney Foundation, will each
receive $200 from the event. Thanks, Jack ~ you have a big future in concert
production!
Thank You to California Pizza Kitchen!
We would like
to thank California Pizza
Kitchen for choosing Music in Schools Today as the beneficiary of
their grand opening of their new location at 53 Third Street in San Francisco.
CPK donated 100% of dine-in pizza sales on Monday, March 19 to MuST, totaling
over $3,000!
OUR
GRATITUDE: 2006
Thank
You to the Hard Rock Cafe San Francisco
This year,
MuST was chosen as the beneficiary of the auction at the Hard Rock Cafe's
annual Pinapalooza
extravaganza, which was held on Saturday, November 4 at the Hard
Rock Cafe San Francisco at Pier 39. We would like to thank Bob Boemer
and Michael Montgomery for choosing MuST as their beneficiary!
Record-Breaking
11th Annual FUNdraiser, Stars on Staff (PHOTOS)
 Thank
you to all who helped make this year's Stars on Staff the most successful
to date! Our annual celebrity waiter luncheon and auction
was held on Saturday, November 4 at Ana
Mandara. Check out our online
photo album! This year's Honorary Co-chairs were David
Gockley, Mayor
Gavin Newsom and Michael
Tilson Thomas, and Co-chairs were Marcia Hill and Gail Anderson. Master
of Ceremonies was Bob
Sarlatte, and our celebrity waiters included Rudy
Colombini, Kip
Cranna, Harry
Denton, Gail
Dobson, Celia
Fushille Burke, Leah
Garchik, Herbert
Gold, Ian Rhett,
Don
Sanchez, Tiffany
Shlain, Michael
Smuin, Tom
Vacar, and Jan Wahl.
Entertainers
included youth performers Anthony Tecala and Richard Herron, San
Francisco Opera Fellows Kimwana Doner and Matthew Piatt, Gail
Dobson's Youth in Jazz, Berkeley
Youth Orchestra, School
of the Arts Jazz Quartet, plus Larry
Batiste, Dick
Bright, Mike
Greensill, Bill
Keck and a performer from Steve
Silver's Beach Blanket Babylon, Kim
Nalley, Wesla
Whitfield, and magician Jay
Alexander.
Corporate
sponsors included KDFC,
KFOG, Musicians
Union Local Six, and peermusic.
In-kind donors included Ana
Mandara Restaurant, Butler and Associates, KFOG,
Maker's Mark,
See's Candies, Sherman
Clay & Co. and R&B
Cellars. Individual sponsors included Gail Anderson, Cheryl Baxter,
Courtney Benoist & Jason M. Fish, Delia Fleishhacker Ehrlich, David
& Vicki Fleishhacker, Mort & Frannie Fleishhacker, Hugh &
Ceseli Foster, Kris Getz, Bill & Frances Green, Peggy Haas, Barbara
Henry, Marcia Hill, Lock & Irene Holmes, George & Leslie Hume,
Mike & Saori Kappus, Linda Kendall, Brenda & Don MacLean, Meg
Madden, Barbara Marks, Teresa Medearis, Jackie & Dave Pettus, Jane
& John Siegel, Darian & Rick Swig, Betsy Wilkins & Harvey
Mandel, and Dede Wilsey.
Our
Gratitude to the SF Weekly Music Awards
We would like to thank the SF
Weekly for again choosing Music in Schools Today as the beneficiary
of the proceeds of their annual SF
Weekly Music Awards, which were held at the Warfield on Wednesday,
October 18. Performers at the event included The
Coup, Every
Move a Picture, Scissors
for Lefty, and Adrian
and Mysterious D.
Thank
You to Joe Satriani!
Joe Satriani raffled off a customized, autographed Ibanez guitar,
one of only 10 Super Colossal Joe Satriani signature guitars manufactured
with the motif of the album-cover artwork of Satriani's current Super
Colossal release. The raffle raised more than $22,000 to benefit Music
In Schools Today and Little Kids Rock.
Thanks
to Talking House Productions, NARAS, Auction Donors & Bidders
We would like to thank Talking
House Productions and and the SF
chapter of The Recording Academy (The Grammys) for choosing us as
the beneificiary of the silent
auction at the All-Star
Tribute to San Francisco Music, Past and Future. Some of California's
greatest music stars gathered on Friday, October 6 at The
Warfield to perform a once-in-a-lifetime concert celebrating San Francisco's
rich history and fertile future as a world center of creativity and popular
music. Over 2,000 music and entertainment VIPs, Audio
Engineering Society convention attendees and Bay Area music students
converged to enjoy the private music industry concert, reception and fundraiser.
We received over $10,000 from the auction, and we would like to thank
everyone who bid on the auction items, as well as all the wonderful auction
donors, listed below.
Thanks & congratulations to Green Day for donating the highest
bid item!
Photo courtesy of Susana
Millman
Thanks
to Everyone Involved in Stern Grove Festival Booth
We would like to thank everyone who helped with our successful annual
outreach booth at the Stern
Grove Festival concerts in San Francisco, held every Sunday from June
18 through August 20 this year. Our gratitude to the kind people at Stern
Grove, all the volunteers who staffed the booth, and to everyone who stopped
by to get information or donate an instrument!
Thanks
to "Love, Janis" Producers
We would like to thank the producers of Love,
Janis, a musical about the legendary blues rocker Janis Joplin, who
donated $5 for each ticket purchased for San Francisco performances from
July 7 through 16.
Thanks
to All: "Save School Arts Rally" 5/16 a Huge Success!
Nearly 500 legislators, musicians, students and parents gathered at the
San
Francisco City Hall Rotunda for a "Save School Arts Rally"
on Tuesday, May 16. The event highlighted the crucial need to ensure that
the $100 million line item for school arts education programs, endangered
by a looming budget measure, remains intact, so that each child in California
can enjoy at least a basic exposure to arts and music. The rally is specifically
in support of the $100 million proposed state line item for arts education
and the $53 million line item in the federal Department of Education budget.
Guests included
some of the Bay Area's most prominent musicians, including the Alexander
String Quartet, Tommy
Castro, Mickey
Hart and Joe
Satriani. Student performances included the Berkeley
Youth Orchestra String Quartet, Gail
Dobson Youth in Jazz and Melecio Magdaluyo and the School
of the Arts Jazz Quartet. The event was co-sponsored by KDFC,
the Mayor’s
Office of Neighborhood Services and San
Francisco State University. KDFC emceed the event, and presented their
"Music
Educator of the Year Award" during the rally. Grateful Dead drummer
Mickey Hart closed
the event with a high-octane drum circle the likes of which City Hall
has never seen! Check out our online
photo album of the event!
Watch the
online video of KQED's Spark documentary on Oakland's arts-integrated
ASCEND
School, an excellent example of a community based school that integrates
music and the arts into the core curriculum.
Thank
You to the Bothin Foundation
We have received a generous donation of $23,000 from the Bothin
Foundation to provide a music program at El
Dorado Elementary in San Francisco's Visitacion Valley neighborhood.
Thank
You to Stanford Shopping Center
From March 1 ~ 18, MuST once again held annual instrument drive for our
Adopt
an Instrument program in
collaboration with Stanford
Shopping Center's Prelude
to Spring event. We received dozens of much needed intstruments, which
were donated to East Palo
Alto High School and other Ravenswood
City School District schools. We would like to thank the Stanford
Shopping Center, and the many generous people who donated instruments!
Thank
You to Jamie Davis and the Count Basie Orchestra
MuST would like to thank vocalist Jamie
Davis and members of the world famous Count
Basie Orchestra, conducted by Shelly Berg, with sound by Grammy Award
winner Woody Woodruff for the MuST benefit concert on January 8 at the
San Francisco
Palace of Fine Arts.
OUR
GRATITUDE ~ 2005
A
Special Holiday Wish Fulfilled ~ Thanks to Adopt an Instrument Donor!
Music in Schools Today has had a long-standing collaboration with CMP
Media's Community Connection program, which works with several organizations
that assist the underserved population. In addition to our ongoing collaborative
Music
Mentor program at Malcolm X Academy, this year, Alison Brown of CMP
contacted us to fill a special child's holiday wish for a new violin.
Through our
Adopt an Instrument program,
thirteen-year old Christopher, a resident at La
Casa de Las Madres shelter for abused women and children in San Francisco,
found a beautiful new violin under the tree this year!
Thank
You to Everyone Involved in the Tenth Annual Stars on Staff!
Thank you to the truly countless individuals who helped make MuST's tenth
annual Stars on Staff Celebrity Waiter Luncheon at Ana
Mandara, on November 5 a tremendous success! Check out our online
photo album and our amazing auction
items.
Honorary
Co-Chairs are Mayor
Gavin Newsom and Michael
Tilson Thomas. The Honorary Committee members include U.S.
Senator Barbara Boxer, Stefanie
Coyote, U.S.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, Daniel
Grossman, Marcia Hill, State
Assemblyman Mark Leno and U.S.
Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi.
Celebrity
waiters include: Rudy
Colombini, Dick
Conte, PJ
Corkery, Stefanie
Coyote, Gail
Dobson, Bevan
Dufty, Phil
Elwood, Peter
Finch, Dave Getz,
Susan Getz, Herb
Gold, Joshua
Kosman, Lois
Lehrman, Dennis
McNally, Barry
Melton, Natasha
Miller, Kim Nalley,
Dianne
Nicolini, Ian Rhett,
Mark
Sanchez, Bill
Schechner, Gene
Schoenfeld, Hoyt
Smith, Michael
Smuin, Tom
Vacar, Jan
Wahl and Ken
Wayne. Master of Ceremonies will be Bob
Sarlatte, and music provided by Mike
Greensill and Kim
Nalley.
Event
corporate sponsors include KFOG,
Disc Makers and
KDFC. In-kind sponsors
include Galleron
Signature Wines, Lynch
Vineyards, Ana
Mandara, Sherman
Clay Pianos and Maker's
Mark. Individual sponsors include Drs. Andrew and Sandra Calman, David
Fleishhacker, Kris Getz, Eric Schwartz, Marcia Hill, and the Richard E.
Cummings Memorial Fund.
Thank
You to SF Weekly Music Awards
We would like to thank the kind folks over at the SF
Weekly for choosing MuST as the beneficiary for their sixteenth annual
SF Weekly
Music Awards, held this year on Thursday, October 20, at the Warfield
Theatre.
MuST
Board Member Danny Glover's Commentary on Hurricane Katrina
John Coltrane once said, "The main thing a musician would like to
do, is to give a picture to the listener of the many wonderful things
he knows of and senses in the universe." When Miles Davis asked him
why he played so long, Coltrane answered, "It took that long to get
it all in."
New
Orleans is the site of so many wonderful things, the city being a great
crossroads of diverse peoples, languages, architectures, cuisines, and
rhythms through the centuries. But it has also been the site of shameful
things -- slavery, exploitation and neglect.
It
is a tribute to jazz musicians that they sought to "get it all in."
The music itself -- vital, transformative, seductive, subversive and often
improvised -- provided the record that tied each generation to the next.
Out of suffering and hardship, we have heard time and again jazz artists
rediscover possibility. Such is the power of imagination. And
hence, the critical importance of this evening's effort.
When
the hurricane struck the Gulf, and the floodwaters rose and tore through
New Orleans, plunging its remaining population into a carnival of misery,
it did not turn the region into a Third World country -- as it has been
disparagingly implied in the media -- it revealed one. It revealed the
disaster within the disaster: grueling poverty rose to the surface like
a bruise to our skin.
But
the storm not only revealed the poverty of those most vulnerable, those
left behind. It revealed the poverty of skewed priorities that put the
shoulder of technology to the wheel of death rather than life, creating
killing machines that are now called "smart" and surveillance
systems that, in the words of the great Guyanese poet Martin Carter, "are
watching you sleep and aiming at your dreams."
Mother
Nature revealed the poverty of a mindset that narrowly views security
as a military issue. That is blind to the role of culture in sustaining
the mental health and social wellness of people, which is also the basis
for economic productivity. Blind to the role of culture in education,
through which we are prepared for our responsibilities in a democracy.
And hostile to the role of culture in the search for truth.
Hurricane
Katrina revealed, more than anything, a poverty of imagination.
~Spoken
at Jazz
at Lincoln Center's Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Fund benefit.
Thank
You to Stern Grove
We would like to thank our friends at Stern
Grove for again providing us with an outreach table at all of their
summer concerts. In addition to educating concertgoers about us, we were
able to collect donated instruments for our Adopt
an Instrument program.
Thank
You to All Who Donated In Memory of Doug Smith
Former MuST Board member Doug Smith tragically lost his life in a motorcycle
accident as he returned from the Russian River Blues Festival on June
18 (newspaper
article). During his many years with MuST, Doug was a tireless advocate
for music education, and we were honored to have him in the family. MuST
is one of two organizations designated to receive donations in Doug's
name; if you would like to donate, please do so online.
We would like to thank KRSH for organizing Doug's free memorial
concert, the nine bands who performed there, and the hundreds
of KRSH listeners who have donated to MuST in memory of Doug.
Thank
You to JamBase!
We'd like to thank the good folks at JamBase
for choosing MuST as the beneficiary of their 2005
jam band calendar proceeds, which have totalled over $2300 to date.
Thank
You to Kathleen Carpenter of Shaman Entertainment
MuST would like to thank our newest major donor, Kathleen Carpenter
of Shaman
Entertainment for the support! Welcome to the MuST family!
Thank
You to The Robert Cray Band, Marcia Ball, and Friends
On Thursday, May 26, The
Robert Cray Band and Marcia
Ball performed at a benefit for Music in Schools Today at the Herbst
Theatre. We would like to thank MuST board member Mike Kappus of The
Rosebud Agency for making this possible, as well as MuST board member
Gregg Perloff of Another
Planet Entertainment for producing the event, and See's
Candies for their sponsorship.
Thank
You to Buddahead, Guitars Not Guns & Excelsior Boys & Girls Club
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Music in Schools Today online Music Mentors Buddahead
conducted a free guitar workshop for kids at the music studio at the
Boys
& Girls Club of the Excelsior in San Francisco on May 20.
The kids were given Buddahead t-shirts and guitar picks to remember
the occasion. This workshop was part of our Music
Mentor Workshop series, and was in collaboration with non-profit
Guitars Not
Guns. Many thanks to Raman, Simon, Alex, Matt, Darren, and all
the awesome kids who participated! |
Thank
You to Dr. Louise Montello of Musicians' Wellness, Inc.
On February 26 & 27, the Music in Schools Today Achieving
Through Music team attended a very informative weekend workshop on
music therapy, led by Dr. Louise Montello of Musicians'
Wellness, Inc. Each afternoon, students from the Achieving program
led drum circles with the workshop participants. In addition to her work
with musicians one-one-one and in workshops, Louise has authored an excellent
music therapy book, called Essential
Musical Intelligence.
Mavis
Staples, Mike Kappus & Meg Madden |
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Thank
You to Mike Kappus and Mavis Staples!
When
you purchase anything from Amazon.com through the link from The
Rosebud Agency website, all proceeds will be donated to Music
in Schools Today. Plus, a portion of the profits from the new Mavis
Staples CD, "Have
a Little Faith," are being donated to MuST. Our sincere
thanks to Mike Kappus, president of The Rosebud Agency and MuST
Board member, for arranging these donations!
Congratulations
to Mavis and the Staple Singers on their Lifetime
Achievement Award at the 2005 Grammys! |
OUR
GRATITUDE ~ 2004
9th
Annual STARS ON STAFF Celebrity Waiter Benefit A Huge Success!
Our endless gratitude to the many celebrity waiters, entertainers, volunteers,
sponsors, auction donors, Board members, Ana
Mandara staff, and last but not least, our fabulous guests, all who
helped make this year's annual FUNdraiser, Stars
on Staff one of the best ever on Saturday, November 13. Check out
the photos of the event and read celebrity
waiter Mr. SF's account.
Thank
You to Flocabulary
The good people at Flocabulary
have chosen Music in Schools Today to receive a percentage of sales of
their products. Flocabulary the first vocabulary building exercise to
combine hip-hop music with vocabulary words that are commonly found on
the SAT test.
Town
Hall Restaurant Talent Show
Town Hall restaurant
hosted the First Annual Town Hall Talent Show to benefit Music In Schools
Today, in honor of their one-year anniversary on Thursday, November 4.
Thank you for a fabulous evening!
Rock
'n' Roll Spelling Bee
For the second year in a row, we would like to thank event producers Wendy
Smith and Tammy Fortin for selecting Music in Schools Today as a beneficiary,
along with National Novel Writing Month, for their annual Rock
'n' Roll Spelling Bee, this year held on September 25 at the Rickshaw
Stop.
Thanks
to Mickey Hart & EarthDance of Northern California
On September 17-19, EarthDance
hosted a three-day global festival for peace, highlighted by a Drums
of Peace event. Held in over 150 cities in 48 countries around the
world, the northern
California gathering was presided over by Mickey
Hart of the Grateful Dead, at Black Oak Ranch in Laytonville, and
attended by over 3,000 people, who played drums donated by REMO.
Thanks to Bob Barsotti of EarthDance, after the event, over 100 people
donated their drums to Music in Schools Today, for placement in northern
California public schools.
Dave
Matthews Band Concert
Our gratitude to our Board member Gregg Perloff of Another
Planet Entertainment for arranging an outreach booth for us at the
Dave Matthews
Band concert in Golden Gate Park on September 12. We would also like
to thank the Bill
Graham Foundation for collaborating with us on this event, as well
as the many people who stopped by our booth to learn more about how they
can support music and arts education. Music in Schools Today supporter
Carlos Santana even made
a surprise appearance onstage, and an amazing day was had by all! Buy
the 3-CD
set of the concert from Radio Alice.
Thank
You to KFOG!
Tom
Luce with Mary Destri
and Robin Schmidt of MuST
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We'd like to thank Jude Heller and our other friends at KFOG
radio for donating over $12,000 to MuST in proceeds from sales of
KFOG's
Local Scene CD. KFOG's Local Music Month concerts in July, which
also benefited MuST, featured Matt
Nathanson and Luce
at the Union
Square concert. |
Matt
Nathanson with MuST
music therapist Robin Schmidt |
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