Backbone Campaign Musical Benefit Soul Train, not Coal Train!

It’s that time again…and the theme is "Soul Train, not Coal Train!"

The next Backbone Campaign Benefit is coming up on Saturday night, November 24th at the Red Bicycle Bistro & Sushi. This will be the weekend after Thanksgiving, so we’re feeling like it will be a very festive and fun gathering.

Back in 2007, I produced our first musical Backbone Benefit along with Bill Moyer and the music we showcased was by far the most popular of all of the themed shows we’ve done through the years, the music of The Beatles. Twenty-eight songs were performed that night, but we could have kept on going well into the night.

Since then, Bill and I have collaborated on many more themed Backbone events.

So…we’re going to do it again, with the theme this time around as follows: the music of the popular TV Series back in the day called "Soul Train". Basically anything with soul, but if you want some ideas, take a look here for an online index of artists who performed on Soul Train: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guests_on_Soul_Train

But please.....we have to draw the line at Milli Vanilli......

Bill Moyer and the Backbone Campaign supporters continue to do some incredible things out in the world right now – this is your chance to contribute to their efforts.

Bill would like us to know that this fall, forces are gathering for a fight over the future of the Northwest. Sustainability or Coal Corridor? Efforts for a more stable climate, safe communities, and hopes for a shift toward a sustainable economy are threatened by the proposed additional 30 miles of coal trains a day running through our communities. Coal ports, like the one proposed for Bellingham threaten our precious Puget Sound, great rivers and coast. Peabody Coal, Goldman Sachs, and Warren Buffet’s BNSF Railroad are amongst the those ready to trade our well being for their profit with impunity for the social and environmental costs.

All this to power polluting Chinese factories whose poison and cheap goods will come back to haunt our health and economy. Coal is a Dead End and we need a completely different path forward. Backbone Campaign is fight for a truly sustainable energy and transportation infrastructure. Tribal communities concerned for the future of salmon, cities and towns along the tracks, and port towns are linking arms to build a movement to put a cork in the the export of coal through the Northwest. Backbone Campaign is mobilizing action brigades and imagery to support this movement and propel a vision for true sustainability.

Let’s fund this fight with "Peace, Love and Soul!"

Musicians may perform one Soul Train song at the benefit, either as a solo act or with accompaniment. There have been some great solo performances in the past, as well as some wonderful collaborations that people are still talking about, so we’re hoping for more of the same for this event.

Although it won’t be an acoustic event, it won’t be a big amplified huge extravaganza either. We’ll rotate quite a few people through (maybe 25 or so time slots) each playing one song. There is not much time for set-up, sound check, or tear down, so we want to keep it simple. It’s difficult to accommodate large bands, but not impossible if the transition time takes place quickly.

Musicians: Pick a song, email me back and let me know what it is as soon as possible, and we’ll add it to our list so we don’t have any duplicates. The list tends to fill up pretty fast and please remember, it will have to be first come, first serve…there’s just a certain amount of time slots available and so many more musicians to fill them out here on the Island. Have a second choice in mind, just in case your first one is taken already. We need to try to solidify everything within a week or so in order to print posters and get the word to the local papers by their deadlines. This is a great audience to play to and if you have CD’s of your own music, it’s a great event to make some sales!

You will be able to see an updated list of the artists who have signed up for this event and what songs they will be performing on the Red Bicycle Bistro web site at http://www.redbicyclebistro.com as soon as people start submitting their songs to us. We’ll have the standard sound setup at The Red Bicycle with the in-house equipment they have, and then run everyone through a guitar amp so that we can keep the flow going and not have to do a sound check for each person.

Also, we would like to have some sort of representation by the youth on the island if at all possible…if you know of anyone under 21 that might be interested in performing, please let us know. We think it would add another wonderful dynamic to this special night. There is a window of time between 7:30 & 11pm when anyone under 21 can be in the restaurant where we could make this happen.

As usual, we’ll be looking for musicians to share keyboards, drum kits, guitar and bass amps, so if you’re able to do help out with this, please let me know.

As always, a huge thanks to everyone who takes the stage and also to those of you who will come to enjoy the music. We are blown away by this wonderful community of musicians and music lovers that continue to support each other every day.

Music creates community. Music matters.