$20.00 at door $15.00 advance (Advance Sales Ended) Old Town Alexandria, VA – The Torpedo Factory Art Center and Hungry for Music team up to help young musicians in need with a good old fashioned Louisiana Dance Party, sure to make you happy as a clam in mud! Proceeds from ticket sales will benefit Hungry for Music, a Washington, D.C.-based charity that helps get instruments into the hands of young musicians in need. Musical instrument donations will also be accepted at the door. LIVE MUSIC BY TWO BANDS Washington, D.C.-based Squeeze Bayou plays traditional Cajun and zydeco dance music from Southwestern Louisiana. The band specializes in two steps and waltzes, but the music reflects a blend of many styles including country music,

blues and Creole. Most of its material comes from traditional sources and the vocals are sung in Cajun French.

The Junkyard Saints is a Baltimore-based seven-piece band with full horn section performing its own brand of New Orleans-style party music, blending funk, swing, Latin and R&B, with a splash of zydeco. Junkyard Saints has played at some of the most notable venues and festivals in the country including the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and Fort Lauderdale’s Cajun Crawfish and Riverwalk Blues festivals.

CAJUN DANCE LESSONS
Dance instructors Ben Pagac and Debbie Shaw will be on hand to provide free lessons in the art of swing, cajun and zydeco foot stompin’. The popular dance instructors regularly offer zydeco dance lessons throughout the Washington, D.C. area.

MARDI GRAS GOODIES AND REFRESHMENTS
Guests will enjoy King Cake and there will be Mardi Gras beads for all in celebration of the upcoming Fat Tuesday festivities. Drinks will be plentiful at the cash bar, along with light snacks.

A Tribute To Hazel jerkens General Admission $20.00 Tickets will not be mailed. Please pick up tickets at the door. Bill Emerson, Dudley Connell and Dede Wyland headline 10 bluegrass acts in A Tribute to Hazel jerkens at 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 10, at the Lee Center’s Richard Kauffman auditorium in Alexandria to benefit for Hungry for Music. This show is to honor Hazel jerkens, 75, the legendary bluegrass and old-time musician, who also will grace the stage. jerkens grew up the eighth of 11 children in a mining family in West Virginia, and she has used bluegrass and country music to further the causes of unionized coal workers and feminism.

Hungry for Music supports music education and cultural enrichment, both in the United States and abroad, by acquiring and distributing quality musical instruments to needy children with willing instructors and a hunger to play. The nonprofit charity, which will accept instrument donations at this show, will be helping the Lee Recreation Center start a music program for underserved children in Alexandria.

The show’s lineup also includes Randy Barrett, Bumpkin Pie (with Coup de Grass), Karen Collins and the Backroads Trio, Sweet Dixie, Dead Men’s Hollow, Sally Love, Akira Olsuka and the U-Liners. Co-sponsors are the Alexandria City Community Theater and the D.C. Bluegrass Union.

Van Morrison Tribute Adult – General Admission $15.00 Children 12 and under $12.00 Tickets will not be mailed. Please pick up at the door. Folk/Americana artists Jerry Bresee, David Morreale, Karyn Oliver, Lisa Taylor and Doug Alan Wilcox will perform a Singer-Songwriter Tribute to Van Morrison at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 20, at the Takoma Park Community Center to benefit for Hungry for Music. Takoma Park-based Hungry for Music is a nonprofit charity organization that supports music education and cultural enrichment, both in the United States and abroad, by acquiring and distributing quality musical instruments to under-served children with willing instructors and a hunger to play.

Jeff Campbell, Hungry for Music’s founder and director, heard Wilcox sing his favorite Morrison tune at a Focus Music-sponsored benefit in January, and they shared their fondness for the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer known for hits such as “Brown-Eyed Girl” and “Moondance.”

“When Jeff proposed the idea for this show to me … the thought stuck and I couldn’t let it go,” said Wilcox, of Hagerstown, Md. “Several months later, we were off and running. Assembling the cast of musicians was ridiculously easy — everyone jumped at the chance to play some songs by one of the world’s most revered writers, and the cause is an important one to all of us. The opportunity for interplay between performers on some wonderful tunes should make this show a very special experience.”

Performers’ websites: www.jerrybresee.com, www.mudsongs.com, www.karynoliver.com, www.lisataylormusic.com, www.dougalanwilcox.com.

Berklee College Of Music Concert Adult – General Admission $15.00 Children 12 and under $12.00 Tickets will not be mailed. Please pick up at door. Esther Haynes, of the Washington area, is a versatile vocalist and rhythm guitarist. Her styles range from vintage jazz to swing, blues, bossa nova, folk and bluegrass. Since 2003, she has been won several Washington Area Music awards (Wammies), including Big Band/Swing Vocalist and Jazz Vocalist. She has performed with Hokum Jazz, Martini Red, the Tom Cunningham Orchestra, and several jazz duos and trios.

Singer-songwriter Laura Vecchione’s voice is unearthly beautiful, yet deep, rich, and full of emotion, evoking wide rivers of the South that seem far from her origins in New York and Boston. Vecchione’s catchy lyrics and beautiful melodies exude pop appeal. What sets her apart as an artist, though, is rare depth and maturity. “Girl in the Band” (2008), the sequel to her impressive debut album, “Deeper Waters,” was recorded in Nashville and Boston and shines with Vecchione’s unique balance of pop-appeal and gravitas.

Victoria Vox has logged seven years of nonstop touring and last year won Wammie recognition as best Folk-Contemporary Vocalist. Vox was far from a child musical prodigy, but got the music bug early on, and began writing songs when she was 10 and started performing at coffeehouses as a solo artist and in bands by the time she was 17. She’s ever since been dedicated to honing her craft and has grown incredibly over the years as a writer and performer, tackling the violin, oboe, trumpet, guitar, bass, ukulele, and squeezebox. Vox switched from guitar to ukulele four years after receiving a songwriting degree from Berklee, and before the official release date of her debut album in 2006 (“Victoria Vox and Her Jumping Flea”), she was offered an endorsement deal with KoAloha Ukuleles, of Honolulu. The disc was featured on NPR’s “To The Best of Our Knowledge” and its songs were picked up for licensing in television and independent films. Her new album, “Exact Change” (May 2010) has a distinct worldly flair as tunes with French and Flamenco influences (“Mon Cheri” and “Intermission”) are visited by accordion, upright bass and banjo. ”Exact Change,” with its modern and rhythmic ukulele technique, propels Vox’s original style towards the contemporary, but her voice and songs themselves are at the heart of everything she produces.
Performers’ websites: www.estherhaynesmusic.com, www.lauravmusic.com, www.victoriavox.com

Barry Louis Polisar & Robbie Schaefer to play benefit
Top children’s entertainers Barry Louis Polisar and Robbie Schaefer are teaming for the first time on Saturday, Oct. 16, in a benefit show for Hungry for Music, a nonprofit that donates musical instruments to underprivileged kids. The show, which will run from 2 to 4 p.m., will be held in the Takoma Park Community Center auditorium at 7500 Maple Ave. in Takoma Park. Tickets are $15.
Polisar (“Sesame Street,” The Learning Channel) is a pioneer in the world of books and music for children and a four-time Parents’ Choice award winner. Recently his song “All I Want Is You” was featured in the opening sequence of the Oscar-winning movie “Juno” and its acclaimed soundtrack. Just this year, a group of musicians who grew up on Polisar’s zany songs released a 60-tune CD, “We’re Not Kidding! A Tribute to Barry Louis Polisar.”
Polisar writes books and poems, visits schools and libraries throughout the United States and Europe, and has performed at the White House, the Smithsonian and the Kennedy Center. He  began writing and recording for children in 1975; now his unique songs and stories are heard around the world.
Schaefer is the guitarist and songwriter for the acclaimed independent folk/rock band Eddie From Ohio. In recent years he has also turned his musical attention toward solo projects, and he released his first kids’ CD, “Songs for Kids Like Us,” in 2006. The success of “Songs for Kids Like Us” led to his post as music director of XM Radio’s Kids Place Live channel and host of the show “Robbie Schaefer’s Stuck in a Real Tall Tree.”
Washington-based Hungry for Music donates musical instruments to young students, schools and community music programs throughout the United States and in South America, Africa, India and Mexico. More than 3,500 have been placed so far.
Info: 240-582-6193 or 301-891-7100

Below is the paypal link to purchase tickets for this event. You may pick up your tickets at the venue on the day of the show:

Admission

Adullt – General Admission $15.00 Children 12 and under $12.00

Hi Jeff and Hungry for Music,

I am writting on behalf of Bridges Across Borders Music program at the Casa Elizabeth orphange, we can only say thank you for your incredible support. Right now, one of our first violin students is graduating from high school. Her name is Nora Alicia Gaspar she now plays with the mariachi band at the COBACH and is already teaching others how to play. You first donated to us in 2003 about 15 violins, and we took them to the Casa Elizabeth orphanage in Imuris, Mexico.

Right now Mary Kierzyk is the official teacher (Jennifer Sordyl was the first and who you sent violins) with the Casa Elizabeth and she is supporting Nora Alicia Gaspar, our first graduate to go teach once a week to the kids at the orphanage. Nora and another graduate, Marlin want to pass on the a lesson they learned from Hungry for Music.

The gift that Hungry from Music gave them is with them now, they are finding a way to support themselves through teaching. Nora wants to teach children who can not have a violin and Marlin also wants to teach those who can not afford a violin, but have a talent. They are looking for 10 violins to start, in this way they can share with others what they have learned.

Nora says “playing the violin has meant a new road for me, a unique learning experience and has taught me appreciation, positive feelings, and dedication. The violin has motivated me to continue learning.”

Jeff, your program has open doors for all of us. The music program is been a way to help us all to grow thank you . Marlin and Nora and others have flourished with the music Hungry for Music provided. Your organization is an inspiration for us all.
Ana Maria Vasquez
Imuris, Mexico

Jennifer Sordyl teaching at Casa Elizabeth in Mexico with HFM-donated violins.

Thank you to Val Carter (Community Cupcakes) for introducing Linton Weeks to Hungry for Music. I appreciate the nice story and thoroughness, Linton! Thanks for taking the time to get it.

Read an NPR piece about HFM founder Jeff Cambell here at NPR.org
Instruments Of Good: The Healing Power Of Music, by Linton Weeks

Hungry for Music is very grateful to Frina Lin for starting a “Hungry for Music” group at her high school in Coventry, CT to help raise funds and collect musical instruments! Frina is a very talented singer-songwriter – please check out her songs. Thank you so much, Frina! Your music is beautiful – keep healing others with your musical gift! Peace~

Frina Lin – Music

frinalin.web.officelive.com

People always say that a picture is worth a thousand words. But the power of a song, a thousand words, sounds, thoughts, images, and emotions poured into one entity can often be even greater. In the words of Bono, from U2, “Music can change the world because it can change people.”