We invite you to join us for a special night with KOJI and PJ BOND live at Humankind September 22 in Nashville, TN !

We’ve been excited as the pieces of this event have come into place. It’s two artists we’ve been wanting to work with and they’re hitting the road together! It’s going to be a special night and we hope you and all your friends to join us. Not only will there be great people and great music – there’s a special place it’s all happening at.

The place: Humankind Thrift. There’s an incredible mission at the heart of why this place exists and we’re excited that it will be the host of this awesome night. It’s a socially-minded thrift store in East Nashville that offers vintage and modern apparel. Each purchase at Humankind goes to help provide school clothes for refugee children in Nashville public schools. We’re pumped about this place.

Meet the Artists: KOJI is all about music and people. Hailing from the great state of PA, he himself has run countless benefit shows and events for groups like Invisible Children, organized work shops, festivals, and touring in support of cancer research, addressing hunger and poverty and working to put an end to sex trafficking. He’s equal parts artist and activist.

PJ BOND His album You Didn’t Know I Was Alphabetical caught our ear and didn’t let go. He takes what can often be an unremarkable affair – the singer-songwriter record- and turns it into something you can’t turn away from. His blog, Year of A Thousand Roommates, chronicles his journey into functional homelessness as he travels the world playing music and crashing on a different couch every night. It will be an honor to hear this man in person.

JOIN US! This will be a great chance for our friends in the Nashville area to come together. There are several of you who’ve helped out with Love In Stereo projects and we have yet to meet you in person. Let’s shake hands and be friends! Not in the area? You can catch them on tour! They might be coming to your area: tour schedule.

KOJI and PJ BOND live at Humankind604 GALLATIN ROAD #206 September 22 in Nashville, TN 8 PM

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If you haven’t seen or heard of Playing for Change do yourself a favor and check out this clip. It’s from the documentary “Playing For Change: Peace Through Music” and features street performers from across the globe singing ‘Stand By Me’.

I’ve probably seen that a million times, but it still gives me chills. Playing For Change is all about ‘connecting the world through music’ – a really cool message that’s moving because it really is possible. That’s what I think gets me about watching these clips. They’re simple and perfectly depict how strong a song can be in uniting people.

Check out this incredible version of Sam Cooke’s A Change Is Gonna Come. It’s already one of my favorite songs, but this version takes it to another level. Here several of the musicians from the above video come together for the first time ever to perform live. This was recorded in New Orleans. It’ll make you believe that change really is coming.

Not sure why, but these clips popped back into my life today and felt the need to share! Check out the Playing For Change website. They’re not just making really cool videos. They are working to build schools, connect students and inspire communities in need through song.

But Andrew’s plethora of accomplishments and awards are not what sets him apart. This year, he founded the community service project Acoustic Athletes, a volunteer musical outreach program. It works like this: once a week, after school, Andrew meets with a group of middle school students from lower income families, who could not otherwise afford an acoustic guitar and lessons. He teaches them the basics and they are given time during the week to “check out” the guitars from the music room to practice what they have learned. The idea is simple. Give the kids a creative outlet to express themselves and they have a better chance of being sucessful in the future.

“Music is such a blessing in my family’s life; hopefully we will have a chance to turn that into a blessing for some of these kids,” Andrew says of the program. Besides the free lessons, students have another incentive to stick with the program. “Once the kids have logged twenty-five class hours, and twenty-five solo practice hours, we will give them a guitar to keep.” So far, nine middle school students are signed up for the program and others have had to be turned down.

Andrew hopes to get more volunteers to join in the future, but for now he’s happy with the help of friends and family. “I hope that Acoustic Athletes will eventually grow into a multi-school program so that kids all over can have the opportunity to learn acoustic music,” he says.

And what happens in two years when Andrew graduates and moves off to college? Let’s just say his younger brother, Grant, is poised to step in. “He’s won National Instrumental Entertainer of the Year at the Smithville jamboree three years in a row,” says Andrew. “He’s a shoe-in for the job.”

Have extra cash or an old unused guitar lying around? Acoustic Atheletes needs you! You can contact Andrew through the Acoustic Athletes website, or directly at rigneym@charter.net.

The crew at Invisible Children reveal their soundtrack to changing the world. Pretty hilarious.

We’re doing an event with the IC roadies this November as part of their Face-to-Face Tour! It will be allowing people of northern Uganda to tell their stories directly at screenings across the country. Looking forward to seeing them and also helping a local high school set up a new chapter. Find out how you can get involved by checking out their site or stay tuned and join us for one of our upcoming events.

Launched three days after the January 12th earthquake, this collaborative project has brought together designers from across the globe to create something beautiful out of an event surrounded by darkness.

Leif Steiner, creative director of Moxie Sozo, and Josh Higgins, creative director from San Diego, CA are the guys behind this incredible effort. The two have each individually done similar projects in the past – Leif’s Moxie Sozo organized a poster project after Hurricane Katrina and Josh organized the 2007 So-Cal Fire Poster Project. Each project has raised and continues to raise thousands of dollars for relief efforts.

Visit: TheHaitiPosterProject.com
Facebook: Like them!
Twitter: @haitiposters

The above poster is from Jeremy Tyson of South Lake, Texas. It’s only $25. There are tons of others and they’re all great. The site is also still taking submissions if you’re a designer and would like to help out.

We also still have copies of our album, My Heart Is In Haiti, available. Click here to get yours!

“We are part of a giving, creative community.”

An epic music event, Rock for Love, will be turning 4 this weekend and you’re invited. We had the chance to speak with Marvin Stockell and Jeff Hullett, two guys who help head this up. Both are known Memphis music guys: Marvin is in the band Pez and Jeff is all over the place with his band Snowglobe and tons of other music projects. (Jeff’s band Jeff James and the Haul gave a track to our project My Heart Is In Haiti)

Not only are they music guys, they also work with the Church Health Center.

Marvin explains, “The Church Health Center provides affordable health care for working uninsured people and their families.” Rock for Love allows the two to unite the Memphis music community behind something they both really care about. “I think musicians having been served by the Center – they get it. They realize how needed it is.”

Each year the event has raised several thousand dollars for a clinic that works to serve it’s community. Marvin says,”I think our music scene has a great big collective heart. It’s nice to see it come together across genre lines. We’ve got hip-hop, the lighter end of indie rock, some louder bands. It’s great to see the music scene come together and say – we’re going to do something for the community. We’re going to give back to something that has helped many of us.”

In the Memphis area? Rock for Love 4, a benefit for Church Health Center Aug. 19-21. Lucero, Amy LaVere, Glorie, the Magic Kids and the Dirty Streets are just a few of this year’s performers. Tickets are available at HiToneMemphis.com or at the door.

Not in the Memphis area? Check out the awesome online silent auction at http://auction.infolexa.com. The auction will close at midnight on Aug. 21.

Take a listen to the full interview. You’ll hear snippets from a few of the bands who’ll be there, plus get to know Jeff and Marvin a little better.

A week from today, starting next Thursday night, Memphis is welcoming another weekend of homegrown music, with all of it benefiting a worthy cause. Rock for Love 4, the fourth-annual benefit concert for the Church Health Center, will be Aug. 19-21, and will feature some of the best music to come out of Memphis, including Lucero, Amy LaVere, and Love In Stereo favorites, the Magic Kids.

Since its founding in 2007, Rock for Love has been produced in partnership with Makeshift Music as a way to raise money for the Center and celebrate the diversity of Memphis music with performances by some of the city’s best bands and artists.

Want to come? Here’s the schedule and ticket info:

Thursday, Aug. 19 at the Hi Tone
$5. 9 p.m. 18+
Star & Micey, Holly Cole & the Memphis Dawls, Teflon Don, the Candy Company (emcee: Blair Combest)

Friday, Aug. 20 at the Hi Tone
$10. 9 p.m. 18+
The Dirty Streets, the Magic Kids, Skewby, Glorie (emcee: Ross Johnson)

Saturday, Aug. 21 at Shangri-La – Sounds of Memphis Rock for Love 4 Day Party
FREE. Noon to 5 p.m. All-ages.
Amy LaVere, Oracle and the Mountain, the Near Reaches, the Burning Sands, Chinese Lanterns

Saturday, Aug. 21 at the Hi Tone.
$15. 9 p.m. 18+
Lucero, the Bulletproof Vests, Jeremy Stanfill (emcee: Al Bell)

Tickets are available online at HiToneMemphis.com or at the door. Shangri-La will donate 20 percent of store sales from the day party to the Church Health Center. There will also be a Rock for Love 4 silent auction at http://auction.infolexa.com. The auction went live on Aug. 1 and will close at midnight on Aug. 21.

To find out more about Rock for Love 4 and how to get involved, visit www.churchhealthcenter.org or www.makeshiftmusic.com.

This summer they took their message on the road and set out collecting gift cards and driving up the east coast, west through the Great Lakes region, through Tennessee and back to home sweet home in Atlanta, GA. It was 30 cities in 30 days. We had the chance to spend some time with Russ, Summer and Leslie as they neared the last leg of their impressive journey:

Watch as Summer shares what happened when we were able to connect Gift Card Giver with our friends in Waverly, TN:

The Gift Card Giver + Waverly Story from Love In Stereo on Vimeo.

Got gift cards lying around at your house? Want to throw a gift card party in your town? Visit their site to find out how easy it is for you to get involved: giftcardgiver.com

After the flood in middle Tennessee hit several ‘We Are Nashville’ shirts, hats, etc were released. Will designed this cool shirt and wanted to make sure that the ‘we’ included Nashville’s homeless.

We recently sold the first batch at an event and sold out completely in less than 3 hours! Everytime we got close to selling them online we sold out before we could!

For just $12 you get a shirt and you’ll be helping Nashville’s homeless. Pick yours up in our online store now!

Camp Create!

Three days a week for every week during the month of July, Jane Edwards Elementary on Edisto Island in South Carolina is transformed into a place where about 50 students can continue their learning and still have fun at the same time.

The learning essentials, like math and reading, are striped of their mundanity as kids use Bingo and basketball to help them stay sharp just in time for school to start back up.

It’s by no means a solo effort, teachers, local volunteers, and the non-profit Sidewalk Chalk chip in to help coordinate and run the camp. (You may remember our article earlier this year on Sidewalk Chalk.) Lead by John Caspian and Jana Hodge, the Sidewalk Chalk folks brought that extra WOW factor. They helped lead activities that a lot of the children had participated in before.

Activities include:
-Painting
-Sand art
-Learning to take pictures with digital cameras
-Putting on a student produced play
-Book raps
-Concrete poetry
-Field day
-World’s Largest Word-Search
-Haiku’s
-Field trips to the beach
-And much more!

A local wildlife refuge even brought in real life turtles and a snake much to the delight and horror of students and adults.

Our own Chad Biggar went down to Edisto Island with the awesomely talented people from Sidewalk Chalk to help a couple days a week. He sent us back these videos and pictures.

Pics:

See more here.

YouTube:

Chad had this to say about his experience:

“Despite getting up earlier than I thought humanely possible, Camp Create is totally worth it. When given complete creative freedom kids can came up with some pretty amazing things you wished you had thought of. I’d much rather know they were debating whether or not to do a play about taxes was a good idea than be sitting around playing video games till the sun went down. It’s also great to see enthusiastic and positive volunteers who want nothing more than to give these kids the best four half-weeks of their lives. It’s been an great and eye opening experience all around. One of the best summer vacations I’ve ever had.”