Not surprisingly, celebrities are putting their thinking caps on to devise more ways to fuel money into the Haiti relief effort. Musicians are taking on the brunt of the storm by doing various charitable acts involving their music; concerts around nation, downloads online, benefits and even a shoe donation online. Thanks to the internet, all of us can get involved in many different ways and reap the entertainment (and the feel-good feelings) along the way.
Love For Haiti is a benefit happening today at 5 p.m. and concluding Jan. 31 at 5 a.m. The event will be live for 12 hours on those three nights between 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. Love for Haiti is a 36-hour fundraiser at New York’s Webster Hall. The goal is to raise at least $50,000 for Haiti with all proceeds going towards Doctors Without Borders.
Webster Hall will be displaying a life-like projection of live video of the fundraiser on the venue’s exterior wall, as well as a live Twitter feed. Supporters can also check out the video on USTREAM. Band, The Crystal Method takes will perform tomorrow and will also be featured on “Love For Haiti’s” video stream. Quarterly Art Soiree is also planning on making a special appearance.
KCRW 88.9 FM and Los Angeles’ El Rey Theatre are putting on a Haiti Relief concert February 6. Proceeds will go to Operation USA. Operation USA’s slogan is “Give and it gets there” with 98% of donations going to on the ground relief. Tickets are $25 dollars each and covers the shows for Hepcat, Dengue Fever, Joey’s Altruda’s Crucial Riddims & Reggae Greats Revue featuring Wailing Souls, Elan, Eljai and specials guests, The Lions, cumbia band Very Be Careful, The Tuffingtons, Echodelic Soundsystem and DJ Miles Perlich.
Next on the concert list is Rhymesayers Entertainment who is putting on a benefit for Haiti February 9 at First Ave in Minneapolis. Tickets are $20 each and the proceeds are for Oxfam America, Doctors Without Borders and Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti foundation. Hosted by Slug of Atmosphere with performances by Brother Ali, Freeway, Sage Francis, Jake One, I Self Devine, Sims, Toki Wright, BK One, B. Dolan, Muja Messiah, Kevin Beacham, and King Otto.
Sage Francis commented "It's embarrassing to admit how unaware I've been of the living conditions in Haiti. And that's before the earthquake hit. I'm honored to be involved with this fundraiser and I'm thankful for the conditions that allow me to be on the giving end of this charity."
Mary J. Blige and Andrea Bocelli are planning on covering Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water during the Grammy Awards, which airs live on Sunday at 8pm P.S.T. After the performance, a download of the song will be available on itunes.com/Target with all proceeds going to the American Red Cross.
Jamaican reggae star Shaggy and Sean Paul, Haitian musician Belo and soca singers Alison Hinds of Barbados and Destra Garcia from Trinidad and Tobago are also taking the download route for their song "Rise Again." “‘Rise Again’ is for the people of Haiti. It is to show them that we are here for them and that we will support them each step of the way as they begin rebuilding their lives,” Shaggy said. Proceeds from the download will go to the Digicel Haiti Relief Fund.
Wilco is taking an interesting risk that sees the best in people by posting to live shows on their website as free downloads with a request to donate $15 or more to either OXFAM or Doctors Without Borders. The live shows include a November 4th concert at HMV Forum in London and July 13’s show at KeySpan Park in Brooklyn, N.Y
Jessica Simpson focuses on something specific; shoes. Simpson, hairdresser Ken Paves and friend CaCee Cobb, are working with Nashville-based charity Soles4Souls and 5000Shoes.com to help send one million pairs of shoes to Haiti. The singer is encouraging to "do everything that we can for the victims in Haiti. Just five dollars will buy two people a pair of shoes." Donations can be made through 5000shoes.com.
Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Ben Harper, Joan Baez and Ry Cooder all signed a guitar to be raffled by The Guacamole Fund, a Hermosa Beach, California based public charity. Proceeds are going to Operation USA. Raffle tickets are $100 each and the raffle takes place Jan. 31 at 12 p.m. PST
The Hope for Haiti Now telethon was already a huge success and brought in $57 million dollars but it's not finished making money. An album of the event was released on itunes. Individual songs are 99 cents or the full album is selling for $7.99, 171,000 units were already sold. Proceeds from the album go to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, Oxfam America, Partners in Health, Red Cross, UNICEF, United Nations World Food Programme, and Yele Haiti Foundation.
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