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The Hangout Fest has morphed into the Concert for the Coast.
Hangout Festival
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The Hangout Festival has been re-dubbed the Concert for the Coast, and expanded to include New Orleans as well as an original Gulf Shores, Alabama, location. As the Gulf Oil disaster rages on, without relief in sight, musicians with Reverb and other organizations are trying to provide some proactive relief for shorelines and wetlands that are sure to be damaged as the oil continues to spew out and drift in.
The Concert for the Coast, May 14-16, will now donate all profits to regional coastal cleanup and preservation, according to a dispatch from Adam Gardner, frontman for Guster and a founder of Reverb. The Gulf Shores concert will go on for two days as originally planned, with the addition of a one-day concert in downtown New Orleans on May 16.
New Orleans' Jazz pioneers Preservation Hall Jazz Band will be on hand at both events.The NOLA stage also will include Lenny Kravitz and Ani DiFranco. The Gulf Shores stage will feature scores of green musicians (their credentials, not their experience) including Ben Harper, The Roots, Michael Franti, Brett Dennen and Guster. The bill reads like a whos-who of Planet Green Instrumental, in other words.
Organizers say the stages in Alabama are currently being constructed upon pristine beach, but the oil slick in the Gulf threatens to endanger the wildlife habitats and livelihoods of those that live in the region.
Courtesy Hangout music fest.
Those putting on the festival also are signing up clean-up volunteers and working to raise public awareness and funds with the folks from HeadCount, a national nonpartisan group that specializes in voter registration.
Concert-goers will be encouraged to visit the HeadCount booth in Gulf Shores to write their local senators and congressmen and bring donations and supplies for Gulf Coast relief.
Hopefully this is one of the first in a long line of Haiti-like concerts and musical efforts to benefit the coast, which is sure to need the support in days, months and years to come.
More on Green, Socially Conscious Music
Musicians Respond to Gulf Oil Spill with Texting Campaign, Benefit Concert
Galactic Plays Jazz Fest, Supports Cleanup Efforts as BP Oil Spill Approaches (Interview)
