anyone willing to collaborate on disaster relief show?

[firsty]

my company matches donations from people so i was thinking it would be cool to have a poetry reading/music/etc show in some central-ish place like baltimore or dc and raise funds that would be doubled.

i'm sure that there are venues willing to schedule and promote something like this in a short time frame, if we can get some artists together to participate. i know that between the dc/va and balt people, there must be some connections. i'd be willing to do what i can in terms of communication, participation, etc.

just figured i'd open the discussion. maybe it's a dumb idea. but if there is interest, i think it would be a worthwhile pursuit.

-f

[Les S. Amore]

I will come if I can sing my version of Bridge Over Troubled Water

and if the fund will cover my hairspray

[Doreen Peri]

Hey Sean.... That's GREAT that your company will match donations! Fabulous! I'd *love* to do this! What a great idea!

First, we would need to find a venue willing to host the event, volunteering their space.

Maybe the Warehouse Theater in DC where we had our first Cabaradio ... it's a great space... but it's a rental space ... so I donno whether we could approach them for this or not... or the Arlington Independent Media station .... they seem to be open to our events... we did the 2nd Cabaradio there. There are probably lots of other possibilities for a venue. Many. Mark (Wireman) has connections in Baltimore, too.

The thing is, here's the deal...

It would take organizing, marketing, and some *name* talent to draw an audience. Poets don't usually draw much of an audience unless they're rap stars or something. It took me 4 months to plan the last Cabaradio..... emails and phone calls to get the performers (poets, musicians, comedians) and artists for the art show to commit to the time... plus an investment in materials for posters, flyers, postcards, etc. Things like this just can't be planned in a very short time frame, but I don't think that's a problem, because I imagine there will be a need for donations for some time to come.

I've got a full plate right now but I'm willing to invest my time into helping to organize this if I can, and definitely, both LR and I would love to perform in such a show. But all of it would be a useless effort if we can't bring in enough of a crowd to make the donations worthwhile.

Thanks so much for thinking of this and posting this here. Maybe we can get this going. I have a list of performers from our past shows and other contacts. I'll do what I can to help.

Looking forward to the comments of others, too...

[Lightning Rod]

here's what I think we should do. Forget doing a show. I'll donate ten bucks. Then we will get a company to match it. Then we can get another company to match that. That's already forty bucks. Then we get another company to match that--eighty bucks. Then another company--160. 320. 640. 1280. 2560. 5120. 10,240. 20,480....you get the idea. All we would need is about twenty companies to get a million bucks.

[Doreen Peri]

LOL!!! Lightning Rod, this is one of the reasons I hooked up with you to begin with. Your logic and your math are impeccable.

Too funny.

(don't mind him, Sean... he's having a cuervo night)

[firsty]

oh well.

[Lightning Rod]

sean,

I was only making light of this sitch because it's so overwhelming.

[Doreen Peri]

Oh well?

I don't understand! I posted a long post about how I thought this would be a great thing to do and offered my assistance.

If you're "oh well" is to LR's sense of humor, please disregard it, as I said in the post right after it. He's just trying to be a funny guy.

[firsty]

nah, just doesnt appear to be much interest.

[Doreen Peri]

Sean,

There wouldn't be much of an interest on this website since the only people who post on this website who are from the DC/Baltimore area are me and LR and Wireman. (with an occasional post from PoeticEyeGuy - Perry Lindstrom who taped our Cabaradio for the Arlington TV station.)

Other than that? This is the worldwide Web and most people who post here are from all over the place.

To determine if there would be any interest in our local area would take the following

1- selecting a venue
2- selecting a date which would work with the venue
3- sending out an email or calling on the phone local poets and other performers to determine their interest and availability.

If you want to take these steps with me, let's do it!

Otherwise..... as you said.... Oh well!

Thank you for coming up with the idea. I still think it's workable but we wouldn't know without taking the above steps.

-d

[Lucy!]

I would definitely like to help in this effort although I probably wouldn't be able to see any of the performances if they were in the dc area

i think this is a great idea, just wish it were easier to coordinate and get going because as Doreen said, it is hard to get a good crowd when its poets who aren't famous

[jimboloco]

maybe don king could promote a matchup of boxing poets
we could all stick up our hair
in bouffants

[jimboloco]

how i feel about the billions spent on war

we got ta have a bake sale for
the tsunami

[stilltrucking]

I got no talent but i got some money burning a hole in my pocket, please post link for donations asap.
dam dam dam
Turns out it was a lit cigarette in my pockett, I hate to throw butts on the ground and I snuff them out and put thim in pocket, Laundry day sometimes turns very nasty but


geez give it some time I will contribute money as much as I can. I work for a call center took a lot of donations during the the big show on network tv, people kept thanking me for being there I did not have the heart to tell them that I was just a hired hand. Others would ask if all the money went to the relief effort, I said "sure" but I knew my salary was coming out of it. I would be very happy to donate my ill gotten gains to the effort. just send me paypal or mailing address, jackadiah@yahoo.com

[jimboloco]

we need a bake sale for battleships