Musicians Who Care

Canadian Artists Supporting Small Places

Several reputable Canadian artists have joined with Amnesty International's Small Places initiative to raise awareness for individuals or communities at risk of harm. The program is running until December 10, 2008, and invites all Canadian musicians to participate in helping out the less fortunate.

Since being announced in the September/October 2008 issue of CM, the program has received attention from a host of Canadian artists. David Usher has designated his fall tour as part of the Small Places Tour, bringing awareness to U Gambira's case and has invited Amnesty to have a presence at his shows across Canada.

Jason Collett has also invited Small Places on tour, while east coast act Wintersleep designated two recent shows as Small Places events, with more coming up. Alanis Morissette invited Amnesty to table at her five recent Canadian dates. Six Shooter Records donated tickets and swag from several of its artists for auction to raise funds.

Again, musicians don't have to travel or change performance commitments to participate. You can engage in Small Places by donating tracks, offering tickets to upcoming shows, or simply raising awareness about Amnesty International through any means available.

For more information, contact Small Places' Musician Liaison: 613-219-9642, tnemchin@amnesty.ca, www.smallplaces.ca.

John Lennon Bus Visits TIFF Headquarters

CTV hosted the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus as one of its initiatives during the Toronto International Film Festival. The non-profit mobile audio and video production facility, sponsored by Maxell, was onsite during TIFF to assist teens enrolled in the Shoot With This program and The Remix Project.

Shoot With This is a film mentorship project for kids from Toronto's Jane and Finch area. The Remix Project is a youth-led urban arts project in the GTA. Canadian industry figures like Juno director Jason Reitman and Canadian Idol judge Farley Flex dropped by the bus to help the students with their music and video production projects over the course of the Festival.

For more on the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, visit www. lennonbus.org.

Anti-Hero Frontwoman Backs MindYourMind.ca

Rose Cora Perry, frontwoman for Canadian punk rock act AntiHero, is currently participating in a national non-for-profit mental health campaign directed at Canadian high-school students and hosted by MindYourMind.ca.

Perry originally met the team behind MindYourMind.ca a few years ago while Anti-Hero was promoting its debut album, Unpretty. After participating in an interview discussing not only her music, but also her personal struggles with mental health, Perry was asked to head the organization's latest campaign. This is yet another example of how you can use your music to support worthwhile causes while increasing your exposure. Visit www.mindyourmind.ca for more information on the campaign and cause.

New Concert DVD To Benefit Musicians Against Parkinson's

Musicians Against Parkinson's Founder Robbie Tucker and The Dangerous Crayons have released a concert DVD, with a portion of the proceeds going to assist his nonprofit organization.

"The MapMusic DVD is something we will continue to do with other upcoming, new, and hopefully well-known bands," says Tucker. "The idea is to get people who come to see their favourite bands perform to learn a little bit more about Parkinson's by having the bands say but a few words. Pretty simple, right?"

The 40-minute glimpse into the life of Robbie Tucker, his music, his band, and his organization was filmed and produced by Hot Smoked Pictures, which has been filming a feature-length documentary on Tucker living with Parkinson's, being a musician, starting MapMusic, and trying to raise $1 million for the cause.

The DVD is for sale directly from the MapMusic website, with a percentage of sales going to MapMusic to assist in funding things like scholarships, public service announcements, and 2009's Getting The Youth Involved Campaign. For more information on the organization, visit www.mapmusic.org.

Busking For Change Bocks Toronto

With fall arriving in Toronto, over 50 musicians took to the streets of the city to busk in aid of War Child.

The event was inspired by Raine Maida's solo busk for War Child last year. This year he was back with his band, Our Lady Peace. His wife, Chantal Kreviazuk, also braved the wind to perform alongside members of Finger Eleven, Tomi Swick, Die Mannequin, Great Lake Swimmers, and a host of other artists that all put in long hours to raise as much as possible for the War Child cause. Students from campuses across the country were also out in force in a massive national student busk-a-thon.

War Child thanks all the bands and artists, the venues, and the city of Toronto. While the day was a success, people are still invited to donate to the cause through the War Child Canada website. Visit www.warchild.ca for more information or instructions on how to donate.

Simple Plan Beleases Worldwide Single For Cancer Charities

Canadian group Simple Plan has announced details surrounding its upcoming iTunes single, "Save You." Net proceeds from each download sale will be distributed to cancer charities around the world, through the Montreal-based band's own Simple Plan Foundation.

The song was penned in tribute to lead singer Pierre Bouvier's brother Jay, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma cancer at the age of 28. Thankfully now in remission, Bouvier's illness inspired the band to include cancer awareness as one of the initiatives of the Foundation. Thus far, the Foundation has donated over $100,000 to various charitable organizations around Canada and has raised over another $200,000 at various benefit events. For full details on the charity organization, visit www.simpleplanfoundation.org. The donation period began in October and continues through January 31, 2009.