Please repost/retweet http://www.HittStreet.com everywhere you can and ask your friends to do the same, to get the word out for the cause of the Haiti Relief effort!

12+ Venues!  40+ Bands!

6-Day Festival in Columbia, Missouri: 

February 19, 20, and 21 (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
March 5, 6, 7 (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)

$5 suggested donation, or more if you can - All proceeds go directly to the Red Cross

Scroll down for more info
or visit the Mid-Missouri Red Cross website
for schedule of bands and more information:

http://www.redcross-midmo.org/songforhaiti/

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Press Release for

“A Song for Haiti - Mid Missouri’s Red Cross Benefit Music Festival”:

The Red Cross, a dozen or more local businesses and thirty five or more Blues, Rock, Roots, Jazz, Soul, R&B, Blue Grass, and Contemporary and Traditional Folk/Americana bands and solo performers gather over two weekends to raise money and awareness to help for the greatly distressed people of Haiti where 200,000 people have perished and 1,000,000 children have lost one or both parents.   “A Song for Haiti - Mid Missouri’s Red Cross Benefit Music Festival”  is a giant effort by Mid Missouri’s musical community , responsive businesses, and the Red Cross, starting February 19^th through March  7^th .   the Red Cross will post volunteers at venues all over town to collect donations for the music festival/benefit while musicians playing music of many genres perform for audiences supporting Haiti’s recovery from the devastating earthquake. 

The Red Cross will collect all the donations for the Red Cross International Relief Fund.  While Red Cross Volunteers will be at the door, venues and musicians would like to ask parties who plan to attend to make donations on the Red Cross website  www.redcross-midmo.org/songforhaiti  as soon as possible so venues can better plan for the event and to raise needed funds quicker.  There are no tickets but musicians and venues are suggesting a $5:00 donation for single venue attendance or $10.00 for festival or day passes.   However, everyone is welcome whether they donate, 5 cents, $5.00, $50.00 or $5,000 as long as they give what they can from the heart.”  See the web site which will be up soon for details.

Most of the twelve venues are located in downtown Columbia but others may follow and even more musicians may be added to the roster.  So far they include the following: The Blue Note, Willie’s Field House, Tiger Zou, Campus Bar and Grill, Cadillac Ranch, Billiards on Broadway, Ninth Street Deli, Mississippi Catfish, The Heidelberg, Bleu / Tiger Hotel Ballroom, The Downtown Sub Shop, and Sycamore (tentative are on board). Other musicians may come on board also.

The planning process is still somewhat liquid but there is a very solid core of venues and musicians involved.  The festival was split over two weekends in order to give more musicians a chance to be involved and to take advantage of the True/False Film Festival attendance.  Volunteers hope to plaster downtown with “A Song for Haiti” posters hoping the visitors will help spread the word.  Besides the Red Cross website where the public can make donations for attending, a couple of other websites have been donated showing the progress of the benefit.  www.hitsttreet.com  and LifeSuccessAssociates.com/haiti.pdf   (They may not be updated yet from the last benefit.) They will also have band bios and other information.

This effort follows an earlier benefit put together in weeks time, as a response to the disaster, with two venues, in which musicians gathered for the cause at Tiger Zou and Willies Field House in Columbia when one of the musicians heard his friend from Haiti had lost many of her family members and friends.  It was only conceived of as a small benefit with 3 bands but soon swelled to 18  bands participating in the two venues.  While the “Rock for Haiti” and “Blues for Haiti” benefits were considered a success, and a great time for a good cause, the musicians thought they could do better with more lead time and better press coverage, and so began a second effort,  “A Song for Haiti - Mid Missouri’s Red Cross Benefit Music Festival”.     

Contact:  Keith Fletcher -  573-529-0949    hkfletch@hotmail.com ( I work days and can’t answer my phone so leave me a message or email)

For information about the Red Cross or about graphics, media, and our new logo being developed contact:

Mike Odneal, Executive Director of the local Red Cross,

modneal@redcross-midmo.org

American Red Cross, Mid-Missouri Chapter

1805 West Worley Street, Columbia -

www.redcross-midmo.org,

(573) 445-9411

We are looking for media sponsors who can help us make “A Song for Haiti” a success as we only have a few days before it begins.  Just  jump in. 

Current Roster of Venues, Bands and Musician’s participating

See the Red Cross website www.redcross-midmo.org/songforhaiti for more information about schedules.