 Challenge of the Future was Nick Zinner of Yeah Yeah Yeahs previous band. Recently a member of the band, Sebastian Quezada passed away. Zinner teamed up with Adrian Grenier’s Wreckroom Records to raise money for Quezada’s daughter. They played a show in Brooklyn in 2012 and have followed it up with an in-studio performance at Wreckroom. All proceeds go to their bandmate’s daughter. You can buy the song via Bandcamp below. Further donations can be made at GoFundMe.
 Nicole Atkins has re-recorded and re-released her song Neptune City. All proceeds from sales of the track ($2) go to benefit relief efforts on the Jersey Shore. I am sure all of you know the area was hard hit by Hurricane Sandy. You can purchase the song here. ALL proceeds will be directed toward nonprofits helping to rebuild the Jersy Shore. Funds will be regranted by the ATC’s Hurricane Sandy Disaster Relief Fund. Atkins moved back to the area recently and her family home was severely damaged in the storm.
 They Might Be Giants have a new video, Alphabet of Nations, made up of crowdsourced images from around the world. In addition all proceeds from Alphabet of Nations t-shirts and posters go to The Global Fund For Children. The design is by Pentagram NY. They Might Be Giants are also playing at the Freedom To Marry show at Beacon Theater in NYC on October 30. Also appearing will be The National, Rufus Wainright, Doveman and others. And if THAT were not enough the band is also playing three NYE shows in Brooklyin at Music Hall of Williamsburg on December 29, 30 & 31. Technically I guess only the last one is really a New Years Eve show if you want to get picky. For those of you not in the know They Might Be Giants have released several CDsof kids music. This past summer they teamed up with The Global Fund For Children and Emily Oberman of Pentagram NY and asked people from around the world to submit three photos--a portrait, their nation's flag and an image representing their culture. Tons of submissions arrived and the video shows them. To get the abovementioned shirts and posters go HERE (for poster) or HERE (for t-shirt). The Global Fund for Children makes grants to small, community based organizations that work with kids who are among the most vulnerable in the world. They also do projects like this video where books, photos, film and more are used to promote understanding.
 Minneapolis hip hoppers Big Cats! (of The Tribe & Big Cats!) is getting read to release an instrumental solo record. "Big Cats!" is one half of the duo. The record was made possible via a grant from American Composers Forum and the McKnight Foundation and is a homage to his mother, who passed away from ovarian cancer. The record is entitled For My Mother and comes out October 2, 2012. Seventy-five percent of proceeds of the record will be donated to the Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance. Check out the video for the track, One, below. You can get the record on CD or vinyl and there will be a release party in Minneapolis at The Cedar, October 11, 2012. You can pre-order the record and buy tickets to the show HERE.
 Dispatch’s tour begins today (September 21) in Seattle and winds up just shy of a month from now. The group is touring to support Circles Around The Sun, the band’s first album in over ten years. It is out now on Dispatch’s Bomber Records. The band is also appearing on two late night television shows-- The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on September 26 at 12:35 a.m. and on VH1’s Big Morning Buzz on October 5 at 10 a.m EST/PT. You can also check out the band’s tour documentary from 2002 on their Youtube channel. Dispatch, as you may know, have always been supporters of worthy causes. On this tour they are working to help Amplifying Education, an organization working to improve education in the USA. There will be events on this tour on September 29th in Denver, October 3rd in Chicago, October 5th in Metro NYC, and October 6th in Boston. Want to get involved? Head tot amplifyingeducation.org.
Tour
September
21st Seattle, WA Moore Theatre
22nd Portland, OR Roseland Theatre
26th Los Angeles, CA House of Blues
29th Broomfield, CO 1st Bank Centre
October
1st Minneapolis, MN Orpheum Theatre
2nd Chicago, IL Riviera Theatre
3rd Chicago, IL Riviera Theatre
5th New York, NY Radio City Music Hall SOLD OUT
6th Boston, MA Agganis Arena
8th Toronto, ONT Sound Academy
9th Philadelphia, PA Tower Theatre
11th Washington, DC Constitution Hall SOLD OUT
12th Atlanta, GA Fox Theatre
 Les Claypool, of Primus, is auctioning of one of his main basses to benefit his baby nephew, Matthew. Matthew has a rare infant leukemia. His family needs help. Matthew is undergoing a marrow transplant at St Jude’s new. You can own a Les Claypool bass and help a little boy. Go here to bid on this final prototype Les Claypool Pachyderm. He has been using it for a year and it is the design all future Pachyderm basses will be “bassed” on. The auction is LIVE now HERE.
Matthew
 Dispatch are not only heading out on tour but have released the director’s cut of their video for Not Messin’. I am not sure if this is the first time I have heard of a director’s cut of a video. But I do not recall another instance. The group’s tour starts in earnest in the fall but Festival dates are a preview. They will be at Bonarroo beginning today and later in the summer at the Outside Lands Festival. The band’s latest record, Circles Around The Sun, come out August 21, 2012. You can pre-order it (in a deluxe vinyl edition, 28 page hard cover book.. CD …and find all sorts of other cool stuff like autographed photos) at the band’s webstore. This is the band’s first studio effort in 12 years and the band are donating one dollar per pre-order to Amplifying Education. An additional dollar from ticket sales on the upcoming tour will likewise go to the cause. Given the size of some of the venues? This ain’t chump change. For more info on this head to www.dispatchmusic.com/giving_back.
Tour/Festival Dates
JUNE
8-10 Manchester, TN Bonnaroo
AUGUST
10-12 San Francisco, CA Outside Lands Festival
SEPTEMBER
20th Vancouver, BC Commodore Ballroom
21st Seattle, WA Paramount Theatre
22nd Portland, OR Roseland Theatre
26th Los Angeles, CA Hollywood Palladium
28th Broomfield, CO 1st Bank Centre
29th Broomfield, CO 1st Bank Centre
OCTOBER
1st Minneapolis, MN Orpheum Theatre
2nd Chicago, IL Aragon Ballroom
3rd Chicago, IL Aragon Ballroom
5th New York, NY Radio City Music Hall
6th Boston, MA Agganis Arena
8th Toronto, ONT Sound Academy
9th Philadelphia, PA Tower Theatre
11th Washington, DC Constitution Hall
12th Atlanta, GA Fox Theatre
 _ Bonnaroo is a festival that you have probably heard about and possibly attended. Most folks do not know that during the festival’s ten year run they have donated more than five million dollars to local, regional and national charities. This year festival partner Rick Farman says that they plan to surpass that amount in the next ten years with new programs and upgrades to current charitable outreach through the Bonnaroo Works Fund , Bonnaroo’s charitable arm.
BWF is administered by the East Tennessee Foundation which identifies (and vets) organizations looking for assistance. They help BWF get money to where it can do the most good.
Some of the organizations helped include; Doctors Without Borders, the American Red Cross. Head Count, MusiCares, Boys and Girls Club of America, Habitat for Humanity ,Rock the Earth and the Sierra Club and others. Assistance has also been provided for disaster relief in the USA and abroad—help for victims of Hurricane Katrina, the Haitian earthquake, the recent floods in Nashville and during the Gulf oil spill.
Good for Bonnaroo. Other festivals like this should do more as well.
 _ Just like Honey is a benefit compilation for Breast Cancer Care in the U.K. The wonderful artist, Oh Minnows, recorded a cover for the comp-- The Jesus & Mary Chain’s Just Like Honey for this release. 100 percent of the profits from this release (unlike any of those shite pink ribbon products) will go to Breast Cancer Care. Find out more at www.breastcancercare.org.uk/. Oh Minnows plays all the instruments himself and recorded the track in his Brooklyn home studio. You can hear at Bandcamp here, http://justlikehoney.bandcamp.com/track/oh-minnows?permalink You can buy the compilation here-- http://justlikehoney.co.uk/covercompil/
 Tim Heidecker has nine new songs coming out on a release entitled Cainthology. All the tracks are inspired by GOP presidential candidate, Herman Cain. Initially Heidecker wrote a song inspired by the now infamous Cain “smoking ad.” But Cain is a veritable fountain of material so eight more songs were created. Heidecker enlisted DJ Douggpound (Doug Lussenhop), Gregg Turkington, Mark Proksch and Chris Bagnall and the songs poured forth. The whole thing took 2 weeks and you can now buy it via download at LittleRecordCompany.com. It will be available at other online retailers soon as well. ALL proceeds from the sale of Cainthology (Songs In The Key Of Cain) will be donated to the VIP Community Mental Health Center, a violence intervention program. You can find out more about them at www.violenceinterventionprogram.org.
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