Tsunami Victims Will Receive Support From A

Benefit Fundraiser Concert This Weekend

By Shannon Hicks

Three bands have joined forces with the Newtown High School Student Government to plan a special concert this weekend that will remind people that the devastation of last December’s tsunami is still affecting people on the other side of the world. “Rock 2 Rebuild: A Tsunami Relief Benefit Concert” will take place Sunday, May 22, from 1 to 6 pm, at the high school in Sandy Hook.

Admission is $5, and the event is open to all ages. All proceeds from Sunday’s event will be donated to UNICEF, which has in turn said that it will use the funds to rebuild a children’s hospital that was destroyed in December.

The student government has been working closely with The Daria Musk Trio in planning the event.

The band, a/k/a DM3, had been thinking about putting together a fundraiser for the tsunami victims when drummer Jason Hirou — who is also a teacher at Newtown High School — decided to bring the idea into the high school. He presented the idea of a musical fundraiser to the student government a few months ago. Meanwhile the students had also been thinking about doing a fundraiser.

“We knew this time of year is usually slow. The student government usually runs the Snow Ball [a formal dance for high school students] and a blood drive, and we were looking for something else for the town and the high school community to work on together,” NHS student vice president Jessica Remitz said earlier this week. Jessica and Monica Latowicki, the student body president, sat down on Monday with Daria Musk to talk about this weekend’s event.

“Everyone has been very involved in the creation of this event,” Ms Musk said. “The two groups had very similar ideas. I really don’t know if this originated with one group or another, but it has all come together and the two groups have complemented everything perfectly.”

The fundraiser will be set up in the faculty parking lot at the high school, but will move into the school’s auditorium if the weather isn’t very good.

DM3 will be performing, of course, as will Mystic Bowie and Mutti Lewis.

There will be vendor areas for band merchandise, and booths sponsored by student groups such as Global Voice and Peer Leadership. The student government will have members staffing an Information Booth. Representatives from UNICEF will also be staffing an information booth.

“Having UNICEF directly involved like this makes it easier for all of us,” Ms Musk said. “We won’t have any money issues. They’re going to be right there to collect the money, so they’ll take care of that end of things.”

Local businesses have donated items that will be raffled off.

The NHS Culinary Arts students will be selling refreshments all afternoon. Money raised by that group will benefit that program.

Teachers, parents, and students have all signed up to volunteer for Sunday.

Ms Musk, who graduated from Newtown High School a few years ago, has been sending press releases “to everybody — everything from all the local papers to The New York Times and even Rolling Stone magazine. You never now who’s going to take the hook, so I’ve tried to cover everything and everyone across the state,” she said. Announcements have already been made on WVOF, the student radio station at Fairfield University, and Ms Musk was hoping to get a few announcements done on WXCI, the student station at Western Connecticut State University, this week.

Jessica and Monica spent a few hours recently hanging fliers all around Newtown. They have also painted two sandwich boards, one that has been posted at the entrance to the high school and the other at Newtown Middle School, and were finishing a third to be posted at another school this week.

“Between the two of us hitting Newtown and Daria’s band using their connections, we’ve put in a lot of work to get the word out about this event,” said Monica.

In fact, DM3 members had to start turning down offers for participation from other bands.

“We actually started hearing from a ton of bands who wanted to participate, but the scheduling for this is being done in such a short timeframe that we couldn’t do too much this year,” she said.

On her band’s website, www.DariaMuskTrio.com, Ms Musk also explained: “Before we knew it, we had hundreds of volunteers, UNICEF was sending in people to collect the money, bands were calling and asking for slots to perform, regional press was promoting the event, and everyone [we] approached for help was excited to lend their services.”

“As a result, the sound, stage, and lighting crews, police, news coverage, radio broadcasting, bands, caterers, photographer, hundreds of high school students, and even T-shirt companies are donating their services,” she added.

The Daria Musk Trio is an “original lovin’ rock band … jammy, thoughtful, fun and exciting,” says Ms Musk, who has already won a Bruce Eagleson Memorial Prize, one of the state’s most prestigious performing arts awards. In addition to the singer-songwriter Daria on lead vocals and guitar, DM3 also includes percussionist J, who has been recognized by national sponsors and has performed on stage with Rusted Root, Weezer, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Dispatch; and Berklee grad Rich, the band’s guitarist, who has produced, composed, and performed on a number of albums that have received high acclaim.

Band influences include everyone from Dave Matthews Band, The Police, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, and Bjork to Bob Marley, U2, Stravinsky, and Crosby, Stills & Nash.

Hailing from Jamaica, Mystic Bowie has been performing since the age of 4. He offers a powerful blend of reggae, funk, zydeco, and blues-infected ska with the sounds of his homeland, the Caribbean, and New Orleans. His work has crossed over into film and advertising, mixing styles gleaned from countless musical collaborations far beyond his reggae roots.

He has performed with The Tom Tom Club and, since 1999, has played primarily with the band The Pallbearers.

Also born in Jamaica, Mutti Lewis worked with the band Rabonie (later Mana) before migrating to the United States. He recorded his first album in 1997 and its title cut, “Righteous Vampire,” was used by movie producer Justin King on the soundtrack for the 2002 movie Tommy Hobson.

His second album, Love Will Survive, was released last year.

“These two bands were right along with what we wanted to do,” Ms Musk said this week. “We were very excited to invite them to join us for Sunday. We’re excited to be sharing the stage with bands of this caliber.”

In the four-plus months since the deadly tsunami swept across the Indian Ocean region of southeast Asia, UNICEF has worked with governments and other organizations to begin planning and supporting long-term restoration to the region. According to the website for the international children’s organization, UNICEF’s strategy “to ‘build back better’ will help to construct up-to-date schools and health care facilities in each of the countries affected by the emergency.”

Health care facilities include “decentralized health centers,” according to UNICEF. These are health posts at the community level, which may not need much money to rebuild but — like emergency walk-in clinics in our state — they can respond to the immediate need of a community.

Official estimates put the toll of the tsunami at more than 280,000 people dead as a result of the disaster. UNICEF estimated that more than a third of those who were killed were children.

Ms Musk and her bandmates weren’t hesitant about planning an event after so many other groups and celebrities around the world had done similar fundraisers.

“The fact that already famous stars were holding huge events on television and around the country and the world didn’t intimidate [us],” she wrote in an email this week. “Already the attendance is expected to be around 1,000 people, and with all the proceeds from tickets and merchandise going directly into the hands of UNICEF, this little concert may just make a big dent in funds that are still needed!”

Ms Musk said this week that since the setup of the May 22 concert and the excitement that has already been generated, it has been decided that “Rock 2 Rebuild” will become an annual event.

 “We’ll raise money for different causes each year, and DM3 is already working on putting together another great concert, this one to benefit MusiCares and music programs in public schools in America,” she said.

The advertising for “Rock 2 Rebuild: A Tsunami Relief Benefit Concert” has been taken care of. Now it is up to the musicians to put on a good show, the volunteers to show up to keep things running smoothly on Sunday, and of course for people to show up for the event.

“Reggae on a Sunday afternoon is always a good thing,” said Ms Musk. “Grab a chair, some suntan lotion, and just come enjoy the show.”