More updates to come soon, next week perhaps. In the meantime…
‘Foodstock 2014’ concert coming to Roxbury
Latest update:
We have accumulated nearly $1,000 in sponsorship money.
Everything that we need has been donated, save for t-shirts for the approximately 65 volunteers that we will have for 3 shifts of 2 hours each. We have been quoted $8-9 per shirt.
A decent portion of the balance of the funds will be used to boost posts on Facebook. According to Tom Zartler, this is quite effective to get visibility as he has done it himself to get people to view the events for when his band plays a gig.
We reduced the number of bands to 8, with each band playing for 40 minutes instead of 30. The schedule is:
School of Rock Band (11:15 AM - 11:55 AM)
Silent Q (12:10 PM - 12:50 PM)
Under a Ton (1:05 PM - 1:45 PM)
The Bent Benjamins (2:00 PM - 2:40 PM)
The Matt Mead Band (2:55 PM - 3:35 PM)
Iridesense (3:50 PM - 4:30 PM)
Nicola (4:45 PM - 5:25 PM)
Outer Bridge Crossing (5:40 PM - 6:20 PM)
Matt Mead got us a drum riser, donated by PanAVid. They are a professional event equipment supplier.
I will be putting together a playlist of 2h of music from the first two Haiti albums, the two Sandy albums, the Typhoon Haiyan singles that we released. If that’s still not enough then I’ll pick a few others from the SoH members that they have distributed over the years.
We are confirmed for having a merchandising table on location for each of the artists. We appreciate the fact that they are donating their time for the event, but if they can make a buck or two selling CDs then that helps them out too.
We also have confirmed some activities for the kids. This is a new development, and it started because we are trying to prevent people from leaving if the kids get bored. Bwahahahaha
I was Skype’ing with Glyn yesterday, and he offered to record an introduction that could be played over the PA to show that Sound of Humanity is indeed a global organization and even though many of you won’t be there physically it’s not like you haven’t been involved. I love the idea, but would like to take it a step beyond this: I have written a script that I’d like several people involved in the recording of. Each person will say a phrase here and there, and I’ll put it together in a Cubase project to make it sound like a TV commercial. This will be our intro.
The people I’d like to participate were chosen based on their location. The script will start with people local to Roxbury, NJ and will expand all the way out to Ian in New Zealand. If the audience hasn’t figured out that we’re serious when we say “global” then all hope is lost. 
I will reach out to you all individually (on Facebook most likely), but the people are: Glyn Powell, Ian Rushton, Kim Christiansen, me, Lenny Lee, Mark Petruzzi, Matt Mead, Nicola Vasquez, Robin Hare, Tara Eberle-Drouin, Tom Zartler, and Wim Koopman. Matt, Nicola and Tara are not in this forum so I will contact them separately.
Count me in
Kim
If someone has Robin Hare’s email address, please email it to the Sound of Humanity mailbox: humanusic@yahoo.com
Here is a rough demo of the Introduction as I see it:
During the narration I am doing everyone’s voices. In reality, everyone would get a separate phrase of their own.
Looks like I got overridden by the general feeling of a number of others. They said it was over the top, which I agreed with, but they also said it’s probably not as appropriate for the festival itself as it would be for a TV commercial.
Larry got my address by the way… 
[quote=“NorthWood MediaWorks”]Larry got my address by the way… [/quote
that may be, but; We all’ve got Your Number 
Off a cubicle wall in the ladies’ room no doubt! 
We made the paper! Less than 2 weeks away!
well done Larry good on ya.
Cool… good luck Larry…
5 days away, and I’m nervous!
Cablevision has indicated an interest in being on location during part of the event and interviewing me, the Town Manager, and others involved in the planning and execution for a news segment that will be airing on one of their NJ-only stations from mid-September through mid-October. This will be great post-event PR for next year!
Yes, I said “next year.”
About to go on the air - www.hgrnj.org - to promote Foodstock. Short notice, I realize, because I’ll be going on in 3 minutes.
Tomorrow is the big day!
For those of you who aren’t in my Facebook network, I’m in the process of getting divorced. The owner of HomeGrownRadioNJ.org is the husband of my wife’s best friend, and his wife basically told him 2 weeks ago he’s not allowed to simulcast the event over the Internet. So I apologize in advance that you all won’t be able to listen in during Foodstock.
However, the photographer who provided the album covers for the two Sandy albums will be on location with his high speed pro gear shooting photos the entire day. I will have plenty of photos to share with you here after the event is over. Plus, Cablevision (a very large cable TV company) will be on location to interview a few people (me, included) and get some footage from the day for a news segment that runs on one of their channels. The segment itself will run from 9/14 - 10/12, and I’m hoping to get a DVD of the segment as well that I can share with you here somehow.
Just to remind you: even though you won’t be there in person, I have a playlist of over 2 hours of material from the previous albums that we’ve released plus a few individual tracks from people who have contributed to those albums. These tracks will be played in between acts when I’m not on stage making announcements. So you will be there in spirit if not in person.
PLEASE SEND GOOD THOUGHTS SO THAT WE CAN COLLECT A LOT OF FOOD FOR COMMUNITY FOODBANK OF NEW JERSEY. 
I’m sorry to hear about the simulcast falling through because of that petty stuff. What’s his wife’s name? I’m going to make a phone call and have her corrected. 
The event and your marriage are two separate things.
I agree. Ironically, his wife is a very well known and award winning regional theater director. You’d think that she’d appreciate the need to make this event successful.
In their defense, he told me that her cousin is getting married this weekend. But the way my wife came in and gloated almost that he wasn’t going to do it made me think that was simply an excuse to get out of it. He told me he will meet me for a beer one night on the sly so that we can chat without the need for him to maintain appearances.
That’s too bad…about the simulcast AND divorce…been there and it can be a tough thing to go through (the divorce), especially if the other half is hell bent on destroying you (as was my case)…lost my house & everything in and around it, but in the end, I’m now in a better environment, home, and relationship. Haven’t been/don’t go on face book much, but my ‘other half’ keeps me informed of FB family drama etc 
Good thoughts over to that part of the country and break a leg! We contribute to food drives here locally regularly.
And remember, piccies or it never happened…the event, not divorce
You weren’t happy the last time I outed you, were you?
YAY! IT’S DONE!
By my measure the event was hugely successful.
616 people attended.
Over 2,000 pounds of food collected. Community FoodBank of New Jersey said that, because the paperwork to get the Roxbury Food Pantry on board as an official partner wouldn’t be completed in time, the Pantry could take some of the food for themselves. So we won’t get an official weight, but it was over 2,000 pounds just by the numbers. However, some people brought several bags of food, which is far more than the 64 ounces needed.
Cablevision shot footage for 3 hours or so. I told Adam, the producer, that I will be asking him for a DVD of the final, edited piece so that I can not only use it for PR for next year but also so I can share with all of you.
Athos shot over 600 pictures with a high speed pro camera. I will be sharing some of these with you all.
Lots of sound snafus, unfortunately, but with Tom Zartler, Matt Mead, and Larry Gruber there, we overcame them all. The sound in the field was magnificent as a result of their tireless efforts.
A lot of people from here were represented. As I said, I had a playlist of over 2h of material premade from Sound of Humanity albums that was played in between sets. So music from people like Lenny, Kim, Glyn, Dave Keir, Ian, Wim, etc. was enjoyed by the crowd throughout the day. I’m glad you were all able to be there in spirit if not physically.