Listen to The Breeders, “We’re Gonna Rise”:

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“Let me know if you need anything!”

During the course of my work sharing information about Oxfam, I hear that sentence so often that it’s almost become a generic sort of “goodbye”. Kind of a nicer way of saying “see you later.” It’s because Oxfam supporters in the music industry seem to be extra generous when it comes to making sure we are able to use their voices, and sometimes their art, to help with our work.

On Thanksgiving Eve last year, I had the amazing fortune of being able to see one of my favorite bands, The Pixies, play their famed “Doolittle” album from start to finish at NYC’s Hammerstein Ballroom. The Breeders, the band led by Pixie Kim Deal and her sister Kelley, are Oxfam supporters, most recently helping Oxfam volunteers host informational tables on the extensive tour to support their “Mountain Battles” album.

Kim (left) and Kelley Deal

Kelley invited me to watch The Pixies’s set from the side of the stage with her (which to a huge fan like me was akin to winning the lottery), and afterward I was able to spend some time with Kelley and Kim, talking about Oxfam’s work around the world, the recent Rankin photo exhibit from the Congo, and even a lively discussion about where to get the best cupcakes in Manhattan.

As the evening ended and we all hit the street outside the venue to part ways, Kelley yelled to me, “Let us know if you need anything!”

Little did she and I know that I’d be calling in that favor quicker than hoped.

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A few days ago, I blogged here about the incredible outpouring of support for Oxfam America’s earthquake recovery and relief work in Haiti from friends in the music industry. Artists, bands, managers, labels, radio stations and others in the business pitched in quickly to get the word out that we already had about staffers on the ground there, and that donations were needed to make sure we could use all resources possible to get working on delivering clean water and assessing sanitation issues quickly.

I’m pleased to see that the support hasn’t waned a bit since then. In fact, interest in our work with musicians related to Haiti relief has actually become a point of interest, as the media has started to look for interesting angles to keep their viewers, readers, and listeners tuned-in. I did a handful of interviews with radio stations this week, and every single host had heard about our work first through a musical artist that they were fans of. Proof that our alliances with folks like Chris Martin and Coldplay, who pledged money and support to our relief work in Haiti early-on is extremely meaningful.

And speaking of music artists and donations, State Radio are actually stopping their shows on their current tour to encourage fans to get their cellphones out to text the word OXFAM to 25383 to make a one-time $10 donation to Oxfam’s Haiti Response Fund.

State Radio's Chad Stokes and Sybil Gallagher from Calling All Crows, State Radio's charitable organization. Photo by Jessica Erickson/Oxfam America.

Need further encouragement to do the same yourself? Hear it directly from State Radio’s Chad Stokes.

Feel free to share the above video on your Facebook, Twitter, blog, or anywhere else you think might be helpful. After all, it’s not just rock stars and musicians that Haiti needs help from, it’s you, too.

It’s been mentioned before on this blog that the motto of Oxfam America’s concert outreach work is “We Believe Music Can Change The World.”  That motto has never seemed so true to me as it did in the middle of the night last night.

I normally work from my home office just outside of New York City, but I happen to be in Boston on a regularly scheduled trip to Oxfam’s HQ.  As my workday ended yesterday and I was leaving the office, I noticed a breaking news alert on the TV in Oxfam’s lobby, announcing the first reports of yesterday’s devastating earthquake in Haiti.  Having friends and colleagues in and around Port-au-Prince, I was shocked and saddened to hear the news.

I made my way back to the hotel, and rather than decompress with my normal regimen of bad food and even worse TV, I was glued to CNN’s reporting on the situation in Haiti.  Because most power was out and night had already fallen there, details were few, and sadly, mostly grim.

By 9:00pm, my cell phone started buzzing with texts and calls from friends of Oxfam in the music world.   Bands were asking me how they could lend a hand.

Mike McColgan from Street Dogs shows his support by wearing his Oxfam shirt at the Bamboozle Festival in New Jersey. Photo by: Lindsey Anderson.

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Greetings from London on a hijacked wifi signal…

Just got this (in my opinion) amazing bike tour wrap-up video from cellist and Oxfam supporter Ben Sollee:

http://www.vimeo.com/8330060.

Ben and crew just finished their second regional bike tour, this time covering 550 miles from Wilmington, NC to Jacksonville, FL. Along the way, they raised awareness about our unique gift-giving program,  Oxfam America Unwrapped.

Speaking of which, if you’re looking to buy a bicycle to help someone in need–or seeking another last-minute holiday gift that does good–check out www.oxfamgifts.com, or visit Ben’s page at  OxfamAmericaUnwrapped.com/BenSollee.

My position at Oxfam America as music artist relations coordinator requires me to take meetings in some very untraditional situations. I’ve become accustomed to requests to meet musicians at places including roadhouse nightclubs, barbecue joints, lounges of tour buses, and even at the side of the stage at a Motörhead concert…but the situation I was invited into last Friday night was my favorite meet-up with an artist ever.

Chad Stokes, our friend from State Radio and their charitable organization Calling All Crows, invited me to attend their Boston-area benefit show to accept a check from them for $100,000 for Oxfam to provide fuel-efficient stoves to women in Darfur. The band and “The Crows” have been collecting donations from fans at State Radio shows around the country, and bolstering the fund with side events like the Northampton Halloween 5K that raised about $14,000.

The show was held in the Somerville Armory, a recently refurbished hall that sparkled inside with twinkling holiday lights, and pulsed with the energy of hundreds of State Radio fans from all over the Northeast who came to show support for the Stoves fund drive. In addition to songs by Stokes, the crowd was treated to surprise short sets by fellow Dispatch bandmate Pete Francis, with Jay Driscoll of Barefoot Truth on slide guitar, Matt Embree of Rx Bandits, and State Radio’s Michael “Maddog” Najarian, who traded his usual drumsticks in for a guitar for the evening. 

 Before the final set of the evening, I was invited to the stage to collect the check, a giant oversized version that Ed McMahon would have approved of, and say a few words on behalf of Oxfam. Those close to me know that I’m seldom at a loss for words in any situation, but as I walked past the podium to accept the check from Stokes and his partner Sybil Gallagher, as Calling All Crows co-directors Matt Wilhelm and Jeb Gutileus stood by, all of whom were misty-eyed and beaming at seeing the fruits of their hard work being passed on, I choked up in a way I’ve not done for as long as I can remember:

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Oxfam America supporter Thao Nguyen (of Thao with the Get Down Stay Down) is a San Francisco-based singer-songwriter, whose new album “Know Better, Learn Faster” has just been released.

Hello out there. I am very pleased to be writing you on Blog Action Day, as it is my favorite day of the year. Last year on this day I dressed up as a blog, but because I’m more of an idea person, execution was poor and no one could really tell. This year will be clearer and different.

Thao with the Get Down Stay Down. Photo: Tarina Westlund

I am a songwriter and musician by trade, and although that is incredibly fortunate in and of itself, I feel especially lucky for such job placement because it has afforded me the unique opportunity to closely work with and support Oxfam America.

I have always loved Oxfam’s focus and application of energies and issues to real live people, and how the scope and arch of causes great and small always return to how real places with real people are being affected, and what can be done to help improve their quality of life. Climate change is a real bastard, as we all have heard. And it’s happening, let’s not deny it. If you keep turning a blind eye to climate change it will probably be injured in a surprise gale force wind. Or not. The issue of climate change has painted the town so many times with so many brushes, it is understandable that those of us with the ability and privilege to forget, would.

Enter Oxfam and others of its ilk to keep us aware and connected: The people the world over who have done the least to upset nature are always the ones who bear the brunt of its imbalance and fury.

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Photo: Lisa East / Oxfam America

Is it a popular artist’s responsibility to speak out about important issues?

That’s the question that was posed to us last Sunday at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee. As part of Oxfam America’s presence at the festival, I had the pleasure of being a panelist at a discussion about the intersection of activism and music. The panel took place on the Solar Stage, an earth-friendly performance area.

The panelist to my right happened to be Will Sheff from Okkervil River, a band I admire greatly. Before the panel, Sheff and I killed a little time in the “Green Room” tent adjacent to the stage by talking about his band’s efforts to “green” their own tours and to encourage fans to ride bikes to their gigs to slash gig-related carbon footprints. Sheff mentioned that they didn’t start those initiatives because of any particular movement or campaign, but rather because they personally just felt that the by-products of touring were wasteful. (Performer Ben Sollee may be one of the few musicians to complete a full tour on a bike, when he pedaled 330 miles to Bonnaroo with his cello.)

That’s why I wasn’t surprised to hear Sheff’s response to the panel’s question. He said, in essence: “I don’t think it’s an artist’s responsibility to do the right thing; I think it’s a human’s responsibility to do the right thing.” Who could argue with that?

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