Posts Tagged ‘Jason Mraz’

14 Oct

Wear Your Music

Posted by Andrew Mersmann in Inspiration. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Holiday gift ideas are starting to creep up…just like merchandise in stores…waaaaaaaayyyy to early. Remember when Halloween came and went before twinkly lights and fake snow filled the shelves? Now the glowing embers of the Fourth of July have barely cooled before Santa stakes out a corner of a store. This gift idea, however, is a perennial, and would make a great birthday, graduation, anniversary, etc. gift while also doing some profound good.

Wear Your Music gets guitar strings donated by some of the greatest rock and roll players in the world (Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Pete Townsend, Bonnie Raitt, Carlos Santana, etc) and then crafts the strings into simple bracelets. 100% of the profits from this oh-so-simple enterprise, go to the musician’s favorite charity of choice. Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead, for instance, chose Reverb, a non-profit focusing on musicians and fans taking a stake in a sustainable future. Peter Frampton chose the Music Resource Center of Cincinnati. Jason Mraz profits go to the Surfrider Foundation. Clapton—Crossroads Drug Rehab. Dolly Parton—Imagination Library. Santana—Milagro Foundation, and so on.

It is a great way to embrace music and further the charitable goals of the artists you respect (and find a whole bunch of new foundations and charities as well as you peruse the website).

15 Sep

Jason Mraz in Ghana with Free the Slaves

Posted by Andrew Mersmann in Inspiration, Support. Tagged: , , , , , .

Damn, I love Jason Mraz. If I was doing an employee review, he would get “Exceeds Expectation” on every front. His music is brilliant, and his humanitarianism and philanthropy are huge. Here is a short video about his time in Ghana with Free the Slaves, learning, as we all must, that slavery is a very real, very contemporary issue that must be addressed today. It is easy to convince ourselves that the plight of slaves is a yesterday matter, but being in Haiti where there are currently thousands of child slaves, seeing Jason’s film from Ghana and the child slaves there, and knowing the many other nations where slavery exists right now, I hope you’ll join me in looking for ways to be a vocal activist and end slavery in our lifetime.

15 Jun

Free the Slaves

Posted by Andrew Mersmann in Opportunities, Support. Tagged: , , , , , .

Ninety Bucks

That’s the average cost of a human life in today’s slave market. TODAY’s slave market. People tend to think that since slavery is illegal in every country in the world, that illegality must have made it go away. In fact, there are 27 million slaves RIGHT NOW, and on average, every 36 minutes, a slave is trafficked into the United States.

I’m at a loss as to how to reconcile my life with a world where slavery still exists. My world view didn’t include this except in past tense–as a history lesson. And I’m not OK with it.

Join me in getting involved to stop slavery. FreetheSlaves.net will help you educate yourself and those around you, and open your eyes to ways to step up and take a stand. Singer Jason Mraz just spent 5 days in Ghana to find out more.

Mraz spent his time in the country traveling rescue shelters for slaves – as well as Challenging Heights, a school in Winneba founded by a former child slave, where many students are former slaves.

According to Free the Slaves: “We don’t waste time debating which kind of slavery is worse — brick kilns or carpet looms, sex or domestic, new or old — it’s all horrible. Slavery is a dark slash across the heart of all humanity. We believe there are no easy answers to eradicating slavery. But there are answers from the people who are enslaved and those helping them to freedom. There is no single path to liberation – the paths are many – we will tread them all before our job is done.”

Sign up for newsletters and calls to action. Be involved at any level, but BE involved.

27 Oct

Musicians on Call

Posted by Andrew Mersmann in volunteer. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Are you musical? Want to hang out and do the same work as artists like Seal, Carrie Underwood, John Mayer, Rob Thomas, musiciansSheryl Crow, Taylor Swift, Jason Mraz, Kelly Rowland, Maroon 5, Daughtry, the Bacon Brothers, Brad Paisley, Avril Lavigne, and more? Musicians on Call is a charitable organization that brings the healing power of music to the bedsides of patients in healthcare facilities. The one-on-one contact between musician and patient is intimate and does wonders for mood and energy. While some of the leaders of the music industry lend their time and talent, you don’t have to sell out stadium arenas to be a part of this. Volunteer musicians are needed in New York, Philadelphia, Nashville, and Miami. Non-musicians can also help as guides who accompany musicians at performances and act as a liaison between the musician and hospital staff. MOC is also expanding the programs to Veteran’s hospitals nationwide, so you can jump in by signing up here.

One Song at a Time