Homeless Benefit Sun 4/26 Gainesville FL

[Brian Krashpad]

I know there are a few FLA people here, just in case any will be in or near Gainesville Sunday evening, pardon all the PR bs:

CRASH PAD is back, kids! And what better excuse to get onstage than to help the great local charity the HOMEvan? Note early show time, FIVE PM. We know most of you have work or school to go to on Monday morning. Have some rock for dinner-- and help the homeless in our community. Don't forget to bring white socks and/or peanut butter for the HOMEvan people to distribute, and some cash with which to buy the new HOME Van local band compilation CD (the second edition of "HOMEvan: A Gainesville Music Benefit for the Homeless"), featuring 24 of Gainesville’s finest bands, including many never-before-released tracks. One of those new songs is Crash Pad’s “Labor Day,” a rare foray into angry political ranting— but of course a melodic one that you can pogo to.

Sunday’s all-star early-bird lineup at Common Grounds is: Grabass Charlestons (featuring former Crash Pad bassist PJ!), Liquid Limbs, Spanish Gamble (f.k.a. Dirty Money), and CRASH PAD.

With the mounting economic crisis, the most needy of our community have come upon particularly hard times. Homelessness is at an all-time high in Gainesville, as more people than ever before are finding themselves forced to live on the streets. In the past two years, the number of men, women and children without housing in our community has jumped 70%, to more than 1,600.

Gainesville musicians, recognizing our community’s growing hardships, have come together to present a compilation of Gainesville’s best and brightest bands to raise awareness for a local organization’s efforts to alleviate the growing plight.

HOMEvan, founded in 2002 by Arupa and Bob Freeman and other community activists, is a grassroots, volunteer-run outreach group providing a variety of services for the homeless, poor, and disenfranchised of Gainesville. Twice each week, rain or shine, HOMEvan's volunteers bring a nutritious bagged meal, soup, clothes, hygiene products, and (what many need most of all) an un-judging and compassionate ear.

The show will feature raffle prizes from local merchants and information from a variety of grassroots groups. Organizers are requesting attendees bring donations of peanut butter and/or white socks to the shows for distribution by the HOMEvan.

For interviews about the compilation or accompanying events, please call Dan Fitzpatrick at 352-682-3413 or Erica Carlsson at 727-244-7133. For more information on homelessness in Gainesville, contact Jon DeCarmine at the Alachua County Coalition for the Homeless & Hungry, 352-494-3955. Wanna read more about HOMEVan, the new album, and the benefit shows? Check this article in the Alligator:

http://www.alligator.org/articles/20...16_homevan.txt

HOMEvan Myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/homevancompilation

[Jimi75]

Krash, if I lived nearby I'd be there, for sure! I think it's one of the greatest things to play for charity! Respect Krash! You do very well. :

[Brian Krashpad]

Krash, if I lived nearby I'd be there, for sure! I think it's one of the greatest things to play for charity! Respect Krash! You do very well. :

Aw, thanks man. I'm just very honored to be able to do the show and be on the CD. From a self-centered standpoint, the show should be well-attended by people who are our core audience, and since we don't have CD out ourselves, being on the benefit CD helps keep our name out there too. Given that there are literally hundreds of original music bands in Gainesville (there is a large community college and a large state university here, so lots of young people and bands), to get one of the 24 slots on the CD was very cool.

And obviously, who can say no to a benefit? I don't think I ever have. That said, in American English we have an expression, a "clusterf*ck," which all too often perfectly describes how benefit concerts actually are run, because the people involved mean well, but only know how to run charities, not music events. Fortunately, this benefit CD was put together by musicians themselves, and the venue we are playing at "runs a tight ship" (another idiomatic expression, for being efficient), so hopefully it will all go smoothly.

[mrmudcat]

Is there a link to buy the cd or make a donation brother ??

[Brian Krashpad]

Is there a link to buy the cd or make a donation brother ??

I went looking for a link to use to be able to buy the CD online (I don't even have a copy yet, and sfaik it's been out a couple weeks) and couldn't find one.

If you go to their myspace, iirc they have a blog about how to donate. If you have a myspace page, befriend 'em and ask via pm if there's a way to buy the CD. If they haven't got their caca together and the only thing you can do is donate, let me know and I'll dub you a copy of mine (when I buy it on Sunday) if you do.

Thanks, you rock.

[mrmudcat]

I used my sons myspace and contacted them about paypal donation and or cd release/buy links Ill pm ya when I hear back they might be busy ya think!:

Mentioned where I heard about the concerts plugging thefret.net and you............. hope ya dont object

[Brian Krashpad]

I used my sons myspace and contacted them about paypal donation and or cd release/buy links Ill pm ya when I hear back they might be busy ya think!:

Mentioned where I heard about the concerts plugging thefret.net and you............. hope ya dont object

Oh no problem. Hopefully they'll get it sorted. If they don't, I will, one way or t'other.

[sunvalleylaw]

Cool Krash. Looks like fun, and a great cause. Keep us posted! You probably won't be able to come up with any guitar face pics, but if you do, be sure to post one or two.

[Brian Krashpad]

So last night Crash Pad played for the first time in over a year. It was a benefit for a local homeless charity/outreach called the HOMEvan. In late 2008 I went into the studio with a borrowed drummer from my side band and knocked out a track in one evening for a comp CD of loacal bands they're selling. Now they're doing a bunch of concerts featuring the bands on the album, so I reconstituted the old band with the new drummer.

Saw lots of people I hadn't seen in awhile; the set went pretty well although I broke a string on the penultimate song, and the broken one fouled the rest so I had to physically yank it aside to get the guitar playable, and then tweak the tuning on the remaining strings to finish out the song. At least that song had no solos. My high-schooler daughter came with and helped roadie and took these pics. I think she did pretty well for someone who'd never shot a live band before. These are raw pics with no cropping or brightening or anything, I just uploaded them to Facebook to get them resized.

As usual, your comments on my poseritude are expected and encouraged. I'll post a few now, lots more later.

Our backline:



Whole band:

[Brian Krashpad]

Here's Bruce, who drums for the sideband as well:



Here's the kids, Mitch:



And Ronnie:



The two old men:

[Brian Krashpad]

[Brian Krashpad]

[Plank_Spanker]

Welcome back to the fold, Brian. Looks like you guys had a great time.

[Brian Krashpad]

Thanks we had a great time. It was cool that my daughter could go too.

[sunvalleylaw]

Great Pics! Looks like fun too. The guy with the strat looks a little like Kris too, did he sneak down there and join you? :