SXSW 2014 Part 1

Hello again folks and friends
welcome to another edition of a beard's eye view.
This will be part one of a two part recap of our adventures at SXSW 2014.

PART 1...but first a cool story of something that happened from a turning a concert last month into a coat drive.

February was time to get a lot of work done as well as an opportunity to serve my community a variety of different blessings.  Just a quick side note, I'm not sure how many of ya'll remember the last blog and the story of all the coats that we're donated to those in need. After dropping the coats off at the Salvation Army, I received a call from miss Julie at Salvation Army saying "thank you for your help and your heart", and I said "THANK YOU for all that YOU do." I then said "imagine what we could do with more planning and foresight.
She told me how March is MN Foodshare Month and that they're trying to bring awareness that people are going hungry within our own communities. The Salvation Army feeds breakfast to our human family monday through friday every week. Miss Julie said that CKC Catering was going to come and serve the people. She then said they were going to put linens on the tables and asked if I would come in and play for the people. So I did.
I felt it was a wonderful opportunity to give and serve.
It was so cool to watch as the people came in. Their reaction to the music, the linens, the buffet style line for the food, juices, and even  syrup. Things we take for granted every day. I overheard some guy say, "I haven't had a breakfast like this in years"
I feel one of the mantras for 2014 is
MUSIC AS A VEHICLE FOR CHANGE
 Here's a cool link from Salvation Army North, that goes into better detail on what happened that morning in St. Paul.

SXSW 2014

It was only about a month ago the last time we were in Texas, so the drive was familiar.
We took our time getting down there and arrived in Austin on Thursday night.
We went to get our wristbands/badges so we didn't have to mess with check in on the day we played.
Then we hit the streets of Austin....

The streets were filled with everything. So many people, lights, smells, expressions. Heavy metal music dancing with folk music. Drum circles. The energy was big and after the long haul we went back to rest for our show the next day.


We played the CAUSE ROCK DAY PARTY at the LIBERTY along side a slew of MN musicians,
to name a few Actual Wolf, Enemy Planes, Saints of Valory, Communist Daughter.
As well as a panel from MN non-profit ROCK THE CAUSE 

The panel included Laura Sobiech, who is Zach Sobiech's mom. Zach has an amazing story. He was diagnosed with a rare bone cancer at the age of 14. Then in 2012 he was told he only had a year to live, so he started writing songs to have his family remember him. One of those songs was CLOUDS.
The song has spoken to the people and with the help of Rock the Cause, Children's Cancer Research, Zach's family and story and all of the people that donated their time and gifts. They have collectively raised $750,000.00 for cancer research to be distributed to the U of M. HEY NOW and HOLY BUCKETS!
So proud to call these people our peers, and even more blessed to call them our friends.
As the story goes it was then our time to take the stage and as we do. So Dylan Nau, Maxaphone, Kevin Gastonguay and I hit the stage. We threw our songs to the heavens and hearts to the people.

Thank you Thank you Thank you...Thank you to all who came out, and a continued thank you for your continued support. Also a big thank you to SCOTT HEROLD and the rest of the folks at ROCK THE CAUSE. Thank your heart, your drive and your passion.

We have two shows TODAY SATURDAY MARCH 15th 2014!

6:00pm at the HYATT REGENCY and 11pm at the HOLY MOUNTAIN!

Peace and Many Thanks