Ukulele Players for Japan

thejumpingflea

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Hey guys,

As you all must know, Japan has been hit by some absolutely terrible disasters recently. First the 9.0 earthquake, followed by hundreds of aftershocks, tsunamis, and now the increased threat of radiation pollution from power plants being unable to perform properly. It's times like these that put life into perspective, and is certainly at time when we as human beings need to help those affected anyway we can.

For any members here on UU who have been affected by the crisis, you guys are in my thoughts and prayers.


I had an idea, and I am not sure if it will work, so I wanted to get some of your thoughts on it.

What if we had an ukulele concert that was streamed live online? We would have performers from here on UU all over the world play a few songs each. Maybe we could do it like a PBS program, with a main 'hub' so to speak to introduce the performers and give updates of money raised as the show goes on.

What do you guys think? Is anybody interested in helping out with something like this? Does anybody have any experience doing these sort of things?
 
Hey guys,

As you all must know, Japan has been hit by some absolutely terrible disasters recently. First the 9.0 earthquake, followed by hundreds of aftershocks, tsunamis, and now the increased threat of radiation pollution from power plants being unable to perform properly. It's times like these that put life into perspective, and is certainly at time when we as human beings need to help those affected anyway we can.

For any members here on UU who have been affected by the crisis, you guys are in my thoughts and prayers.


I had an idea, and I am not sure if it will work, so I wanted to get some of your thoughts on it.

What if we had an ukulele concert that was streamed live online? We would have performers from here on UU all over the world play a few songs each. Maybe we could do it like a PBS program, with a main 'hub' so to speak to introduce the performers and give updates of money raised as the show goes on.

What do you guys think? Is anybody interested in helping out with something like this? Does anybody have any experience doing these sort of things?

Great idea Matt.
 
Superb idea - need to think how you link it to money raising?
 
I think it's an awesome idea Matt. MAybe talk to Ryan or AG about it, maybe they could help host or something.. I'm sure you could kind of set it up like the open mics they've had here before.
 
An international ukulele busking day to help raise donations??? The spring equinox would have been a cool date to have but probably too close now to organise.
 
I would do anything I could to support something like this.
 
Great idea Matt. I'm not an expert on this stuff, but it might be helpful to partner with a 501c3 (non profit organization) so that people can get a tax deduction for giving money. That might help maximize the amount we could come up with.
 
I think it's a nice initiative.
Unfortunately I won't be of much help seeing people wouldn't pay to see or hear me play :D
 
Awesome idea! 5 min here and there from the international ukulele community to pull together the raise support for all the losses over there. Just the good will alone would be wonderful but to help people financially when they lost it all is wonderful too.
 
I think it's a nice initiative.
Unfortunately I won't be of much help seeing people wouldn't pay to see or hear me play :D

I was thinking the same thing (about myself, not you). Maybe those of us in the less skilled, voice like a rock crusher camp can flip things around - camp outside popular venues and "reverse busk" - put up big signs that say, "I'll stop playing for three minutes for every dollar you donate to the tsunami victims."

On a more serious note, I expect that the Red Cross and other international agencies will be setting up special funds for tsunami victims if they haven't already so. Coordinating local efforts through such an orgainization's fund might be one option. Sadly, you have to be pretty careful these days. It's gotten so con artists mobilize faster after disasters than the real relief organizations do.

John
 
Matt,

You might contact Alan at KoAloha. He has ties to numerous non-profits and has connections with the Japanese community too. He might be able to help set up something through one of the non-profits and perhaps line up some additional performers to go along with the everyone else.
 
This show was streamed live last night, but as far as I know donations were only solicited locally.
 
Aloha Matt,
You have a big heart and thank you for giving back..it's a wonderful idea....I applaud youn man.....Happy Strummings and Good Luck!! MM Stan
 
I'm serious, I think it would be a good thing to put together a CD to benefit Japan. We managed the Duchenne CD, I think we could do this too. No?
 
You could get the really famous performers to raise money in a telethon type setting.

But those of us who are mere mortals could raise money ourselves: find ten people to sponsor you for $5, and then record a song on youtube. These people could sponsor you by simply writing a check to the Red Cross Japan Relief Fund. That way, no tax implications. We set up a website or use a thread here to attach our youtube videos.

If 100 members here got ten $5 checks, we'd raise $5000. Think of what we could do if we got 10 people to pledge ten dollar checks. We could also report our check totals, and list it here on a big board.

We could start this in ten minutes. Start a thread, get some Red Cross Checks from friends, neighbors and family, record a song, post it, and send the checks to the Red Cross.
 
We should do Somewere Over The Rainbow . Like we did for Captain Google .
 
I'd get mine and farmerboy's uke orchestra to do a tune
 
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