6th Annual ISLAND Benefit Concert

"My beard would like to express it's humble gratitude to you all for allowing it to live a life of purpose; and as its last act it would like to pay tribute to Phil Wintermute." - Seth Bernard

The bearded and unbearded alike descended on Short's Brewing Company to celebrate great music, great food, great beer and a great cause at the ISLAND 6th annual Benefit Boncert and Silent Auction on April 7th.

This was the year of the shave-raiser, a new fundraising idea conceived by bearded farmer DJ Marty Heller (DJ Martoosh). Bearded men competed to raise money, with the winner getting a free shave, live on stage. The winner? Mr. Seth Bernard. Seth rapped over DJ Martoosh's remix of Phil Wintermute's BioDome, "we're seeing through the prism of consumerism/it aint good for you/it aint good for me/ it aint flush with the dream of baby boomerism… when we're livin` in the bio-dome." Upon the tribute's completion, Seth underwent the great ritual of moving his facial hair from the art music web to the soil food web, courtesy of barber and MLUI staffer Brian Beauchamp.

But that aint all folks. The benefit featured more than seven hours of music, from Seth and May, Rachael Davis, Dominic John Davis, Joshua Davis, Gift or Creatures and the True Falsettos - all Earthwork musicians - as well as local blues act Hipps N Ricco.

The benefit raised over $6000 for ISLAND, essential dollars for a community organization with a micro-budget. The dollars form the primary support for ISLAND's Hill House Residency Program, which supports emerging musicians, writers at all stages of their career, and non-studio artists with time and space to create new work. Any leftover funds will support ISLAND's food, farm and ecology programming, including 100+ events in 2012.

Brad and Amanda cannot overstate the importance of the support that Earthwork Musicians have provided ISLAND during it's early years. "These kinds of relationships go way beyond financial support or trading favors." said Brad Kik, ISLAND co-director. "Our connection with Earthwork Music is humbling. These musicians aren't just here because of their generosity. There's a whole mess of love, shared work, old friendships, overlapping mission and good whiskey involved here." Earthwork musicians have played at every ISLAND benefit and have raised over $25,000 for ISLAND programs over the last seven years.

To learn more about ISLAND and it's programs, including the Hill House Artist Residency, visit www.artmeetsearth,org.