...Dear New Orleans benefit comp released today...

Just a little reminder that the Dear New Orleans benefit album is released today via your preferred places of musical e-commerce (iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody and eMusic) and includes our song Crescent from our own forthcoming album. You can read tons about it here (or just hit the “page down” button).

...& debut performance of Crescent w/ Bird of Youth tonight:

Another small reminder as well that charles will be unveiling - and then probably very quickly re-veiling – our song from Dear New Orleans, Crescent, with Bird of Youth backing up tonight at week four of their August-long every-Tuesday residency at the Living Room here in New York City.

thanks as always,
the wrens

• Read more

It’s been five years

To mark the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina - and in response to the Gulf Oil Disaster also deeply affecting the region – the folks at Air Traffic Control have produced “Dear New Orleans”, a digital-only benefit compilation, the proceeds of which will be granted to a range of New Orleans-based nonprofit organizations including Sweet Home New Orleans and Gulf Restoration Network.

To do our tiny part, we have a new song, “Crescent”, included on “Dear New Orleans” which will be released & available for download on Tuesday, August 24th at the Dear New Orleans site, as well as at the usual lineup of your preferred places of digital business (iTunes, Amazon.com, Rhapsody and eMusic.com).

Tying it all together nicely, Charles will be debuting the song the same night, Tues., 8/24, as part of Bird of Youth’s every-Tuesday-night-in-August residency at the Living Room here in NYC. The Bird of Youth players have graciously, even foolishly, agreed to be backing band for the song that night. Charles will reciprocate to completely different effect by dragging a couple of their songs (Bombs Away and a Squeeze cover) down a few drains.

About Air Traffic Control

Air Traffic Control is a nonprofit resource for activist and philanthropic musicians who along with the
Future of Music Coalition, have been co-hosting a series of artist activism retreats in New Orleans since 2006. Artists are given the rare opportunity to connect directly with the people of New Orleans, the tradition bearers and community leaders who are on the frontlines of rebuilding and sustaining this vital city.

Charles was honored to be invited to one of the retreats a couple years back and it was, without much understatement, life-changing. It also, to paraphrase Air Traffic Control’s own mission statement, instilled a sense of empowerment for what can be accomplished through activism and music.

About the Dear New Orleans comp itself:

The “Dear New Orleans” comp itself is a musically impressive affair and honestly, would be worth your tough-earned dollars even if those dollars weren’t going to worthy causes.

See the Dear New Orleans site for the stellar lineup & running order. And a free download from the comp.

About our contribution:

When ATC asked if we’d be interested in helping out, Charles had this grandiose notion of using one of his demos for our own upcoming record, writing new lyrics to reflect his experience on the ATC-sponsored NOLA retreat, the wonderful folks he met there, some of their stories, etc.
But then life intervened w/ a premature second baby so we submitted an entirely different demo of his, an early version of one of the songs for our next album. So technically, broadly-defined, a new wrens’ song…

About some of the Orgs doing the work:

Sweet Home New Orleans is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to support the individuals and organizations who define New Orleans’ unique musical and cultural traditions.

They began their work immediately after the levees broke in 2005 helping the New Orleans musicians, Mardi Gras Indians, and Social Aid & Pleasure Club members get on their feet, get to work, and revitalize their communities and the cultural economy of New Orleans. And they did this by raising & distributing over $2.5 million in financial assistance to more than 2,500 members of the city’s music community.

Gulf Restoration Network is a 16 year-old environmental group committed to uniting and empowering people to protect and restore the natural resources of the Gulf of Mexico. Since the storms of 2005, they have worked for a national commitment to the restoration of the coastal wetlands of Louisiana, the region’s natural storm protection, which are disappearing at the rate of an acre an hour. The BP drilling disaster has greatly increased threats to this ecosystem, and GRN has provided independent monitoring and advocacy since the first days of the disaster.

In Sum…

We’re honored to lend the little help we can, our song in this case, to Dear New Orleans. We encourage each of you to check out this amazing compilation and do what you can to help make a difference for the Gulf Coast.
For more information on Dear New Orleans, a free download from the compilation, and to learn more about how you can help the Gulf, please visit Dear New Orleans.

• Read more

Haiti Benefit show, January 27th at the Bell House (Brooklyn)

As mentioned last week, we’re playing as part of a larger benefit show for Haiti, and details (as well as tickets) are available today.

The show is Wednesday, January 27th, at the Bell House in Brooklyn, doors open at 6:00, and 100% of the proceeds will be split between Save the Children and Partners in Health.

All sets are short, stripped-down affairs and we should be on about 9:15 or so. Although with a line-up like this, it’s worth making a full evening of it:

NY State Senator Diane Savino

The Wahoo Skiffle Crazies

Pat Kiernan (of NY 1)

Here We Go Magic

Eugene Mirman

Matthew Caws & ? (TBA)

Eugene Mirman

Sondre Lerche

Todd Barry

The Wrens

AC Newman + Rhett Miller + Nicole Atkins + Charles Bissell as The Seekers

Ted Leo

Jimmy Fallon

Cold War Kids

…with others still to be confirmed (and note Charles’ ’60s Australian folkie turn as part of the Seekers cover set w/ A.C. Newman, Rhett Miller & Nicole Atkins). If you’re there between 6:30 – 7:30, enjoy free food courtesy of Great Jones Café, Dub Pies, and more. And there’s a special two hour edition of keyboard karaoke hosted by Sara Schaefer and fellow South Jerseyan, Joe McGinty, in the front lounge from 11pm-1am.

Again, tickets are on sale as of noon today (here). And if you’re not in the NYC-area but still looking for a way to donate the much-needed money for immediate help and long-term rebuilding, see our list of organizations already in Haiti, doing great and difficult work there (one post down the page), courtesy of our friends at Air Traffic Control.

And for whatever you can do, thanks very much,

the wrens

By now, most of us have seen the heartbreaking scenes of destruction, suffering and death coming from Haiti, following the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck there at 4:53pm local time, January 12th, approximately 10 miles from Port-au-Prince. Tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people are feared dead, as the capital city has been devastated.

To do our small part in helping to raise money for this cause, we’ll be performing at a benefit show here in New York City, along with a handful of other musicians, and we’ll post details on that as they’re finalized in the next day or two.

When disasters of this magnitude occur, sometimes amidst the media coverage and discussion, it can be less clear to know where to go to help or to donate the much-needed money for relief and eventual recovery. So with thanks to our friends at Air Traffic Control for putting this together, here is a concise shortlist of organizations that are already in place to help, and that you can help, by donating whatever you can….

IMMEDIATE SUPPORT
Established disaster recovery organizations and national governments have been mobilized. Click on the names of any of the following organizations which are also raising funds for relief efforts:



Oxfam
Doctors Without Borders
Wyclef Jean’s Yele Foundation:

LONG-TERM SUPPORT
Crucial recovery and rebuilding efforts are always under-funded in comparison to immediate relief efforts. Here are three organizations that have distributed staff in the country now and more importantly, have a long-standing, grassroots presence in Haiti and are well positioned to aid in the long-term recovery effort: 


Partners in Health 

Fonkoze
The Lambi Fund of Haiti

DONATE BY TEXT-MESSAGE
Making things even easier, you can also make a set-amount donation via text-message (U.S. Only). The amount of the donation will be added to your cell phone bill:

Text the word “YELE” to 501501 to donate $5 to Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund

Or, text the word “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to the Red Cross.

LASTLY…
A good wrap-up of the relief efforts currently under way, here.

Thank you,
the wrens

Howdy citizens of 2008,

Hoping your all your holidays and new year and stuff have been as nifty as our own. I got an actual stocking.

Just a quick little – yet important - news item for this next week. Charles has been invited along with an impressive handful of much cooler musicians (see below) to participate in a 3-day artist retreat and benefit show in New Orleans put together by the Future of Music Coalition and Air Traffic Control.

This retreat, the third since Katrina, is designed to promote social justice activism by musical artists and to encourage and facilitate the engagement and support of national artists with the local New Orleans music community as our community struggles to rebuild.

The retreat culminates in a benefit show for Sweet Home New Orleans (SHNO), an umbrella organization for 14 non-profit agencies serving New Orleans' music community. SHNO provides relocation, housing, and social services to musicians and tradition bearers in need. Thousands of New Orleans musicians have yet to find stable housing in their neighborhoods since the flood of 2005. SHNO's mission is to help these artists return to their communities, where they can revitalize the city and share their unique culture with future generations.

Details for the benefit show:

Indie Artists Perform Benefit for New Orleans Musicians Thursday, January 10 at The Parish @ House of Blues New Orleans 9:00pm

On January 10, at the House of Blues Parish Room,

Jon Langford & Sally Timms of The Mekons,
Patrick Hallahan of My Morning Jacket,
Charles Bissell of the Wrens,
Kimya Dawson (who recently contributed eight songs to the hit movie Juno),
Timothy Bracy of Mendoza Line,
Janet Bean of Freakwater
Craig Klein, Matt Perrine, Eric Bolivar & Bert Cotton of Bonerama
And as of today, Nellie McKay

…come together to play a benefit show for musicians displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Showtime is 9 pm.

Buy Tickets

Find out about Sweet Home New Orleans

And if you’re not in the neighborhood to make the show Thursday, consider donating online through their website.

Thanks as always and when we come back online a little later this month we’ll have some new muzak news for you.

take care,
the wrens

• Read more

Related to the story below regarding Bottom of the Hudson’s tragic accident, we’re doing a couple of benefit shows in September (details of both the accident and updates on news can be found on our label’s site,
Absolutely Kosher).

First, Charles is doing a solo show at Monkey Town in Williamsburg, Brooklyn this Wednesday, Sept. 5th.
This is the usual solo Charles thing with out-of-the-norm wrens songs into looping pedals but unusually this time, in collaboration with video artists Elizabeth Maertens and Phillip Kim who will be pushing Monkey Town’s four built-in video screens to their limits.
Also on this bill is Tris McCall (another of NJ’s own and a wonderful songwriter) and the really, really good Overlord.

Monkey Town is a very nifty venue and a very small one - reservations are required and seating is very limited.
But note that they’re currently having server problems with the online reservation form so best bets are to email reservation requests directly to:

monkeytownhq@aol.com

Whatever proceeds Charles drums up from this show will also be going to Trevor’s family and to help offset medical expenses for Bottom of the Hudson’s Greg Lytle, who was also seriously injured in the crash.

Secondly, the full Wren-ish band is doing a benefit show in Philadelphia with Man Man (amazingly good, if you haven’t seen them) and the A-Sides (about whom we’ve heard good things).
The show is at the First Unitarian Church on Thursday, September 20th and all proceeds will be donated to the family of Trevor Butler, Bottom of the Hudson’s bassist, who was killed in the accident.

Details for both shows can be found on our ’Tours’ page.

Also, even if you’re not able to make either of the shows, donations to Trevor’s family can still be made via PayPal to
both@absolutelykosher.com.

We hope you’ve been having a wonderful summer and we hope to be back soon with happier news.

Thanks as always,
the wrens

• Read more