http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc07L-fJlr0

This year's tour has been an extraordinary 32 day journey around the US and Taiwan.  The stories and spirit that gathered as we shared the power of music as a universal language has been a true demonstration of our mission to build community through music... Thank you to all the musicians, volunteers, donors, venues, and others who have contributed so much in support of our mission to honor the life and ideals of Danny Pearl who believed that music can build and strengthen community regardless of our differences.  Music provides a platform for recognizing common ground which opens up endless potential for creating real and lasting change in the world. 

Please stay tuned for more stories, pics, and video to come.  Visit FODfest Website and Blog

PEACE, LOVE, and MUSIC ~ The FODsquad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rZxu61sncA

FODfest '09 in Taiwan. This is a video taken at our Closing Party at The Taipei Artist Village where friends and fans we met along the tour joined us for a hootenanny in the courtyard...

 SAVORY THYMES CORDIALLY INVITES YOU TO AN UNFORGETTABLE EVENING OF SONG, FOOD,  AND FRIENDSHIP TO BENEFIT FODFEST, INC.  
(Friends Of Daniel Pearl Festival)   
Sunday, May 24, 2009
6:00-9:00
Mill Valley, California
,,
6:00 - Dinner In The Garden 
7:00 - Musical Appearance By World Renowned, Award  Winning Surprise Guest  (and musical hero of Danny Pearl)
8:00  - Dessert & Wine Reception
,,
TICKETS 
Tickets are a sliding scale of $100 - $200  per person and can be purchased by credit card or check.  Please note that  space for this event is extremely limited.  Purchase your tickets soon to ensure  availability.  FODfest, Inc. is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization (Federal  Tax ID: 26-3195366).  All contributions are tax deductible. 

To purchase tickets  with a credit card or paypal account, please visit http://fodfest.org/donate.html
To  purchase tickets by check, please mail to: FODfest, Inc., PO Box 1190, Sheffield, MA 01257
To  RSVP or for more info, please e-mail: info@fodfest.org
,,
ABOUT  FODfest
FODfest (http://fodfest.org) is a living celebration of  community and friendship through music honoring the life & ideals of the late  Wall St. Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.  In addition to being a journalist,  Danny was a talented musician who believed in the power of music to bring people  together regardless of the differences between them.  A classically trained  violinist and avid fiddler & mandolin player, music was Danny’s way of  connecting with people as he traveled the world.  FODfest celebrates that ideal  through multi-media presentations and an annual concert tour that takes place every  October as part of Daniel Pearl World Music Days (http://danielpearlmusicdays.org), which is organized by  the Daniel Pearl Foundation (http://danielpearl.org).
ABOUT SAVORY THYMES
Savory Thymes  convenes artists, grassroots organizers and activists to cross pollinate ideas,  build relationships and alliances, and provide a space to build support for a wide  variety of social justice initiatives. Established by Ali Ghiorsi, Savory Thymes  supports and educates the public about local, sustainable food systems within the  context of the global economy through events that celebrate the tastes, beauty and  textures of the earth.
Savory Thymes  events are sponsored by Hans Schoepflin.
,,
 
 DIRECTIONS
 There will be  a shuttle running from the parking lot of the Mill Valley Middle School to the private residence where the event will be taking place beginning at 5:45pm. The directions  below will take you to the pick-up point for the shuttle.  The producer of  Savory Thymes kindly requests that ALL guests take the shuttle.  Thank you  for respecting this.  

From the East Bay or From  Santa Rosa (North):
Take 101 South and exit at East Blithedale
Right onto East Blithedale
Take East Blithedale to the 2nd light at Camino Alto
Turn Left on Camino Alto. Proceed to first light (Sycamore)
Turn Left on Sycamore. The Middle School is on the left. The parking lot is at the rear. If necessary, there is additional parking across the street at the Mill Valley Sewer Department

   From San  Francisco:
Take 101 North and exit at the East Blithedale Exit
Left onto East Blithedale
Take East Blithedale to the 2nd light at Camino Alto
Turn Left on Camino Alto. Proceed to first light (Sycamore)
Turn Left on Sycamore. The Middle School is on the left. The parking lot is at the rear. If necessary, there is additional parking across the street at the Mill Valley Sewer Department

This is the first of a series of fundraising ideas for FODfest, Inc.  We will be posting these on our website in the weeks to come.  All of our fundraisers involve music, so whether you are a musician, music lover, believer in the power of music to build community, or all of the above, you can be a part of it.  Even if you aren’t a musician, you can still organize your own event.  As always, please pass this onto anyone you think might be interested.

If you’re still not sure what FODfest is all about, check out this short video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc07L-fJlr0&fmt=18 and visit our website http://fodfest.org.

FUNDRAISING IDEA #1 – Turn a gig into a benefit show.

You or your band can become an official Friends of FOD simply by donating the proceeds from one of your gigs to FODfest, Inc. Its simple to set up and we’ll even help:
1. Designate one of your already booked gigs or book a new gig as a FODfest benefit concert (we call them FODraisers but you can call it anything you want).
2. Email us at info@fodfest.org with all of the pertinent details (location, date, time, etc.) BEFORE you start to publicize the event.  This will ensure that there isn’t more than one FODraiser happening on the same date in the same town.
3. Once we give you the green light, start promoting your show.
4. You must commit to raising a minimum of $100.
5. We encourage you to book shows with other bands who also want to contribute to maximize your fundraising potential.  Plus, you’ll get to play to lots of new faces.
6. After your show, send us a check for the amount of money raised made out to FODfest, Inc.*

HERE’S WHAT FODfest WILL DO:
1. We will post your show on all of our websites and send out bulletins announcing it as an official FODfest benefit show.
2. We will send out 2 email blasts to the folks on our email list who live within a 50 mile radius of where the show is taking place.
3. Upon your request, we will send you brochures and other promotional materials about FODfest.
4. We will post your band’s name as a Friend of FOD on our website with a link to your website.  We list donor names in order of contribution size.  The more you raise, the higher you’ll be listed.


That’s all there is to it.  No more work than what you are already doing for a regular gig and you’ll be doing a good deed in the process.  If you are like me, and like most musicians I know, you believe in the power of music to bring people together.  And if you are a musician that spends any amount of time on the road, you know how expensive touring can be.  But unlike touring bands that can earn money from ticket prices, ALL of the shows on the annual FODfest tour are FREE and open to the public.  Your contribution will allow us to continue our work building community through music.



*FODfest, Inc. has filed application for 501 (c) 3 tax-exempt status from the IRS.  Upon approval, all donations made after July 18, 2008 are tax deductible.

Dear friends, colleagues, fellow musicians, music lovers, good people;

As many of you know, for the past four years I have organized a concert called FODfest, which celebrates the life & ideals of my friend Daniel Pearl, the late Wall St. Journal reporter who lost his life to terrorists in Pakistan six ago. In addition to being a journalist, Danny was a talented musician who played in bands and jammed with people the world over. Last year, FODfest took a major leap from back yard jam to seven-city tour, featuring more than 100 musicians from 14 states and 3 countries at some of the best rooms on the east coast including Eddie's Attic in Atlanta, Johnny Ds in Boston, and an outdoor music festival in the Catskills of upstate New York. FOD is an acronym for Friends of Danny and the tour featured musicians who knew Danny and played music with him while he was alive and many who never knew him, but connect with his story.

In a unique performance format that is part concert, part jam session, part song-swap, FODfest celebrates music as a universal language & community building tool, and takes place every October as part of Daniel Pearl World Music Days (http://danielpearlmusicdays.org), which is organized by the Daniel Pearl Foundation (http://danielpearl.org). Many of the musicians participating are meeting for the first time on stage. I encourage you to visit http://fodfest.org and http://myspace.com/fodfest to learn more about FODfest and to hear clips and view pics from this past year's tour. There are nearly 60 videos from this past year's tour posted at http://youtube.com/fodfest.

This year FODfest will continue on its quest to spread its message to more people in more places and will include east and west coast tours and possibly a small handful of European dates. Below is a tentative tour schedule. Venue info & details will be added as they are confirmed.

As you might imagine, the planning of such a tour involving so many musicians and locations has turned into a very full, part time job for me, although still a volunteered one. There is a laundry list a mile long of things for which I am always looking for help. Booking, promoting, tour managing, and fundraising are the major ones. The most immediate is booking. Do you live in a city that FODfest plans to hit this year? Can you help line up a show? If you, or someone you know, would be interested / willing to help out with any of the above, please email me or call me at the number below.

Along those lines, every year I invite musicians to perform at FODfest and try to accommodate as many as I possibly can. Needless to say, as we continue to grow this becomes more challenging. If you are a musician who would like to perform on one or more stops on this year's tour and are willing to donate your time to do so, simply email me back with the shows from the list below you'd like to play. Please bear in mind that dates and locations may change.

And last, but certainly not least. The cost to do a tour like FODfest is well into the tens of thousands dollars, even doing it on the cheap and with most people volunteering their time. Van rental, fuel, lodging, media & supplies for filming & recording, food....the list is endless and the expenses add up quickly, especially in today's economy. Can you help us out? You can make a donation simply by mailing a check made out to FODfest to the address below or with a credit card or pay pal account by visiting http://fodfest.org/Donate.html and clicking on the DONATE button. In return for your generous gift, we'd be honored to send you a CD and / or DVD with highlights from this past year's tour. Just include your mailing address with your check or email it to donations@fodfest.org.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Please forward it onto anybody you think would be interested. And don't hesitate to shout back if you have any questions.

All the best,

todd
---------------------
Todd Mack
FODfest
PO Box 1190
Sheffield, MA 01257 USA


http://fodfest.org
http://myspace.com/fodfest
413.229.9939