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news from
the cockburn project
at
www.cockburnproject.net
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5 January 2005

Greetings:

2005 has started off with the consequences of the earthquake/tsumani
disaster still unfolding before our eyes. Rather than sit back and
watch along with us Bruce and other artists have banded together for a
relief concert January 31 in Calgary to benefit the victims of this
horrible set of circumstances. Proceeds from the show will go to
Oxfam, Care Canada, Doctors Without Borders, and War Child, projects
that Bruce has lent his support to in the past. There are links to
several of these organizations at http://www.cockburnproject.net on
the 'issues' page if you are interested in reading more or making a
contribution. This article from the Globe and Mail says it all:

Avril to perform in relief concert

By CAMPBELL CLARK
With a report from Canadian Press

OTTAWA — A who's-who roster of Canadian musicians will headline two
fundraising concerts to aid tsunami victims in Vancouver and Calgary
including Avril Lavigne, Sarah McLachlan and Barenaked Ladies.The
concerts, to be held at the end of January, may be the biggest of a
host of benefits and donations being scratched together in the
entertainment industry, including a CBC telethon also expected to
feature major Canadian music acts.

The Vancouver and Calgary benefit concerts, to be announced today, are
the brainchild of Terry McBride, the president of Vancouver-based
Nettwerk Records, who said he started planning just hours after the
tsunami hit on Dec. 26 and had booked Vancouver's GM Place a week later.

"People are coming back from their holidays and breaks and they're
coming in to do this," Mr. McBride said. He said the reaction from the
musicians was, "Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes. It was 'tell me what I
have to do.'"

The Vancouver show, on Jan. 29 will include headliners Lavigne,
McLachlan, Barenaked Ladies, singer Chantal Kreviazuk and her husband
Raine Maida, of Our Lady Peace fame.

While Lavigne has not yet signed on for the Calgary concert, singer
Bruce Cockburn is scheduled to appear at that show at Calgary's
Saddledome on Jan 31.

Proceeds from the show will go to Oxfam, Care Canada, Doctors Without
Borders, and War Child.

Those concerts are likely to follow a concert-telethon being organized
by MuchMusic executive Denise Donlon and expected to be televised on
the CBC.

Author Margaret Atwood was instrumental in putting together that event
-- she received a call from a politician in Ottawa she would not name,
and contacted singer Molly Johnson to try to start the ball rolling.

"I'm just a go-between," Atwood said yesterday, joking that she will
not be singing. She said that she and other well-known Canadians have
offered to appear as telethon presenter. Other donations from the
Canadian entertainment industry have also been announced. CHUM Ltd.,
CBC, CTV, The Globe and Mail and music celebrities from Anne Murray to
Jann Arden and Tom Cochrane are stepping forward to help raise money.

The 32 radio and 33 television stations of CHUM partnered with the
Canadian Red Cross to designate yesterday as Disaster Relief Day.
Viewers and listeners were urged to call a toll-free number
(1-800-810-1408) that will remain open for the next week. On-line
donations were also welcomed at http://www.redcross.ca/chum.

The radio stations' day-long drive included hourly public-service
announcements and interviews with Red Cross staff. There were also
radio and TV appearances by Arden, Cochrane, Murray McLauchlan and the
Barenaked Ladies' Ed Robertson, among others.

"Over the holidays, a few of us got together and thought it might be a
good idea to put the forces of radio and television together and do
what we could," said Paul Ski, CHUM's executive vice-president for radio.

CTV and The Globe and Mail announced a corporate contribution of
$75,000 to the Red Cross on Tuesday.

CHUM also announced a corporate donation of $100,000 to the Red Cross
to kick off its relief initiative. As of noon yesterday, $750,000 had
been raised from public donations.

"Our intention [is] really just to let all of our listeners and
viewers know this is an easy way to contribute," said CHUM Radio
Ottawa vice-president and general manager Chris Gordon, adding that
CHUM never thought of setting a financial goal.

"We're just hoping people hear the message and respond."

In an interview on CHUM's CablePulse 24 news channel, Cochrane
conceded that in the weeks ahead, donor fatigue will set in but that
more money will still be needed.

"It's not going to be a problem that's going to go away in two or
three weeks," the singer said. "It's a natural disaster, but if one
person dies because of disease or because of malnutrition because of
this, then shame on us."

CBC Radio is planning a disaster-relief special for today. The
network's morning shows are to provide news from the sites of the
tsunami disaster as well as updates on how Canadians can help. In
addition, discussions are under way for a special CBC-TV broadcast,
possibly on Jan. 13, that may be simulcast on the radio network as well.

Meanwhile, singer Anne Murray has made a "generous" donation to Care
Canada, which bills itself as the country's leading non-sectarian
international humanitarian organization. Spokeswoman Melanie Brooks
said from Ottawa that the staff was stunned when Murray called.

"She was just saying how touched she was and how impressed she was by
Canadians' generosity and how she was happy to do whatever she could
to help."

Brooks said the Canadian singing icon told them to keep up the great work.

"Everybody was just practically jumping, we were so excited," she
said, adding that Murray had chosen Care Canada because "she heard we
did good work."

In other news... True North reports that the next three titles in the
Bruce Cockburn re-issue series will be "Circles In The Stream",
"Sunwheel Dance", and "Big Circumstance". These are scheduled to be
released in the first half of 2005. More details will follow as they
become available.

That's it from my neck of the snowy woods. Here's hoping that things
in your part of the world are peaceful.

Peace,
Suzanne Myers
editor@...

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