Rock For Health

Archive for the ‘Other News’ Category

Help EVERY AVENUE receive health care!

Saturday, March 13th, 2010

You have the opportunity to help Every Avenue with something musicians desperately need: healthcare! ROCK FOR HEALTH is giving you the chance to sponsor your favorite band’s healthcare for one year! Maybe you’ve bought CDs, t-shirts, and traveled far and wide to see them play, but now you can do something unique and personal for Josh, Jimmie, Dave, Dennis, Matt & their road crew!

About RFH:
ROCK FOR HEALTH is a non profit organization that advocates health and preventative care for musicians and their crew members. A population that is better informed about its health care coverage options will be better able to access needed care. RFH will inform musicians on a wide variety of health issues including preventative health services, social, mental and occupational outreach. Through leadership, communication, and partnerships, RFH is dedicated to the creation of a healthy musical environment in which artists and performers can perform at their peak physical and mental abilities. Without healthy musicians, we will not have music that is created to its highest potential. Sick artists cannot tour. RFH wants to make their life and music healthy by helping them address health problems before they escalate into thousands of dollars worth of hospital bills.

Music exists because of the artists creating it. Record labels exist because of the artists creating that music. The employees of most record labels (everyone from the mail room guys to the CEO) all have health insurance and benefits. Yet – these people all have jobs because of the artists. The artists see no benefits, no health insurance, nothing. Musicians are not seen as employees of a record label. They are “temps” – temporary employees – because of the record contract that they sign. They sign their career and lives over to these labels, which help develop it and help it grow. Nine times out of ten, a band will break up or cancel tours due to prevailing health issues.

You’re probably wondering…how can I help?! See the link below, and check out our auction. The winning fan will be improving the lives of an entire band and crew for one year, and in return will receive an absolutely incredible prize pack!

The contest is simple! You will receive one entry to the contest for each $10 donation you give to Every Avenue’s healthcare! ($10 = one entry, $20 = two entries, etc). which covers the band’s monthly healthcare fee for an entire year. Additional proceeds benefit Rock For Health, which is a registered 501c3 non-profit organization.

Every Avenue has catered their own prize pack specific to the winner of their contest.

Prizes Include:
- Two tickets on the band’s guest list for the AP date of the fan’s choosing (excluding dates before 3/24/10).
-A private meet & greet with the band for winner and one friend.
-Signed guitar
-Signed bass drum head
-2 Hoodies
-2 T-shirts
- Both Full-length albums; Picture Perfect and Shh…Just Go With It
-A copy of a rare CD “This Is Why We Don’t Have Nice Things”
-Every Avenue Guitar picks

Rock For Health will include for the winner:
(2) Rock For Health T-shirts
(2) Rock For Health Stickers
(2) Rock For Health Wristbands
(2) Rock For Health Buttons

Click the image below to donate and enter!

Posted in Contests, Other News, Uncategorized | No Comments »

A New Vaccine Found For HIV

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

BANGKOK, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) — Thailand on Thursday announced the breakthrough in the HIV vaccine development — the first time ever that there is evidence that HIV vaccine has preventive efficacy.

“It is found that the vaccine has 31.2 percent efficacy in reducing the risk of HIV infection,” Thai Public Health Minister Withaya Kaewparadai told a press conference in capital Bangkok.
Withaya presided over the official announcement of the outcome of the HIV Vaccine Phase III Trial.

The Public Health Ministry conducted the study, which used strains of HIV common in Thailand. Sponsor of the trial is the U.S.Army Surgeon General, with funding support from the National Institute of Health and U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, while sanofi-pasteur and GSID provide candidate vaccines for the trial.

With field research works implemented by Thais and deemed the world’s largest HIV vaccine study, with the trial of 16,402 Thai volunteers, has now been completed in central provinces of Chonburi and Rayong, Withaya said.

Withaya said although the efficacy rate is not high enough for use, this nonetheless constitutes significant knowledge that can be applied to improve HIV vaccine efficacy in the future.

“All these will form an important foundation for further HIV vaccine development in Thailand in the future,” said Doctor PaijitWarachit, Deputy Health Permanent Secretary.

Meanwhile, Doctor Mom Luang Somchai Chakkrabhand, Director-General, Department of Disease Control, said that “HIV vaccine development must be accompanied by intensive application of other preventive measures.”

The Department of Disease Control is committed to HIV vaccine development in collaboration with networks of researchers in Thailand and internationally aiming to an appropriate HIV vaccine accessible for people, Doctor. Mom Luang Somchai said.

The Phase III Trial of HIV vaccine demonstrates collective efforts and a common understanding that HIV prevention is everybody’s concern, and which requires participation of all sections at national and international levels in search of additional preventive measure.

“The success is the pride of Thailand. We thank the volunteers, communities in Chonburi and Rayong province, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and researchers for their contribution to the HIV vaccine development,” he said.

Posted in In the press, Other News | No Comments »

Meet Jon – Warped Road Update!

Monday, August 10th, 2009

Hey everyone!

Jon here from Warped in St. Louis. Can’t tell you how good it feels to be back on the road with Rock For Health and I’m hoping to see you all at the tent this summer!

The craziest thing happened today…a dude was banged up in the pit pretty good today and where did his friends CARRY him to? Not the medics but to Rock For Health! We had the chance to save a life first hand today, and it really means a lot that you all are recognizing us as a resource for everything health-related. We’re here to create awareness around healthcare for the industry and act as a hub for our bands, but it was pretty special to hear the words, “You’re Rock For Health, right? We need you…”

But we need you, too…

Even today too many of our musicians are struggling to have the care they want and need. So many of us are under the misconception that, just because you’re in a successful band, you have every resource at your finger tips. Not the case! Our bands needs us more than ever.

More and more this year you’re coming to the tent with stories of how you saw and heard about RFH through AP and Fuse, and that is so encouraging. We love hearing about what the organization means to you and we want you to keep spreading the word!

One t-shirt sold equals a month of healthcare for a band….think about it…

Check out warpedtour.com see if we’re coming to a city near you and please, by all means, come introduce yourselves at the tent!

Jon

Tags: Warped Tour 2009
Posted in Other News, Random, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Warped 09′ – Half way there!

Sunday, July 26th, 2009

We have officially hit the half way mark of the tour! This past week we have been to Boston, Virginia Beach, Charlotte, Orlando (home town of our bus mates- There For Tomorrow), West Palm Beach, and finally today we are in St. Petersburg, Fla. We experienced rain on about 3 out of those 6 dates! The weather has been intense but it has not crippled the spirits of fan or warped worker. In Virginia Beach we saw dust that rivaled the Midwest dust bowl era and in Orlando we felt such heat that melting was inevitable.

This week has brought Rock For Health down to earth. In West Palm Beach I had a girl around the age of 16 or 17 approach the table inquiring about the company. She smiled politely and at the end of my explanation said, “Yeah I know, I kind of did a report on this company in school. I got an A, I just wanted to listen to what you had to say to make sure I didn’t screw up.” In Orlando a boy came to the table asking about what RFH is after seeing numerous shirts on stage throughout the tour. Taryn, who is awesome and is joining us on the road for the next week, provided him with the information on the company and he replied like many kids do when they visit any merch table, “Ugh, I totally would but I have no more money.” He walked away. Within 5 minutes of his departure he returned and handed us an extremely generous donation! You know who you are, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

Yesterday in West Palm we started running raffles to win signed Rock For Health merch. Our first band was The Devil Wears Prada! The raffle was extremely successful and the winner was young Brandon. When Taryn and I met him to give him his new signed swag he looked at us with tears in his eyes and thanked us. (*The Devil Wears Prada was unable to do a signing yesterday which was a bummer, but ended up making our contest ultra special for us.) In the coming days we will be doing raffles for merch signed by bands such as The Maine, Hit the Lights, Breathe Carolina, and a few more special surprises…

Stay tuned for more words from the road!

Best,
Amanda

Posted in Contests, Other News, Random | No Comments »

Illness Forces Jane’s Addiction To Cancel Australian Tour

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009

Jane’s Addiction’s management has confirmed that percussionist Stephen Perkins has been admitted to the Infectious Disease Ward at Cedar’s-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles for treatment of an infection in his elbow. Doctors expect to keep him there for the next few days for further diagnosis and observation while anti-biotic treatment continues.

Fans are being asked not to worry as a full recovery is expected over the next few weeks.

The reformed original line-up of Jane’s Addiction had been on their first world tour in over 17 years and had just returned to Los Angeles from a successful European leg when the mysterious infection was discovered after Perkins noticed severe swelling and pain building in his elbow.

Regretfully the group’s Australian tour, due to start on Saturday, is forced to be cancelled at this time. Says lead singer Perry Farrell – “I know how excited we were to come play in Australia, and how long the fans there have waited for this. I want everyone Down Under to know that we will come back as soon as we can.”

———

Get well soon Stephen!

- kristina

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Three weeks in!

Monday, July 20th, 2009

It’s hard to believe that we are just about three weeks into tour… How quickly time has been flying! Each and every day we are greeted with curiosity and support from kids and bands. Not a day goes by that I am not taken back by the support expressed. There is nothing quite like having someone come up to the table and say, “what you’re doing is amazing…it’s inspiring!” Admittedly, I did get teary eyed a couple times! As the tour has been going on our outreach has been growing and surpassing our expectations, we have you, the readers, the admirers, to thank for it. So, thank you.

Much love to these great people we met this weekend!

Lainie!

The girls who made a bag out of a tee shirt!

Just to bring you up to date. The past couple days we have been conquering the east coast. Friday we were in Camden/Philadelphia, followed by NY on Saturday and Oceanport, NJ on Sunday. We would like to throw out a big thank you to Oceanport, it was the best day so far! We are continuing on to Boston tomorrow and it promises to be a great day…there are going to be some awesome surprises throughout the day so come to the tent and see what’s up!

You guys have been keeping us busy! There is little time to catch bands lately, but Kristina and I were able to catch some of Chiodos the other day (the band is an avid supporter of RFH), they were incredible! Plus, Matt (of Chiodos) was wearing our shirt on stage in Oceanport! How cool?! They sound better than ever! If you have the opportunity to check them out on a future date of the tour- we advise you do so! Rock For Health is lucky enough to be on a bus with a talented new band called There For Tomorrow, our table in Oceanport happened to be pretty close to the Smartpunk stage and we were able to see some of their set…it’s looking good!

Thank you Matt (chiodos) and Nick (guest vocals for chiodos)!

Lil Jon came to hang out in Uniondale on Saturday! He has been a RFH supporter since February of this year! His shirt of preference? The black tee. What a great guy, we were stoked to see him!

Please continue to come to the table. Please ask questions. Your curiosity and support are what keep us smiling throughout the day.

-Amanda & Kristina

A quick thanks to Less Than Jake, POS, A Skylit Drive and Meg & Dia – we recently spotted you supporting the cause!

Tags: Warped Tour 2009
Posted in In the press, Other News, Random | No Comments »

Warped Tour update from Andi!

Sunday, July 12th, 2009

Hi all!
This is Andi, and I come bearing a lovely update from the road! Let me start off by thanking everyone for the support! It feels so amazing to have kids out there who come up to us and know what were all about. The donations are incredible and extremely generious. For those who do know about the organization, help us spread the word! We need to take over this world and keep all the musicians feeling wonderful so we can keep them on the road.

We’ve hit a whole bunch of west coast down to New Mexico. We’ve come over to Indiana, Pittsburgh, Canada, and now we are finishing up Connecticut. Since I’ve been out here I’ve been able to check out some amazing artists that I had nevear heard yet, and more importantly got a bunch on that want to check us out for healthcare.

(more…)

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Warped Tour Update Number One!

Sunday, June 28th, 2009

Greetings from There For Tomorrow’s bus! We are currently en route to Ventura, CA for day 3 of Warped Tour. Things have been going great so far! The whole crew is out – me (Kristina), Andi, Diego, Amanda, and Michael (who is also out for Glamour Kills!).

Pre-production day in Pomona was on Thursday. Got to love it – its summer camp reunion! Hot, long, and sweaty, but well worth it.

We are riding with There For Tomorrow the whole tour and I couldn’t be more stoked about it! The guys are so great and hospitable to my whole crew. I’m currently listening to them have a conversation about why N*Sync is great or just plain terrible. Got to love it!

Thank you to everyone who stopped at the tent these past two days – current supporters and new! It’s nice being able to put faces to many of you that I have been talking to.

We’re really excited about the “Sponsor A Band” contest that we are running right now – be sure to check it out! We will be announcing more bands very shortly. There For Tomorrow and Versa Emerge are currently up there. Keep checking back for more updates!

Check out www.shorealternative.com and look out for some new videos that the lovely Amanda Tumulty and I (pictured below) have been filming.

Looking forward to meeting many of you this summer!

Be well –
Kristina