FODfest (Friends of Danny Pearl) Concert Arrives at Village Players PAC 10/28

Producers of the 5th Annual FODfest today announced dates and locations for this year's 32 day, national tour and including 2 weeks in Taiwan this year. FODfest honors the life of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was murdered by terrorists in Pakistan in 2002 at the age of 38. FODfest will be held at Village Players Performing Arts Center in Oak Park, Illinois on Wednesday, October 28 at 7pm. For more information go to www.village-players.org or call 708-524-1892. Interested musicians are invited to go to www.fodfest.org for more information about performing in this venue.

FODfest is a featured event of Daniel Pearl World Music Days organized by the Daniel Pearl Foundation, and to date has toured to 20 cities with more than 350 participating musicians from across the country and the globe. In addition to being a journalist, Daniel Pearl was a talented musician who believed in the power of music to bring people together regardless of the differences between them. FODfest celebrates this ideal in a unique performance experience that is part concert, part song-swap, and part jam session. Musicians of all ages, backgrounds, and musical genres join together at FODfest concerts, often meeting for the first time on stage. The tour is organized by musician, songwriter, and producer Todd Mack, a former band mate and close friend of Pearl's, to honor his friend with a legacy that reflects the ideals by which he lived rather than the tragic way in which he died. The concerts focus on building and strengthening communities through the universal language of music and are free and open to the public.

Now in its fifth year, FODfest has grown considerably from its beginnings as an informal backyard jam session to a multi-city, cross-country affair. The concerts are all unique and feature musicians who knew Pearl personally, many playing music with him while he was alive, and others who never knew him, but who connect with his story and share Pearl's belief in music as a universal language of peace and tolerance. Prior year's concerts have included such diverse artists as Chip Taylor ("Wild Thing" and "Angel of the Morning"), teenage violinist Sam Weiser (2008 Daniel Pearl Memorial

Violins recipient) SONIA of Disappear Fear, Malcolm Holcomb, Paula Larke, Joe Crookston, Hyim, and Caroline Aiken to name a few. See clips of past performances with these artists and others at www.fodfest.org/video.html. Interested musicians are invited to go to www.fodfest.org for information about performing on the 2009 tour.

A classically trained violinist and avid fiddler & mandolin player, music was Daniel Pearl's way of connecting with people. Wherever he lived, he was actively involved in the local music scene, and wherever he traveled he sought out local jam sessions as a way to learn about the local culture and community. FODfest's unique performance format is modeled around Pearl's love of these informal jam sessions. FODfest, Inc. is a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote and strengthen community through the universal language of music by producing publicly accessible live music events and multi-media projects.

FODfest 2009 Tour Schedule as of 9-22-09:

10/1 Narrows Center for the Arts, Fall River, MA
10/2 location tba, Boston, MA
10/2 Frontier Cafe , Brunswick ME
10/3 Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, Great Barrington, MA
10/4 City Winery, NY, NY
10/5 location tba, Washington, D.C.
10/6 Beit Tikvah, Baltimore MD
10/8* Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival, Pittsboro, NC *cost to enter Festival
10/9* Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival, Pittsboro, NC *cost to enter Festival
10/10 Candler Park Fall Festival, Atlanta, GA Danny Pearl's Birthday!
10/10 Lake Claire Community Land Trust, Atlanta, GA Danny Pearl's Birthday Party!
10/13-22 Taichung Jazz Festival, TAIWAN and more locations tba
10/24 Blue Moon Coffeehouse - Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, IL
10/25 Legion Arts, Cedar Rapids, IA
10/26 High Noon Saloon, Madison WI
10/27 Café Carpe, Fort Atkinson, WI
10/28 Village Players Performing Arts Center, Oak Park, IL
10/29 Kent Stage, Kent, OH
10/30 Java Junction Cafe, Brockport, NY
11/1 Infinity Music Hall & Bistro, Norfolk, CT

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