AceShowbiz

The telethon performance which featured the ‘Mmmbop’ trio, Michael Stipe and more bands has appealed for viewers to donate to the American Red Cross and help victims in Japan.

Pop stars Hanson boosted relief efforts following Japan’s earthquake and tsunami disasters by staging a 12-hour telethon in Texas on Saturday, March 19. The “Mmmbop” trio teamed up with organizers behind the South By Southwest festival in Austin for the telethon, which featured performances and appearances from acts including R.E.M. rocker Michael Stipe, The Boxer Rebellion, Bowling For Soup and The Parlotones, among others.

The gig, which was streamed online and coincided with the SXSW festival’s close, saw performers urging viewers to donate to the American Red Cross and aid victims in Japan. Songs recorded at the event will later be sold as a part of a benefit project.

The earthquake and resulting tsunami earlier this month left countless dead and homeless in Japan.

NPR Music

The foursome of Bob Boilen, Robin Hilton, Ann Powers and Stephen Thompson rallied ’round the microphone one last time on Saturday night for the final edition of their late night dispatches from SXSW 2011.

Hilton called Bright Eyes‘ two-hour performance at Auditorium Shores one of the top five shows he’s ever seen, and the man’s seen a lot of shows. (In case you missed it, you can hear and watch the whole show on NPR Music later this week.) Thompson got nostalgic with Hanson, the trio of brothers who are still making music 15 years after “Mmmbop.” Powers also relived the 1990s, but a bit more violently — she took in Deer Tick‘s tribute to Nirvana, which included smashed guitars and fist fights. Boilen capped his festival with the comic book punk of New York’s Peelander-Z.

Powers saw two more shows on Saturday that might have represented both sides of the festival’s extremes: a “tiny bed concert” in a hotel room with singer-songwriter Jenny O and a bratty performance by Los Angeles hip-hop collective Odd Future. And after several attempts, Boilen got to see the electronica duo Mount Kimbie, who pushed Boilen’s ears past their limits. He loved it, but had finally had enough. Time to head home.

ContactMusic

Pop stars Hanson boosted relief efforts following Japan’s earthquake and tsunami disasters by staging a 12-hour telethon in Texas on Saturday (19Mar11).

The Mmmbop trio teamed up with organisers behind the South By Southwest festival in Austin for the telethon, which featured performances and appearances from acts including R.E.M. rocker Michael Stipe, The Boxer Rebellion, Bowling For Soup and The Parlotones, among others.

The gig, which was streamed online and coincided with the Sxsw festival’s close, saw performers urging viewers to donate to the American Red Cross and aid victims in Japan.

Songs recorded at the event will later be sold as a part of a benefit project.

The earthquake and resulting tsunami earlier this month (Mar11) left countless dead and homeless in Japan.

Austin 360

Noon Saturday, a Livestream telethon went out live over the website for SXSW4Japan.org, the main South by South Southwest group raising funds for victims of the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis in Japan.

Organized by the band of Tulsa-based Hanson brothers, the telethon immediately attracted huge names — Michael Stipe of REM (who recorded a message), John “Jo Jo” Hermann of Widespread Panic, members of the North Mississippi Allstars — to the Same Sky Recording Studio downtown and Bubble Recording Studio in the North Campus area.

“I’m enjoying the lack of sleep and the insanity,” said Matt Snyder of MediaMob, who helped whip together the telethon. “It’s been like a revolving door of kindness.”

In the courtyard of the bungalow-plus-studio, Snyder hung out with Taylor, Issac and Nicole Hanson (Issac’s wife). Coffee, water and energy drinks spilled over one table. Artists and techs ducked in and out of the upstairs-downstairs studio and control room, which house four cameras and an array of editing equipment.

“We’ve received incredibly positive vibes from everyone,” Isaac Hanson said. “And the longest we’ve gone without music or recorded messages is two minutes.”

Taylor Hanson saluted the local engineers for dropping everything to contribute digital expertise and equipment.

“So many people have come through,” he said. “We are just going to let it stream.”

Half way through the telethon, SXSW4JAPAN had raised more than $92,000, but that didn’t include the text donations that were being tallied separately.

Although the telethon will end at midnight Saturday, he said, future streaming, YouTube clips and an iTunes album are in the offing.

MTV
(video at the source)

Band organized the event in less than 12 hours, to benefit the Red Cross’s relief efforts in Japan.

AUSTIN, Texas — Like most folks, Taylor Hanson has watched the events unfolding in Japan with a mixture of sadness and shock, not to mention an overwhelming urge to help out in some way.



Of course, unlike most folks, he also fronts a massively popular band: Hanson. And since he and his bandmate brothers were already down in Austin for South By Southwest, he quickly realized how he could help those still reeling in the aftermath of the massive earthquake and tsunami that ravaged the nation: by throwing together an impromptu benefit show, streaming live for 12 straight hours over at SXSW4Japan.org.

So, in less than a day, he and his brothers placed calls to their fellow musicians, found a studio compound outside downtown Austin, and got to work. And on Saturday, MTV News showed up to capture some of Hanson’s efforts first hand.



“We came down to this festival hearing about the issues in Japan, and, honestly, kind of assumed there was going to be more of a co-ordinated push,” Taylor Hanson told us. “You know, with South by, everybody’s here to promote their thing, and they’re kind of in a bubble, and I think there just hasn’t been … from South by Southwest, from the big guys, kind of [a message of] ‘Hey, this is important, do something.'”



And so, much like everything Hanson does, the brothers took it upon themselves to spearhead the SXSW 4 Japan benefit, a live Web broadcast featuring performances and messages from the likes of Michael Stipe, John Hermann of Widespread Panic, the Court Yard Hounds. And, of course, Hanson themselves.



“We kind of like to get our hands dirty … And we said, ‘You know what? Let’s just start doing something,’ and the more we talked about it, we said ‘This needs to be something that everybody’s doing,'” Taylor said. “South By Southwest needs to say to the world that the music business is behind the effort to bring relief and bring aid to those that are struggling in Japan right now.”



Fans can donate to the Red Cross’s disaster relief efforts through the SXSW 4 Japan site, or by texting “Redcross” to 90999. It’s just the first step in Japan’s ongoing recovery, but Hanson hope that their effort won’t be the last of its kind. Because, really, in situations like this, musicians possess more power than they could possibly imagine.



“Part of what’s great about this is that music does inspire people to do stuff,” Taylor said.

The SXSW 4 Japan livestream is live at SXSW4Japan.org . Fans can spread word via Twitter, using the hashtag #sxsw4japan.

PopCrush

Like countless other musicians from around the globe, Oklahoma indie-rock band Hanson is at the SXSW Music and Media Conference in Austin, Texas to play live music and promote their new single. But the brothers are taking the extra step to ensure that their music industry peers don’t turn a blind eye to where attention is truly needed — to aid with disaster relief in Japan.

PopCrush caught up with Taylor and Isaac following a short acoustic performance on Austin’s famed 6th street — and as a duo, the two eldest brothers were in rare form. The band’s youngest member, 25-year-old drummer Zac, was missing, doing an interview elsewhere downtown in hopes to spread the gospel a little further.

“Our part in it is, we realized we had enough fans, enough know-how, and enough friends that are here. We use live-streaming content all the time, and so this has just been a labor of getting the word out,” middle brother Taylor tells PopCrush exclusively.

Today, at noon central (SXSW time), the brothers will launch a 12-hour live web cast leading up to their official showcase at Antone’s at midnight. With the help of fellow musicians like R.E.M., Widespread Panic, Ben Folds, The Boxer Rebellion, North Mississippi Allstars, Charlie Mars, Bowling For Soup, Andy Grammer and Portugual the Man, the ‘Penny and Me’ hitmakers are hoping to raise money — and attention — for Japan. In addition to the ongoing web stream, sessions with SXSW bands who donate their time and talent will be turned into an album to be made available on iTunes, with all of the proceeds going to the American Red Cross.

“You’ve got an issue that is so extreme, I think people are overwhelmed by it,” Taylor presses. “They think, oh, Japan — they’ve got an economy that’s strong, they’re not Haiti. This is on a scale that’s really never been seen before.”

This is not the first time the Grammy-nominated trio has sported the philanthropist hat — in 2007, the band joined hands with TOMS Shoes and quite literally took to the streets to raise awareness for AIDS in Africa. With their fans behind them, the band took off their shoes and walked a barefoot mile from each concert venue on their tour to give people a very real idea of what life is like in impoverished countries. The tradition continued on the band’s 2008, 2009, and 2010 tours — and Hanson and their fans hit goals to donate countless pairs of shoes, help build clean water sources, and give less fortunate kids a shot at a proper education.

“They need so much,” Taylor adds, referring to the recent disasters that have shaken Japan. “What matters is that everyone at this event tried to do something. Because if this event ends, if SXSW ends, and people didn’t galvanize and focus on trying to respond in the moment, then it’s going to be a horrible, horrible notch in the belt for the music business — and the rest of time, for that matter. So we’re digging in and trying to do our part.”

SXSW as a whole is backing Hanson in their efforts, and all donations from today’s live-streaming web cast will go directly to the Red Cross. View the SXSW 4 Japan live-stream with Hanson, and for more information, and to lend a hand to those in need in Japan, visit here.