Article has been updated (original article under the cut)
(Updated March 21, 6:30pm ET)
As if we needed another reason to love Hanson, our friends at MTV News got a firsthand account of Hanson’s tremendous efforts to help the relief effort in Japan this past weekend.
Upon connecting with the SXSW4Japan relief effort, curated by Rob Wu and Leigh Durst, Taylor Hanson rallied his band of brothers, and on March 19, in less than 24 hours, put together an impromptu musical telethon online to support the relief efforts in Japan. Hanson and their celebrity friends streamed live messages of support, performances and calls to action encouraging donations for Japan for 12 straight hours at SXSW4Japan.org.
Hanson’s efforts helped bring in $10,000 to help survivors of the disasters in Japan. To date, the SXSW4Japan initiative has raised more than $103,000. (You can still donate at SXSW4Japan.org or by texting “Redcross” to 90999.)
We think it’s phenomenal that the trio mobilized their musical network to help the struggling country regain its standing after a devastating 8.9 earthquake and tsunami. If we had Buzzworthy medals of honor to give Hanson, we would.
Hanson pulled in celebrity friends such as Charlie Mars (pictured above), Michael Stipe, The Boxer Rebellion, Bowling For Soup, Anna Nalick, An Horse, The Parlotones, Widespread Panic’s John Hermann, and the Court Yard Hounds, to encourage viewers to donate to relief effort. All proceeds from the 12-hour telethon went directly to the American Red Cross, and featured songs will be sold as part of an upcoming benefit project. Go Hanson!
As if we needed another reason to love Hanson, our friends at MTV News got a first-hand account of Hanson’s tremendous efforts to help the relief effort in Japan this past weekend.
Taylor Hanson, who was already in Austin for South by Southwest, rallied up his band of brothers and, on March 19, in less than 24 hours, put together an impromptu online telethon to support the relief efforts in Japan. Hanson and their celebrity friends streamed live messages of support, performances, and calls to action encouraging donations for Japan for 12 straight hours at SXSW4Japan.org.
Hanson’s initial goal was to raise $10,000 to help survivors of the disasters in Japan. To date, they’ve raised over $102,000. (You can still donate at SXSW4Japan.org or by texting “Redcross” to 90999.
We think it’s phenomenal that the trio took a step back from the SXSW festivities and moved so quickly to set up the benefit to help the struggling country regain its standing after a devastating 8.9 earthquake and tsunami. If we had Buzzworthy medals of honor to give Hanson, we would.
Said Taylor Hanson to MTV News, “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 coordinated push. 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.'”
Hanson pulled in celebrity friends like Charlie Mars (pictured above), Michael Stipe, The Boxer Rebellion, Bowling For Soup, Anna Nalick, An Horse, The Parlotones, Widespread Panic’s John Hermann, and the Court Yard Hounds, to encourage viewers to donate to relief effort. All proceeds from the 12-hour telethon went directly to the American Red Cross, and featured songs from will be sold as part of an upcoming benefit project. Go Hanson!
+ Watch MTV News’ James Montgomery talk to Hanson about how they rose to the occasion and put together a benefit for Japan at SXSW.
Katie, just so you know, they updated this article on MTV’s website since the original article had some incorrect information, so you may want to update it here, as well.
I tweeted about the updated article – I am aware of the changes and the bullying that occurred to get the changes made.
Oh, I didn’t know that there was bullying involved, I was just trying to give you a heads up, that’s all.
Great post! I’m very enjoyable read and agree with most of what you say. Thanks for sharing.