Shore Fire Media


Don't Tell Me This Country Ain't Got No Heart: A Benefit For Voter Participation

Phil Lesh & Very Special Friends To Headline New York's Legendary Apollo Theater On Friday, September 7

Don’t Tell Me This Country Ain’t Got No Heart: A Benefit For Voter Participation

Featuring: The Harlem Gospel Choir, Terrapin Family Band, Nicki Bluhm, Eric Krasno, Talib Kweli, and Robert Randolph

 

(New York, NY) On September 7, HeadCount, the non-partisan organization that promotes involvement in our democracy, is partnering with Peter Shapiro's Dayglo Presents to host Don't Tell Me This Country Ain't Got No Heart: A Benefit for Voter Participation, a special concert event at Harlem's legendary Apollo Theater, featuring a performance by Phil Lesh & Very Special Friends.

Read more via Rolling Stone: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/phil-lesh-to-headline-voter-participation-concert-at-apollo-theater-711171/

Lesh will become the first Grateful Dead member to play the famed Harlem venue, where he will be joined by the Harlem Gospel Choir and frequent collaborators, The Terrapin Family Band (Grahame Lesh, Jason Crosby, Ross James and Alex Koford), plus vocalist Nicki Bluhm, Grammy-winning guitarist Eric Krasno, hip-hop artist and activist Talib Kweli, and sacred steel guitar maestro Robert Randolph.

"This moment requires each of us to step up and get involved," says Lesh. "Playing the Apollo for the first time is both an honor for me personally and something I can do to help support as many people voting in the Midterms and beyond. I can't wait for September 7th... and November 6th."

"This is the right time to bring the music of the Grateful Dead to the epic Apollo Theater, with the purpose of raising as much money as possible to support widespread participation in the November elections," says Dayglo founder and HeadCount board member, Peter Shapiro. "it's going to be an amazing and celebratory evening, especially because this will be the first time these songs have been performed at the Apollo."

Don't Tell Me This Country Ain't Got No Heart: A Benefit for Voter Participation will support HeadCount's ongoing efforts to engage and inform voters who will then make their voices heard at the polls. Funding will support several initiatives including a program to register voters at high schools, a get-out-the-vote tour of colleges, and a multimedia campaign called "The Future is Voting." HeadCount is also providing direct assistance for local organizations who are registering voters of all ages in their own communities, and will be running a weekly voter registration drive at the Apollo's famed Amateur Night for the next six weeks.

"We are seeing history unfold around us every day, and this concert will be a unique part of that history," says HeadCount co-founder and Executive Director Andy Bernstein. "We are honored that Phil and these amazing artists have chosen voter participation as the cause they want to support."

Tickets for this special concert event will go on-sale, Friday, August 17, at 12:00pm EDT here and at the Apollo Theater's box office, located at 253 West 125th Street, New York, NY 10027. The box office can also be contacted at (212) 531-5305.

Details about a live online stream of the event will be announced shortly.

About HeadCount
HeadCount harnesses the power of music to drive social change. Since 2004, HeadCount has registered nearly 500,000 voters, and helped organize various initiatives in the live music community to promote civic participation. In their role as the organizing arm of the live music scene, HeadCount has hosted activism villages at over 100 concerts & festivals and has raised close to $10 million for other music industry non profits. With 20,000 volunteers, street teams in most major U.S. cities and affiliations with over 200 touring musicians, HeadCount ranks as one of the largest and most active music based non profit organizations in America.

About Dayglo Presents
Dayglo Presents is a live music and media company founded in 2012 by independent music impresario Peter Shapiro. The company owns and operates Brooklyn Bowl Williamsburg, Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas, as well as The Capitol Theatre and Garcia's in Port Chester, NY. LOCKN' Music Festival in Virginia is the company's multi-day music and camping festival and has been celebrated for its creative and collaboration-heavy programming. Dayglo Presents publishes Relix Magazine, two highly trafficked music websites, Relix.com and Jambands.com, produces the annual Relix Live Music Conference, operates digital ad agency, Hear & There, and created the social platform/app, FANS. Since its formation at the historic Wetlands Preserve rock club in downtown Manhattan in the 1990s, Dayglo strives to uphold its reputation for creating unique and meaningful live experiences. Past events include, "Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead, the Jammy Awards, Jazz & Colors Festival, the Earth Day Green Apple Festival, the first-ever digital 3D concert film, U23D, the March for Science, and the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day Climate Rally.

For more information, please contact Nina Lee or Rebecca Shapiro at Shore Fire Media, (718) 522-7171.