(CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Many believe strongly that music helps to heal. The organizers and artists with The Rock Boat are counting on that to be true. The team that organizes the annual floating music festival has announced the creation of Rock For Relief, a Hurricane Katrina benefit concert on Saturday, October 1st at Earthlink Live and Vinyl. Artists such as Sister Hazel, Emerson Hart, Michael Tolcher, Gaelic Storm, Theresa Andersson, Dave Barnes, Francisco Vidal and Scott Munns are just a few that are scheduled to perform on two stages throughout the evening.
Rock For Relief is a response to the cancellation of The Rock Boat ’05. The Rock Boat, an annual music festival at sea, was scheduled to depart from New Orleans on September 29th. In light of the recent Hurricane Katrina disaster, the multi-day cruise festival had to be cancelled. Guests who were booked on the September cruise now have the option to transfer to The Rock Boat VI, which is scheduled to depart from Galveston, TX on January 14, 2006. Sales have been suspended until the end of September to accommodate guests who want to transfer to the January event.
Proceeds from Rock For Relief, including a silent art auction, will be donated to Americares and PetsMart Charities animal relief fund. Americares is a nonprofit disaster relief and humanitarian aid organization providing immediate response to emergency medical needs, as well as supporting long-term humanitarian assistance programs, for people all around the world, irrespective of race, creed or political persuasion. PETsMart Charities provides emergency relief funding to assist pets in times of hurricanes, earthquakes, fire and other natural catastrophes.
Icehouse, the presenting sponsor of The Rock Boat, will also contribute by donating to Rock For Relief two Fender guitars that will be signed by performing bands and auctioned during the concert. In addition, Icehouse will be donating a portion of beer sales during the night to the relief efforts.
Tickets for the concert are on sale now for $25 through Ticket Alternative, the exclusive ticket holder for the benefit concert. Ticket Alternative is waiving any service fees so that 100% of all ticket sales go directly to the relief fund.
Rock For Relief is sponsored by Icehouse, Avatar, AirTran, and Atlanta’s Dave-FM. Rival Entertainment is also donating many of their services to help make this event happen and to allow every dollar raised to go to benefit the victims of the hurricane.
