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CHARLES-RYAN BARBER
he Chicago Bulls, circa '90-'93. That
may not be the first thing that comes to
S£§1b mind when considering something like
the Sidewalk Symphonies concert series, but
consider the similarities: the locally minded
hat trick, the three-peat of sustainability.
Observe: here, we see the three-pronged motto
of Sidewalk Symphonies, an explanation and
the corresponding moment in Chicago Bulls
history.
1. "Support Local Music." A series of early
Tuesday night performances by an eclectic
selection of local bands playing in unlikely,
non-club settings. (Sweeping the Pistons in
'91.)
2. "Support Local Restaurants." And where are
these aforementioned unlikely settings? Local
restaurants. (Jordan hitting six three-pointers
in the first half of the first game.)
3. "Fight Global Poverty." Those local restau
rants then give a portion of their sales during
the performances to Nourish International,
a student organization that works towards
ending world hunger. (John Paxson, with the
game-winning shot.)
Swish!
"Nourish International is a national thing;
it was started [at] UNC Chapel Hill originally
by students there, and it's spread to differ
ent campuses," says Nathan Albright, the
organizer of Sidewalk Symphonies. While the
group is a national entity, "international" is in
the name because its goal is to work towards
eradicating global poverty. Each chapter is
charged with developing a unique "venture,"
earning money throughout the year and then
selecting a sustainable anti-hunger project to
invest it in.
Tm the co-president of the UGA chapter,
so me and the co-president went over the
summer to the Summer Institute, a conference
where a bunch of different chapters met up
and talked about different ideas for the com
ing school year," says Albright. "While there, I
just sort of had the idea to do something with
local music and locally owned restaurants."
Albright workshopped the idea with fellow
Nourish International members and came
home ready to launch the series. "I used to
be the local music director at WUOG, and I'm
actually the general manager now. I figured
it'd be pretty easy to dig up those old con
tacts from when I used to put on 'Live in the
Lobb/ and try to do something with that."
The resulting juxtapositions have been
inspired: an acoustic set from math-pop act
Co Co Ri Co at Wilson's Soul Food, a set by
wordy indie troupe Werewolves at Weaver 0's,
a "bluegrass pickin' circle" at White Tiger
Gourmet. The bands play wherever there's
space, be it in the storefront, the lawn or, you
guessed it, the sidewalk.
"They've all been pretty good; the turnout
is a little unpredictable," says Albright. "It's
[also] supposed to be a benefit for the restau
rants themselves—hopefully we're increasing
their turnout that night for a higher percent
age than what we're asking for in return. It's
more about supporting local business and giv
ing local music exposure, too."
The Sidewalk Symphonies series, with its
unconventional settings, offers an alternative
to the usual concert charity and that fits in
perfectly with Nourish International's MO.
"Nourish International has a set of eth
ics; they want it to be a different way of
approaching charity," says Albright. "They
basically don't wanna ask for donations; they
try not to come up with cheesy ways of raising
money. We're trying to find things that people
are actually interested in giving their money
to, or something that they would've given
their money to even if it wasn't for a good
cause. It's just a different way of approaching
it."
This year's charity hasn't been determined
yet, but not through any lack of trying. "We
find international partners to work with,"
explains Albright, "and after we've raised all
the money for the year, we find cut who in
the club is interested in going on a trip. Our
international projects manager will find an
organization that we would like to support.
We send the money to them and send as many
volunteers of our own as we can. We don't
supply the plane tickets or travel with the
money that we raise; we do that individually."
The group originally planned on working
with a group based in Kenya called Unite for
Africa, but soon discovered there was a travel
warning for that nation, and the idea was
shelved. Now they are looking into a charity
in Africa or South America that they would
be interested in working with. They are also
seeking the local component tp the equation:
Sidewalk Symphonies will be continuing into
the spring semester; so, bands, take advan
tage of this opportunity to literally act locally
while thinking globally. Think of it as being
named MVP.
Jeff Tobias
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