Chvrches supporting Rape Crisis fundraising

Lauren Mayberry is supporting a fundraising campaign by Rape Crisis in Glasgow. It's worth your support - not because of the endorsement, but because of this:

Isobel Kerr, Rape Crisis Glasgow manager, said: “Over the past few years the number of women seeking help has gone up. For example, last year we processed about 5,500 calls through the centre and all these calls were support and advocacy related. This was an increase of 25 per cent on the year before. However, for the year that we are in at the moment, which doesn’t finish until the end of March, we have had 10,500 calls so we’ve had a 100 per cent increase on the previous year already.

“Our figures for this year are going to be just under 800 survivors who need medium- to long-term support – that’s individuals and that means that they have access to someone face-to-face and they can use the drop in and our group work programme.

“We support survivors but we also support their families and because we work with very young women, some as young as 13, it is not unusual for us to be supporting a young woman and her mum and dad.

“In order to meet the demand at the moment we need to raise another £50,000 because our waiting lists are getting longer.

“We have around 50 women sitting waiting to see a worker and they are probably going to wait a couple of months at least. It is just unacceptable and not fair.”

Here's how you can donate.

K Records offer you samples

In aid of the UN Refugee Agency, K Records are offering a pay-what-you-want-sampler. Snaffle it down right now.

Harry Styles gives his clothes to charity, like John Lennon told us to

Apparently, Harry Styles gets sent so many loads of designer clothes, he just drops them straight off at charity shops. Apparently:

A source shared: ''Harry was casually talking about all the free stuff he gets sent and how he can't keep up with all of it.

''He said he gives a lot of it away to friends and family but also drives up to charity shops and drops bin bags of designer clothes at a time.''

I'm hoping shrewd charity shops up and down the country are exploiting this news, selling polyester trousers to starstruck preteens by saying "no, a man with extravagant hair dropped these off here earlier today. He also handed over this collection of Midsomer Murders on slightly damaged VHS tapes."

Wales versus the humanitarian crisis

Want to help the growing numbers of refugees, and - at the same time - grab some rare Welsh music?

Good news; you really can do both - lob a tenner in the hat, pick up (or rather download) the Welsh Rock For Refugees album, and do some good.

It's for download on Bandcamp, and it's a remarkable collection of Welsh musicians - Mike Peters via Charlotte Church to the Joy Formidable. If you can't find a couple of favourites on the collection, you SHOULD BUY IT ANYWAY OR JUST GIVE A TENNER. Because it's a good cause.

Heads united

Sex with Leapy Lee. Mormonism. And now, football. It's an eclectic morning of things people do that I don't really want to watch. Geoff Barrow and Phil Selway are trying to raise charity money through the medium of soccer:

Portishead's Geoff Barrow and Radiohead drummer Philip Selway have teamed up to form a charity soccer team named Heads United. A play on Manchester United and the "–head" attached to both artists' band names, Heads United will hit the pitch April 25th in Newberry, England (via Pitchfork). Barrow is hoping to raise £1,500 for the Football & Food Festival, which will donate all proceeds to the Mary Hare Foundation, a national charity that supports deaf children.

It's a good cause; they're a bit shy of their target. Go on, just one less chocolate egg and you can help out.

Amfar makes a curious choice

Amfar - the AIDS/HIV charity co-founded by Elizabeth Taylor - held a fundraiser in Hong Kong on Saturday.

Which is fine. Going where the money is. That makes sense.

But hang on... what was the entertainment?

HONG KONG – Robin Thicke serenaded a star-studded audience at the amfAR gala in Hong Kong on Saturday night with “Blurred Lines,” just four days after a jury in Los Angeles ordered the singer and Pharrell Williams to pay about $7.4 million to the family of Marvin Gaye, concluding that the pair’s 2013 hit song copied parts of Mr. Gaye’s “Got to Give it Up.”

Really, Amfar? You're raising money to fight against the spread of HIV by getting someone to sing a song about how it's so tricky not raping people? Do we not worry about judgement once we're out and about?

Tories silent auction gives you chance to be Great Uncle Bulgaria

You might think that the story about the Tories raising money through a silent auction was a spoof when you got to the bit about rich Conservatives bidding on tickets to see the last of The Hunger Games movie. But it's genuine.

There's going to be a plutocrat trying to get their money back when they discover that The Hunger Games has such a sad ending.

With lots like the chance to eat an entire chicken with Michael Gove and Sarah Vine, the line-up of items suggests a confusion between 'silent auction' and 'unspeakable horror', but there were a surprising number of music-related chances to bid.

Perhaps most surprisingly, there was a photo of Suggs. The catalogue describes the photo:

Portrait photograph of Suggs from Madness.
This framed photographic print of Suggs from Madness is a true collector's item. The photographer Stephen Perry has been described as a true visionary and has taken portrait photographs of the stars since an early age. Stephen claimed that he chose to keep Suggs' sunglasses on as he was still a recognisable figure with them on, although it later emerged that he had been in the pub before the shoot and was slightly the worse for wear!

What larks.

I wonder if there's another story about Suggs being in a pub that might be relevant here? How about this one:

Suggs is keen to point out that Madness were always very political. “We were socialists, and still are, to a greater or lesser extent. Our first gig at the Hope and Anchor was the night Margaret Thatcher got voted in, God help us. All that ‘there’s no such thing as society’ and what they did to the unions… We were a little society of our own and tried to create a feeling of belonging. Our House becomes authentic, even though it’s an abstract. It’s the idea of family.

“We did Red Wedge [aimed at raising political awareness among young people] with Billy Bragg, The Specials, Jerry Dammers, Paul Weller, and we did loads of stuff for the miners, benefits for the strikers and families.”

Perhaps the Tories knew all this. Perhaps using Suggs to raise funds for the Campaign to Re-elect The Shiny Porkfaced Cameron is a joke.

Or perhaps they're just inept.

Another lot is to get Mike Batt to write a song, just for you. "It could be a comic song" suggests the catalogue.

But there's a warning:

Not to be used for commercial purposes

Really? You're putting a ban on a person using something they've bought for their own personal enrichment. You've changed, Conservatives. You used to support the free market. Who knew the invisible hand gets slapped back the minute it tries to caress Mike Batt's bottom line.

There's also tickets to see Fleetwood Mac in Leeds, which could be a tribute to that time Republicans bought tickets to a Mac gig and then sold them at a mark-up to fundraise.

It's possible the whole event was some sort of too-clever-by-half in-joke.

But then all the opportunities to shoot things to death... well, that looks deadly earnest.

On the streets with Bieber*

Apparently, Justin Bieber is to sleep rough to "raise awareness" of how badly his career is going. Although the claim started as a story in UKIP house rag the Daily Star, so probably isn't true.

According to the Daily Star, Biebs' manager Scotter Braun has persuaded him to spend the night outside in the California streets, in aid of homeless charities.

"[Scooter] has been trying to come up with a plan to give Justin's career some longevity," a source told the newspaper.

Aside from the toe-curling aspect of a rich person spending a few hours on a pavement knowing they have a soft, warm bed to return to in the morning - a stunt even pulled by Grant Shapps back when he was still sometimes called Michael Green - it's not entirely clear how 'doing some good work for charidee' is going to offset the erosion of Bieber's career. Unless seeing Bieber sleep under cardboard will somehow stop girls reaching puberty.

*

At last, a black Friday deal worth mentioning

The great Speedy Ortiz have made their first two records, Cop Kicker and The Death Of Speedy Ortiz free for the weekend. They're asking for donations, though, and all the money raised will go to Ferguson Municipal Public Library.

Band Aid 30: That song against Ebola isn't bad

No, not the Geldof one. This one:

The artists on this track are Tiken Jah Fakoly, Amadou & Mariam, Salif Keita, Oumou Sangare, Kandia Kora, Mory Kante, Sia Tolno, Barbara Kanam and rappers Didier Awadi, Marcus (from the band Banlieuz'Arts) and Mokobe.

One of the criticisms levelled, fairly, at the original Band Aid was that Bob and Midge had failed to find any African artists to take part at all, creating a sense that this was an act of Imperialistic Paternalism.

No chance of that this time round, as Angélique Kidjo is involved. That's one African. (At a stretch, Fuse ODG was raised in Ghana and is in the chorus, but he's an English artist.) Four singles, and in all that time, she's the first African national to have got to deliver a line on the song. At this rate, by the time they get to Band Aid 50, they might manage as many as two Africans.

James Blunt does a nice thing

It's not often there's a James Blunt story which everyone can read an enjoy. But here's one.

James Blunt played a festival which gives some of its takings to a local homeless charity, and as a result that charity got twice the size of the donation as the year before.

The charity is Two Saints, who help hundreds of people in the South of England.

Billy Ocean: Good work for charity

Something now from the 'pop stars doing lovely things' file.

Abby Garner and Linda Arnould put together a Macmillan coffee morning in East Surrey. They had a target of a few hundred pounds, and asked a local holiday park - Bunn Leisure in Selsey - if they could find them some space for the event.

The leisure centre said yes, and that's where it took on a life of its own. The centre staff also got involved, and because the venue was also playing host to Billy Ocean he also pitched in.

Working together, Abby, Linda, the staff at Bunn and Billy Ocean took a target of a few hundred quid and overshot it by... well, a lot. Local businesses chipped in too, and eventually £10,000 was raised. Brilliant work by everyone.

Scott from 5ive does a nice thing

It's easy to snurkle at the activities of pop stars, so for a change here's someone doing something nice.

Scott Robinson out of 5ive went on All Star Mr & Mrs and won some money. They gave it to the hospice which looked after his wife's grandma.

(They're not allowed to say how much money because the programme hasn't gone out yet, and you know how modern people hate spoilers.)

Now, back to the snurkling.

Quick thought

In the same way that the Proms are, officially, the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts, might it not be fitting for the Teenage Cancer Trust gigs at the Albert Hall to be named after Stephen Sutton?

Morrissey self-censors, helps destroy animals

Morrissey's signed a copy of his fabled autobiography, and is auctioning it off to raise money for PETA.

Odd choice of charity for someone who is usually such a fundamentalist on animal rights, given how they've euthanized tens of thousands of animals, explaining it away as animals which would be killed anyway:

PETA told the Daily Mail that the animals they take in at the center are usually difficult to find homes for and would presumably end up being euthanized anyway: “Most of the animals we take in are society’s rejects: aggressive, on death’s door or somehow unadoptable,” Dollinger noted.

The pile of corpses includes rabbits, whose aggressive tendencies are well known; even if it's true, any animal charity that can't make the promise that they'll never euthanise a healthy animal is probably less deserving of support than one that can.

Still, that's only a small compromise compared with the other one Mozzer's made in the last few days:

Singer Morrissey has left fans in the U.S. baffled after his best-selling memoir was released Stateside minus the details of his relationship with a male photographer.
[...]
The tome, titled Autobiography, details several anecdotes involving Walters, and Morrissey writes movingly of their two years together, but in the U.S. release, which was published on Tuesday (03Dec13), many details in the original book are missing or edited down.

A photograph of Walters as a boy has also been removed, and his name has been cut out of a story detailing a night out with The Pretenders star Chrissie Hynde.

Because, of course, people buying a book about Morrissey are going to find that sort of thing off-putting.

Perhaps there's some sense in giving money to a compromised charity from a compromised book.

Gimme a Shelter compilation

Given that the government seems to be hoping homelessness is a side-effect of house prices not going up enough, the work done by Shelter is more important than ever.

But did you ever wish you could help Shelter while listening to some indie music?

Now you can: simply download Music For A Good Home 2 while slipping at least five quid to Shelter, and you'll help move the debate on the lack of affordable housing on a bit further than, well...

... let's say some stunts might, shall we, and leave it at that?

The album includes Ride being remixed by Portishead, Sennen, Four Tet and Beak>. There is no appearance by Grant Shapps.

Much of New York tries to help out Yellow Dogs

After the murder of two members of Yellow Dogs and others earlier in the week, New York is rallying round. Brooklyn Vegan reports:

Monday (11/18) at Brooklyn Bowl there will be a "Special Memorial Evening / Fundraiser" featuring performances from Nada Surf, James Chance, Luke Temple, Dirty Fences, Kyp Malone (of TVotR), Helado Negro, Hamish Kilgour (The Clean), Iranian visual artist and activist Shirin Neshat and more; plus DJ sets from Paul Banks (Interpol), Jonathan Toubin, Sinkane, Vito & Druzzi (The Rapture), The Men and more.

Tickets ($15.00 - $30.00) for the benefit go on sale Saturday (11/16) at noon. 100% of the door will be going to the families of the deceased, the hospital bills of Sasan Sadeghpourosko who was wounded in the shooting, and then as well as the two surviving members of Yellow Dogs.

There doesn't seem to be a non-tickety way of donating if you want to help out but can't be in Brooklyn, but if we come across something we'll pass it on.

Muse help with the mopping out

Muse played Denver last night; they handed over the profits from merch sales to the Colorado Flood Relief effort.

Good work, Muse.

One Direction: He cannae run wi'out legs

"He cannae run wi'out legs" is, I think, the only piece of football strategy that ever made it into ITV 'tykes-over-coming-ennui-through-painting-a-supporters-club-in-garish-colours' kids drama Murphy's Mob and, as such, I'm certain that every manager rasps this advice into players' ears before they head out for a big match.

Should it be such a surprise, then, that this happened:

That's Aston Villa's Gabby Agbonlahor taking down One Direction/Doncaster Rover's Louis Tomlinson (oh, try typing that with a straight face) during a charity match.

(It's not entirely clear why Tomlinson was playing, as it was supposedly a Celtic team against a Legends team, and 'having signed as some sort of dancing bear with Doncaster' hardly constitutes being a legend, surely?)

Still, nice to see consistency from the One Directioner, whose 'rolling about in agony in front of a crowd' is as convincing as his 'being a musician in front of a crowd' work.

[Thanks to @curiousiguana]

Hear the sound of Distant Drums

Simon Worrall, who drummed with the Paris Angels, died suddenly and cruelly in 2011.

In his memory, some of his friends have come together to create a tribute album, with the hopes of raising a bunch of cash to help Clint and Hector Boon's Hector's Care Chair Fund, a Manchester hospital kid's charity. The aim is to provide comfortable chairs for mothers of premature babies to be able to spend time for "kangaroo care" with their children.

There's all sorts of interesting people involved with the album, including Mani, Mark Burgess, the Thrush Puppies, Dubsex, Martin Stephenson... come on, surely the name "Thrush Puppies" is enough to make you want this, right?

If you need further convincing, here's a sample:



Here's a bit from the Bandcamp page for the project:

BIG SI, as everyone knew him, was the friendly drummer in Paris Angels, who passed away in October 2011. Si was big in stature ~ at 6'4" ~ and big in personality. To give you a handle on him, he was a mixture between Keith Moon and Tommy Cooper ~ a merry prankster that always had a one-liner ready for everyone and all situations. He was never punctual and sometimes infuriating, but you could never stay mad with him because he had a heart of gold and a rapier-like wit to match.

The album is out on March 4th. But you could give money now, if you wanted.