KFAI is partnering with The Cedar Cultural Center and Augsburg College as hosts of a benefit concert on Friday, January 24th to raise funds for the victims and their families of the New Year’s Day fire on Cedar Avenue in Minneapolis. The fire took the lives of three residents of the apartments above 516 Cedar Ave S, destroyed the Otanga Grocery Store on the ground level of the building and displaced tenants in the ten residential units.
Cedar-Riverside celebrates enormous diversity and its residents are proud of the Minneapolis neighborhood they call home. Cedar Executive Director Rob Simonds connected with Mary Laurel True of Augsburg’s Sabo Center for Citizenship and agreed this tragedy was a chance to unite the neighborhood. “This event is about the joining together of some of the community groups which call Cedar-Riverside (or “The West Bank”) home to help our neighbors who have suffered such great and tragic loss. Our neighborhood is known best for both its immigrant history and history of arts and culture, so we feel it’s only appropriate to assemble a wide diversity of musical artists for this benefit concert.” (Simonds)
The benefit concert will feature musicians who represent the cultural past of the West Bank neighborhood as well as its present. Already scheduled to perform are Spider John Koerner (of legendary West Bank folk trio Koerner Ray and Glover), The Brass Messengers, Martin Devaney, Phil Heywood, Jon Rodine, Southside Desire, Augsburg JIVE, and DJ Go Getta with SYAV (Somali Youth Against Violence).
Ticket options and info
- On sale date: noon Fri Jan 10
- Phone: 612-338-2674 ext 0 between 12 noon and 4pm ($2 fee per ticket)
- In person: From a Cedar volunteer in the front lobby during events (no fee; cash, check, credit card), Depth of Field (no fee; cash or check only), or Electric Fetus (approximately $2 fee)
- Online: Ticketweb (typically $2–$3 fee/ticket) (click on red Buy Tickets button at top of this page)
- The Cedar is an all ages venue
- Students with ID, seniors over 65, and children under 12 may purchase tickets at a discount at the door (subject to ticket availability).
More details available at The Cedar.
Related stories:
- Cedar-Riverside fire — what happened, interviews, how you can help (Lolla Mohammed Nur and Mary Turck, TC Daily Planet, 2014)
- AT THE INTERSECTION | Is national media coverage of Cedar Riverside fire connected to scrutiny of Somali Americans? (Lolla Mohammed Nur, TC Daily Planet, 2014)
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