We posted about Playing for Change a while back and just found out that they have shows coming up in Austin, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and New York. Make sure to check them out if you are in the area.

Tour Dates:

Austin: SXSW (festival badges only)
Thursday, March 19th, 2009
Momo’s
618 W. 6th St., Austin, TX 78701

Friday, March 20, 2009
Opal Divine’s Freehouse
700 W. 6th St., Austin, TX 78701

Los Angeles
Monday, March 23, 2009
The Knitting Factory
7021 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028, 323-463-0204
Doors open @ 8PM, Concert starts @ 9PM
Purchase tickets

San Francisco
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Slim’s
333 11th St., San Francisco, CA 94103, 415-255-0333
Doors open @ 7PM, Concert starts @ 9PM
Purchase tickets

Seattle
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
The Showbox at the Market
1426 1st Ave, Seattle, WA 98101
Doors open @ 7PM, Concert starts @ 9PM
Purchase tickets

New York City
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Highline Ballroom
431 W. 16th St., New York, NY 10011, 212-414-5994
Doors open @ 7PM, Concert starts @ 9PM
Purchase tickets

“Stand By Me” performed by musicians around the world:

The Playing for Change Foundation is dedicated to connecting the world through music. Look for the upcoming documentary film “Playing for Change: Peace Through Music”.

www.playingforchange.com

I marched with Martin Luther king, I was in the south during the civil rights. I simply want to say for the fire hoses I was hit with, for all 4 times I was put in jail, for the time I walked in Woolworths with a black girl and sat at the counter to be served, for the time I put my self between a 10 yr old black girl, thinking they would not hit me as hard as her (by the way I was wrong about that) for never really knowing how badly I would be hurt. Knowing only that I had a great passion for what I was doing. For the very,very, very small part I played, last night was more than worth it.
God bless America.

This is a retelling of a short story by Terry Dobson, the late teacher and writer of Aikido who is often credited with spreading the art to the U.S.

Aikido is a martial art, which means “the way of peace”, or more specifically, the “way of harmonizing energy or spirit”.  

One day, a young Aikido student was riding a subway in Tokyo.  He had been studying Aikido intensely for a few years there.  At the next stop, a very big, very drunk, and very angry man boarded at the next stop and began pushing and threatening the other passengers.  Aikido is the art of resolving conflict and the student was thus taught never to engage in combat except if others were in harm’s way or if there was no other recourse to prevent an attack. The student, eager to test his skill in a real-life situation, knew he could disable the man and thus prevent anyone from getting hurt.

So, he stood up and the big man immediately shot a look at him and yelled, “What are you looking at sweet-heart?”  The student then blew a kiss at the man who shouted back “Someone wants a lesson!” and began to stomp over. About half way down, a little old man caught the drunken man’s attention and said, “He buddy? What ya drinking?” The big man glared at him and replied “Sake!  What’s it to you, old fart?”  The little old man just started talking “Ah, sake!  I love sake!  I drink it with my wife in our garden.  In the spring the azaleas grow but not now because of the frost…”  Gradually, the large man’s face began to soften, and by the time the Aikido student arrived at his stop, he was in the old man’s lap sobbing, “I don’t have a wife anymore, and I don’t have no job and I’m ashamed …bwaa haa haaa…”  The young student realized he was still far from becoming the Aikido master that the old man on the train that day was.