The 20th anniversary of the Brooklyn Rock Lottery 8 is just around the corner and the the first round of participants has just been announced. The first round features members of TV on the Radio, Torres, Patti Smith Group, Liquid Liquid, Thirdstory, Blondie, Kevin Devine, Steely Dan, Brooklyn Wind Symphony and Honduras & Cut Worms.
For those who are unfamiliar with the Rock Lottery, the concept is simple. Twenty-five musicians come together at the selected venue and are organized into five bands through a lottery-based chance selection. The five different groups are released to practice at different locations and they have twelve hours to create an experience including coming up with a band name and three to five songs (one can be a cover song.) The bands reunite together back at the venue at 10 pm to perform what they have come up with to a waiting audience.
Started back in 1997 by Good/Bad Art Collective, the Rock Lottery has since become a highly anticipated music event here in the United Stated. It has spawned sister events in Brooklyn, Los Angeles and Seattle. Throughout its twenty years, the three cites that have hosted the event has featured over 800 musicians and has raised money for charities such as VERA Project, CASA, Daniel’s Music Foundation, Rockaway Renegades, Friends of the Family, Feel the Music, Save Fry Street, KEXP, Arts Corps, Parkland HealthPlus, the Denton County African American Museum and more.
The idea of the Rock Lottery is to bring together musicians from a variety of musical styles, those who appear incompatible and give the challenge to go beyond their musical and personal differences and work together to create a group project unlike anything before.
This year’s event of the Rock Lottery will occur on Saturday, December 2nd at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn. The experiment starts at 10 am with the 25 musicians and will go on until 10 pm when the 5 bands will perform.
The full list of participants can be viewed below.
Alec Spiegelman from Cuddle Magic
Ben Wareham from Brooklyn Wind Symphony
Elliot Skinner from Thirdstory / Chance The Rapper
Jaleel Bunton from TV On the Radio
Jon Herington from Steely Dan
Kevin Devine
Leesa Harrington from Lez Zepplin
Lenny Kaye from Patti Smith Group
Mackenzie Scott from Torres
Matthew Katz-Bohen from Blondie / Broadway’s “Hedwig and the Angry Inch”
Max Clarke from Cut Worms
Paul Lizarraga Honduras
Ryan DeRobertis from Skylar Spence
Sal Principato from Liquid Liquid
Sarah Goldstone from Ex Reyes / Kiyo Cato / Merrily James
Tickets for the event can be purchased now and those who get tickets will be happy to know that this year, half the proceeds will go to PLOT (which stands for Preparing Leaders of a Tomorrow), a mentoring programs that helps at-risk youth between the ages of nine and twenty-one living in Brooklyn, New York. In effort to provide aid and support for those affected by Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria, the other 50% of the proceeds will go to Unidos Por Puerto Rico.
Photo credit by Sharon Alagna
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