The Hold Steady played at Littleton High School recently, the one directly adjacent to Columbine (yes, that Columbine).
You may be asking why a "bar" band would be playing at a high school, and the answer to that question is pretty awesome. The school has a program called the Freshman Academy, which helps ESL, Special Education, and behaviorally/emotionally troubled freshmen in the transition from middle school to high school. A teacher involved with the program heard the band on NPR's All Things Considered and thought their lyrics and messege would fit right in with a part of the program that deals with teen social issues. The teacher has been using the lyrics and themes in class discussions.
Since the band happened to be on tour, the teacher invited them to come visit the school, talk to the kids, and play a short acoustic set. The band accepted without hesistation. The school made banners, took time in the math class to determine how much money the tour would cost in gas, food, etc, and even had a band look alike contest.
From all parties involved, the day was a huge success and helped raise money for the program.
This is just proof that Rock and Roll CAN have a positive affect on the youth of America, and more musicians need to follow the example of The Hold Steady and not glorify drug and alcohol use (though their not against drinking), but still rock just as hard.
Now Pitchfork had a video of it, but has taken it down and i can't find it anywhere, so heres a video of them on David Letterman.
My Trusted MOGs
wow ... you just made my day! I went searching for the video and found it here ... very, very cool, thanks!
The Hold Steady are well loved around these parts ... a group of moggers, myself included, saw them together at Lollapalooza and the show was amazing - one of the best of the festival. And Littleton High School is not far from where I live - it's probably a good thing I didn't know about the performance or I may have stormed the gymnasium ;) Knowing Craig Finn and the boys are good will ambassadors just makes me adore them even more.
Great post, welcome to MOG!
My Trusted MOGs
Yea i saw that page, but the video doesnt work for me anymore, and i tried to show it to my buddy and it didnt work for him either. Does it work for u?
and if u watched it, notice that that was the first time they ever performed "Stuck Between Stations" live. Pretty awesome.
My Trusted MOGs
yep, the vid did play for me. Lucky kids...
My Trusted MOGs
Worked for me too.....
My Trusted MOGs
yea it worked on another computer, so i guess its just my computer. piece of shit
My Trusted MOGs
This sounds very cool of them, and I'm happy to hear they did this. I loved their show in Toronto, even though it was just a standard gig. If you'd like to see photos:
The Hold Steady in Toronto