Grassroots Acoustica #24:
2nd Annual Pride Edition
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Talking Stick Coffee Lounge
1411C Lincoln Blvd @ California
Venice
7-10 p.m.
to benefit THIS WAY OUT
http://www.qrd.org/QRD/www/media/radio/thiswayout/

CAST: Host Mark Islam, artists-in-residence Tom Gramlich & Byron Pfeifer, special guest Marc Francoeur, Dudley Saunders, Vertigo Road, Christopher Dallman, Vincent James Arcuri performing excerpts from Becoming Butch, and a video presentation of Jon Gilbert Leavitt's Pride At 40.

[VENICE, CALIFORNIA] The Talking Stick Coffee Lounge proudly presents a booze-free alternative to the weekend’s LA Pride festivities on Saturday, June 13th, at 7 p.m., with Grassroots Acoustica #24: 2nd Annual Pride Edition, a 3-hour celebration of diversity benefiting This Way Out, the award-winning locally produced GLBT radio magazine program currently airing on more than 175 local community stations around the world.

Host & curator Mark Islam and artists-in-residence Tom Gramlich & Byron Pfeifer welcome returning visits from special guest & former Motha Fizzy Marc Francoeur, who opens the 2nd Annual Pride Edition with an interpretation Nat “King” Cole’s Nature Boy before a sampler set of self-penned selections from his upcoming one-man show; Obie winner Dudley Saunders, whose last CD The Emergency Lane made Frontiers Magazine's year-end 10-best of '07; as well as first-time visits by duo Vertigo Road who are currently working up new tunes in the recording studio; Christopher Dallman, who plays San Diego Pride in July & has been making a name for himself such venerated local haunts as Genghis Cohen & Hollywood’s Hotel Café; actor/writer Vincent James Arcuri who reprises excerpted monologues from his ACME Comedy Theatre-premiered one-man show Becoming Butch; and a video presentation of outmusician Jon Gilbert Leavitt's Pride At 40, whose title refers to the 4 decades of gay rights movement since June 28, 1969's Stonewall riots against police harassment, persecution & arrests of gays & lesbians, an historical moment of civil disobedience in New York City that’s been commemorated as Pride marches & parades around the world every year since its first anniversary in 1970.

Produced by a dedicated group of unpaid volunteers since April of 1988, This Way Out has been bestowed with awards from the U.S. National Federation Of Community Broadcasters, the Radio and Television News Association, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), Parents, Families and Friends Of Lesbians and Gays (P-FLAG), and the Los Angeles chapter of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA).

Although always operating on an absurdly shoestring budget, the half-hour radio show includes a weekly NewsWrap segment reporting on events in or affecting sexual minority communities worldwide. This Way Out had on-scene coverage of the California Supreme Court marriage equality ruling in May of 2008, the state’s first legal same-gender marriages in June, comprehensive coverage of the anti-gay ballot measures in four U.S. states, and continues to report on the unprecedented aftermath of Proposition 8's passage in California. Its monthly Audiofile segment spotlights new CDs by openly-LGBT musicians each month, and the Rainbow Minute provides capsule summaries of people and events around the world in LGBT history.

As stated on its website, This Way Out only continues to be viable thanks to the “dozens upon dozens of donations” from loyal listeners and private sources such as occasional foundation grants that never cover all expenses -- and even foundation sources are drying up, not just for This Way Out but for non-profit organizations across the spectrum.

While there is no cover charge for Grassroots Acoustica #24: 2nd Annual Pride Edition, 100% of any voluntary donations will be directly given to This Way Out in order to prevent it from becoming another victim of these tough economic times.

To learn more about This Way Out or to make a secure PayPal donation, please visit www.thiswayout.org.

Grassroots Acoustica’s previous 23 shows have raised a total of $16,240 for Los Angeles-area non-profit orgs.

The Talking Stick Coffee Lounge is located at 1411C Lincoln Boulevard (at California) in Venice, CA.

COMING UP NEXT:
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Grassroots Acoustica #25: 2nd Anniversary Edition
To benefit Children Of The Night (www.childrenofthenight.org), assisting children between the ages
of 11 and 17 who are forced to prostitute on the streets for food to eat and a place to sleep
FEATURING: Ryan Guggenheim, Elsie May Larson-Kunkel, Steve Key, Dudley Saunders, Wendy Conrad, Merrily Weeber, Jane Bolduc, host Mark Islam, artists-in-residence Tom Gramlich & Byron Pfeifer, and more TBA pending availability

GRASSROOTS ACOUSTICA NON-PROFITS TO DATE:
Children Of The Night
The Blank Theatre Company
Project Angel Food
WeSpark
The Linda Blair WorldHeart Foundation for Animal & Human Welfare
The Nicolette Larson Pediatric Endowment at Mattel Children's Hospital/UCLA
A New Way Of Life Reentry Project
Echo Park Film Center
Friends Of The Los Angeles River
Showing People Learning & Technology
School On Wheels
The Celebration Theatre
Shoes That Fit
Alzheimer's Association California Southland Chapter - Memory Walk
Braille Institute
House Of Hope
Much Love Animal Rescue
National Multiple Sclerosis Society Southern California Chapter Walk MS 2009
The Mimi La Rue Fund at Much Love Animal Rescue
The ALS Association Greater Los Angeles Chapter