GRASSROOTS ACOUSTICA #21:
THE HOOTMASTERS' EDITION

Saturday, March 14, 2009
Talking Stick Coffee Lounge www.thetalkingstick.net
Venice, CA
4:30 Pre-Pre Show Meet & Greet
6:00 Pre-Show Soundcheck Spotlight
7:00 Hootmasters' Mainshow

CAST
Ben Carr
Daniel McFeeley
Ernest Troost
Jane Bolduc
Jeff Kossack
John Stowers
Lauren Adams
Mark Pocket Goldberg
Merrily Weeber
Randall Kirby
Randy Sacks
Richard Rique Patire
Steve Key
ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE
Tom Gramlich & Byron Pfeifer
MASTER OF CEREMONIES
Mark Islam

[VENICE, CALIFORNIA] - On the second Saturday of March, writers’ night ringleaders observe National Multiple Sclerosis Awareness & Education Month with a pledgedrive peprally supporting Team JiggyWiggits' Walk MS 2009 on behalf of The National Multiple Sclerosis Society Southern California Chapter when Grassroots Acoustica's Hootmasters' Edition presents a cast of keepers of coffeehouse culture stretching from San Luis Obisbo to Sunland to Studio City to Santa Monica to southwest corner of Lincoln & California’s Talking Stick, home to the monthly series whose previous 20 crafted - free - hootnights have raised a not-insubstantial $12,944 for non-profit orgs serving Los Angeles.

In a late afternoon pre-pre-show starting at 4:30, JiggyWiggit walker - and Acoustica alum- Richard Rique Patire welcomes friends, sponsors & supporters of Walk MS 2009 with a meet-and-greet before a pre-show performance of selections from his musical one-man show on the 6 o'clock Soundcheck Spotlight.

The three-hour Hootmasters’ Mainshow starts at 7 and brings Coffee Lounge cornerstones Tom Gramlich & Byron Pfeifer, Grassroots Acoustica's resident artists & hootmasters themselves on first-and-third Wednesday open mikes at the Stick, host Mark Islam with always-willing-to-wing it rep player Jane Bolduc, Ernest Troost of The Juke Joint Gang, and Daniel McFeeley from recurring songwriters’ playground Out Of The Blue (nee Wordplay); as well as Randall Kirby of Kulaks Woodshed, a donation-driven labor of love on Laurel Canyon that's also lending Lauren Adams from the Americana Music Circle; triumverate John Stowers, Ben Carr & Jeff Kossack, whose Wednesday rounds at Santa Monica Bar & Grill recently shuttered, a casualty of a contracting economy; Randy Sacks & Mark Pocket Goldberg, whose weekly Pocket Goldberg & Friends Songwriter Showcase is always worth the trek to Tujunga’s Arnie’s Café & Restorante Italiano on a Thursday night for sheer realdeal musical chops on one storefront stage at a single time; Merrily Weeber, who in the pre-Internet era somehow organized, without email, every single Saturday at the long gone Graffiti - for, like, years; and Steve Key, representing SLO and a rich scene he’d previously cultivated at the Radio Café in Nashville during the '90s.

Last year, Team JiggyWiggit’s 150 walkers in four cities raised contributions totaling over $45,000, which makes them one of the Top 100 teams in the country two years in the row and only strengthens their resolve to raise even more for Walk MS 2009.

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, unpredictable, often disabling central nervous system disease whose symptoms may be mild, such as numbness in the limbs, or severe, such as paralysis or loss of vision.

The Southern California Chapter of the National MS Society
works tirelessly to improve the quality of life for 101,500 people affected by MS in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, Kern, Inyo, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Fresno, Kings, Madera and Tulare counties.

To learn more of Team JiggyWiggits & securely support their campaign to walk for those who can’t, please visit:
http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/JiggyWiggits

Venice’s Talking Stick Coffee Lounge is located at 1411C Lincoln Blvd (@ California). Grassroots Acoustica #21: The Hootmasters’ Edition is free & open to the public, and while there is no cover charge or suggested minimum, 100% of any donations will benefit Southern California Chapter of the National MS Society. Donations by checks are tax deductible.

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