Hootie & the Blowfish Homegrown Concert Series Comes to the Cape--Fans, Bring School Supplies!

Hootie and the Blowfish Homegrown Concert Series Comes to the Melody Tent on August 9th

Concert Series Encourages Fans to Bring School Supplies for Barnstable Public Schools

HYANNIS --Two-time Grammy award winning Hootie & the Blowfish will gear up and hit the road again this summer, returning to the Cape Cod Melody Tent, Hyannis, MA and it’s not all about music.  In conjunction with the Hootie & the Blowfish Foundation, the band's nationwide Homegrown Concert Series is spearheading an effort to collect school supplies for economically disadvantaged schools in each community it visits.  The 25-City Homegrown tour, stopping at Cape Cod Melody Tent on August 9, 2008, asks all ticket holders to bring any school supply item to the concert, as a donation, and following the concert, the supplies will be distributed to the Barnstable Public Schools.  To date, the band and their loyal fans have helped fill over 30 busloads, totally around $150,000 worth of much needed school supplies for children. 

Students in need in Barnstable Public Schools would greatly benefit from donations of backpacks, three-ring binders, notebooks, colored paper, writing tablets, pens, pencils, colored pencils, crayons, highlighters, post-its and markers.  Blunt-end scissors, rulers, calculators, and pencil cases are also appreciated.  Water bottles, tissues, and lunch boxes would also help.

“We are pleased to play a part in the Hootie & the Blowfish Homegrown effort to support the education of students in our community,” said Vincent G. Longo, COO and Executive Producer at the Cape Cod Melody Tent.   “As a non-profit theatre dedicated to supporting arts and education, we’re proud to partner with Hootie & the Blowfish and Barnstable Public Schools to help ensure a productive school experience, and we ask our patrons to join us in this school supply drive.”

Hootie & the Blowfish - made up of Mark Bryan, Dean Felber, Darius Rucker, and Jim “Soni” Sonefeld - is one of the most successful music groups of all time, and since their first album debuted in 1994, the band has played to millions of fans and sold over 25 million albums worldwide. Because of this entitlement, Hootie & the Blowfish believe they have a responsibility to use their celebrity status to help improve the lives of those in need, especially children. They often take the lead in creating projects where they can join forces with other organizations to help make a positive difference in lives of today’s youth. The Hootie & the Blowfish Foundation was established just for that purpose. As a private non-profit organization, The Foundation was originally created in 2000 to benefit children of South Carolina through education and supporting school music programs—since then, it has spread to a nationwide campaign.

“I am most grateful for the support of both Hootie & the Blowfish and their fans. Our students can only benefit from your generosity,” said Patricia Grenier, Superintendent of Schools

“Our children are our best resource and our most hopeful investment.  With proper tools, our children can receive a well-rounded and meaningful education,” says lead singer, Darius Rucker. 

In 2003 the band members established an annual concert in their hometown, Charleston, SC, as a way to help raise awareness of the needs of local school children in the community. Every year, many schools are forced to receive budget cuts that ultimately, in one way or another, affects the quality of education each child receives. The night of the concert, ticket holders were asked to bring school supplies of any kind to the concert held at Family Circle Magazine Stadium. The response was overwhelming, and the Charleston County School District children were the beneficiaries of a generous community effort. A 55-seat school bus was filled from top to bottom with school supplies and following the concert those supplies were distributed to the schools and teachers who were in most need.

Knowing the positive effect this project had on the kids and the community, the band wanted to expand the concert into other markets.  In 2006, the band took the Homegrown Tour to a national level, expanding the tour to 12 dates, and on to13 more in 2007. To date, the band and their loyal fans have helped fill over 30 busloads, totally around $150,000 worth of much needed school supplies for children.

This year Hootie & the Blowfish will continue the concert series once more, picking up a total of 25 stops, including Hyannis, MA on August 9, 2008. 

The Hootie & the Blowfish concert at the Cape Cod Melody Tent is SOLD OUT.

Visit the Cape Cod Melody Tent's website for their August performance schedule here.

Release courtesy of the Melody Tent.