Dave Matthews sings about a troublesome scene in the Louisiana bayou on his band’s latest record, “Stand Up.”
But when the Dave Matthews Band recorded “Louisiana Bayou” earlier this year, the Virginia quintet had no idea what kind of tragedy was to overtake the swampy region and the nearby multicultural hub of New Orleans just a few months later.
Southern Louisiana is unique, but Hurricane Katrina and the ruinous aftermath throughout Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama has destroyed much of what set the region apart.
“It’s a long, hard road ahead,” Matthews told The Denver
Post by e-mail earlier this week, “and everybody needs to give what they can.”
Matthews was one of the first of his ilk to set up a benefit concert for the hurricane’s victims – Monday night at Red Rocks, extending his three-night stand beginning tonight into a four-nighter. While the venture – which Wednesday added the New Orleans group the Neville Brothers to the concert bill – may raise more than $1 million for select charities, it’s business as usual for Matthews, who is as much a philanthropist as he is a musician.
“I’ve hung out with him a lot, even down in Charlottesville, (Va.)” said concert promoter Chuck Morris, who organized the benefit show with the city of Denver and area vendors and unions. “And he’s very funny, down to earth and very giving. Sometimes you use those words to describe other artists and they’re not true. But with this bunch, they’re very true.”
Matthews is a giver, and he donates proportionally. Considering how much money he takes in – he constantly ranks on Forbes magazine’s Celebrity 100 among the Rolling Stones, Diddy and Metallica – that means big money.
Big money to Habitat for Humanity, Clean Virginia Waterways, Abundant Life Ministries, Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, and the Sexual Assault Resource Agency – all of which have received grants from the Dave Matthews Band’s Bama Works Foundation, which has given out more than $2 million since 1999.
Big money to Adopt-A-Village in Guatemala, the NAACP, Youth For Environmental Sanity, Rainforest Action Network and Charlottesville’s McIntire Skate Park – all of which received grants from the Horton Foundation, started by Matthews and his sister Jane Matthews in 1997.
Big money to New York City Public Schools, World AIDS Day, Charlottesville Music Resource Center, Tibetan Freedom Concert, America Coming Together and Farm Aid – all of which have benefited from the donation of Matthews’ celebrated talents and immense draw.
And while Matthews’ music requires a specific taste, his mainstream draw is unquestionably goliath. Matthews is the new Mick Jagger – the next Paul McCartney – in that the songwriter is selling out arenas and amphitheaters consistently. In 2000, the band grossed a record $68.2 million via touring, and last year industry magazine Pollstar had the band at No.12 with more than $41 million gross ticket sales. Matthews is one of the few players in the game today who has the potential to sell out stadiums, regardless of the sagging live-music economy.
It’s that youthful popularity that first inspired Justin Baker to write a proposal to stage a food drive at the Dave Matthews Band shows this weekend. Baker’s Boulder-based Conscious Alliance was contracted to host the food drive at the Red Rocks shows before Hurricane Katrina hit, and it has since redirected its efforts toward the Houston Food Bank.
“The amount of giving the band does is really inspiring,” said Baker, the executive director of the nonprofit. “It’s important to mobilize young people and get them to donate. He does so much charitable work that he’s paving the way for young people to head down that same road.”
Last week, Conscious Alliance raised more than $25,000 through its website for evacuees from the region. Speaking from Houston, where he purchased pallets of diapers and ready-made meals with the $25,000, he said he’s looking forward to the four Dave Matthews Band concerts and his next trip to Texas, when he will bring the donated food in a semi-truck. Anyone donating five items or five dollars at the Matthews shows will be entered into a raffle to win one of five posters autographed by the band each night.
Matthews’ efforts – both big and small – are evidence of his generous intent and his bent toward the environment and social injustice. In 2003, the band financed the planting of 900 trees along the Rivanna River in their native Virginia to offset global warming. The trees restored riverfront wetlands owned by The Nature Conservancy, but they also acted as a counteragent to all the carbon dioxide emissions from the band’s touring vehicles that year.
“We felt that we should take responsibility for the greenhouse gases that we release into the atmosphere as a result of our tour,” the band members said in a statement at the time. “More importantly, we hope our small step toward combatting global warming will encourage others to join in protecting our planet and ourselves against climate change.”
Pop music critic Ricardo Baca can be reached at 303-820-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.com.
Dave Matthews Band
JAM ROCK|Red Rocks Amphitheatre; 7 tonight through Monday with John Butler Trio opening; the Neville Brothers open Monday|SOLD OUT EXCEPT FOR $500 AND $1,000 PREMIUM TICKETS | Ticketmaster, 303-830-8497 or ticketmaster.com.
