Carnival come back again

Celebrate Haiti! redux

A few more photos of last Thursday's Celebrate Haiti! party courtesy of Eric Hudson.

Celebrate Haiti!

Some pictures from last night's Celebrate Haiti! party at Station 9.

Thanks to Nichole for inviting us to support the effort and (as always) Jorge for hooking us up, thanks James et merci bien Jude for getting us there and back and big up to all the dancers for their positive energy.

Encore une fois pour Haiti

On Thursday May 13th, Station 9 will open it's doors to anyone with a love of music, dancing, and drinking for one of the biggest parties in Washington DC this Spring. FaiBien*, a DC-based non-profit dedicated to the people of Haiti, will throw a fundraiser for over 600 people to help rebuild schools and jump start education in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake. With two full floors of live bands, DJs, and great drink specials, this party is one you won't want to miss!

Tickets purchased in advance are $15/$20 at the door (every $1 goes directly to the cause). A silent auction will take place on the upper level.

Music provided by CODR** includes a stellar performance on the main floor by DC Mambo, a 9-piece band from the DR preforming salsa, merengue, and bachata, and Haitian music upstairs followed by DJ RBI (Ill St. Grooves WPFW 89.3FM) on the 1st floor spinning RnB & hip hop and the Globaltropical DJs (www.globaltropical.blogspot.com) on the 2nd floor pumping tropical bass music.

*FaiBien builds schools in Haiti for children who would not otherwise receive education and offers skills and trade training to adults. More info. can be found at www.faibien.org. FaiBien was featured by local News Channel 8: http://www.news8.net/news/stories/0110/698774.html.

**CODR is DC-based non-profit supporting higher education for rural students in the Dominican Republic, showing support for their neighbors on the island of Hispanola!

21 and over w/ID.

Tickets available here.

Please come and show your support for the ongoing relief efforts in Haiti.

L'Union Fait la Force

A few pictures from last Friday. A jam-packed Josephine paying tribute to those who lost their lives and those still suffering from the effects of the January 12 earthquake in Haiti. Early in the evening, a gentleman from the Haitian embassy in DC spoke a few words about the situation in Haiti, how 92% of government buildings in Port-Au-Prince had been destroyed and the country was in dire need of technical personnel. He urged those willing to help to consider flying down to Haiti on the government's expense to work on the rebuilding of the country. More info on the Greater Washington area Haiti relief efforts is on the GWHRC webpage.

Thanks to Sarah, Emmanuel, and Jad from the World Bank, Jorge from the Interamerican Development Bank, and all those who contributed to getting such a large number of people to show up and show their support.

Choosing the right music to play at fundraising event of this type is a touchy subject, but we decided that it would not be irreverent to play some joyful konpa, rap kreyol and kanaval tunes from Haiti among our usual fare. Some timely tracks we played out included Capleton's "Haitians" [uzershare], Twista's "911 (A Freestyle for Haiti)" [uzershare], and Lil' Flip's "Feel It N Da Air (Tribute to Haiti)" [mediafyre], plus some amazing Kanaval 2010 tunes from T-Micky, Mawon, King Posse, Project Boyz, BC, Vwadezil, Surette, Carimi, Tempo, Ti Kabzy, Krezi, Passion Kompa, etc. that may sadly never be performed they way they were intended...