(3-6PM) - Benefit show - Felsen, Rockinghorse, The Goldenhearts March 27, 2011

A day of music, education and silent auction benefitting FRIENDS UNITED FOR RABBIT RESCUE

Funds raised will help to rescue rabbits from local shelters, and and provide spay/neuter surgeries and medical care.

featuring live performances by:

FELSEN
ROCKINGHORSE
THE GOLDENHEARTS (acoustic)

21+
3-6PM
ADMISSION: $10
http://furrescue.org

Admission: $10
Ages 21+ only

Bay Area bands the Goldenhearts (acoustic), Felsen, and Rockinghorse will perform to raise funds and awareness for local rabbit rescue group Friends United for Rabbit Rescue (FURRescue) at Bands for Bunnies on March 27, 2011 from 3pm–6pm at Armando’s in Martinez. The event will also feature a silent auction, including items such as autographed music memorabilia, and products and services donated by loc...al businesses.

Bands for Bunnies promises to be an incredible showcase of original musical talent. Roger Rocha of the Goldenhearts will open the show with an acoustic set, accompanied by Ari Gorman on cello. With an ear for the romantic and the dramatic, guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Rocha, a veteran of 4 Non Blondes and El Destructo, brings a special experience best described as psychedelic chamber-pop, with music that both rocks and lulls. The Goldenhearts recently released a new album “Is There Love on Mars?”

Felsen’s melodic pop sound envelops the audience with rootsy, richly instrumented songs evoking classic Flaming Lips, Wilco, and the Beatles. Founding member Andrew Griffin has toured and recorded with such artists as CAKE, Camper Van Beethoven, and Jonathan Richman, and co-founded the famed East Bay Wrecking Crew. In fall of 2010, Felsen released a 6-song EP called “Felsen Loves You” through 9th Street Opus Records, and are currently working on a full-length album to be released later this year.

Rockinghorse’s unique sound is anchored by a lush blend of vocal harmonies and jangly double rhythm guitars in the indie rock/power-pop traditions, drawing comparisons to X, The Replacements, and The Byrds. The band originally formed after the serendipitous meeting of James Swinson and Tania Fardella at an open mic at the Starry Plough in Berkeley in 1997. They are currently working on new material for their upcoming release, “Dirt & Glitter.”

Friends United for Rabbit Rescue, founded by longtime rabbit advocate Suzi Hibbard, will be using Bands for Bunnies funds towards adoption fees to rescue rabbits from local shelters, and to pay for spay, neuter, and other medical costs. “Recently, we worked with Contra Costa Animal Control to manage a hoarding situation, from which we took over 125 rabbits who would have otherwise been taken to the shelter and euthanized,” said Hibbard.

She has been successfully working with the Animal Services staff in Martinez to make life better for many rabbits, including creating a rabbit room, coordinating adoptions, increasing adoption fees, ensuring all rabbits are spayed and neutered prior to adoption, taking rabbits for therapy purposes to juvenile hall, therapy groups and nursing homes, and elevating the overall status of rabbits within the shelter.

Rabbits are the third most popular pets after dogs and cats, and also the third most euthanized according to the Humane Society of the United States. Most rabbits surrendered to shelters come as a result of parents bringing a rabbit home as a "starter pet" for a child without knowing the realities of caring for the animal, a practice particularly prevalent at Easter time.

Websites:
FURRescue: www.furrescue.org
The Goldenhearts: www.thegoldenhearts.com
Felsen: www.felsenlovesyou.com
Rockinghorse: www.reverbnation.com/rockinghorseband