SAFE & Sound: DC Musicians Raise Awareness and Support for Local Domestic Violence Agency

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Washington, DC (PRWEB) October 1, 2008 -- On Thursday, October 9, 2008, Survivors and Advocates for Empowerment (SAFE), Inc., invites you to join our staff, volunteers, and friends at The Rock and Roll Hotel for SAFE & Sound, a benefit concert featuring the music of Laura Burhenn (formerly of Georgie James), Olivia & The Housemates, Lode Runner, and The Spiritual Machine (formerly KOKO). These incredibly talented local musicians are generously donating their time to perform at this event, so that all proceeds go to support SAFE's critical work of supporting domestic violence victims in the Washington, DC community. Tickets for SAFE & Sound are $10, and can be purchased at the door or in advance through The Rock and Roll Hotel website.

SAFE is a nonprofit organization that provides services to domestic violence survivors in the DC metro area who are dealing with the courts or the police to obtain protection from abuse. SAFE provided court-based services through 5,737 client contacts in 2007 through their work out of DC Superior Court's two Domestic Violence Intake Centers, and also provided after-hours crisis support to 647 survivors who contacted the Metropolitan Police Department for assistance.

Domestic violence rates in Washington, DC are shockingly high for such a small jurisdiction. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) received 31,304 domestic-related crime calls in 2007--one every 17 minutes--an increase of 7.3% from 29,179 calls in 2007. In the same year, 4,811 clients visited DC's two Domestic Violence Intake Centers (DVICs)--an average of 19 clients each day. This number shows an increase of 2.4% from 4,696 clients in 2006. And perhaps most shocking of all, domestic/family violence homicides, not including child abuse, accounted for 6% of all murders in the District of Columbia (14% of all female murders and 3% of all male murders) from 2002 to 2004, in cases where homicide motives can be established.

These figures make it clear that there is so much more work to be done to ensure that everyone in our community has the support and resources they need to live a life free of fear and violence. Your support can help make this happen.

And it all starts with one concert.

About Survivors and Advocates for Empowerment (SAFE), Inc.

Founded in 1997 as a program of the DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence, SAFE separated from the Coalition and incorporated as an independent organization in October 2006. SAFE serves over 6,000 survivors of domestic violence each year and provides a 24-hour continuum of court- and police-based services through its two direct service programs. More information about SAFE is available at http://www.dcsafe.org.

About the bands

Laura Burhenn is formerly one half of the band Georgie James, begun in 2005 with John Davis, drummer from the defunct DC trio Q And Not U. In January of 2007, Laura released their first single ("Need Your Needs") on her pet label, Laboratory Records. The duo released their debut LP, "Places," on Saddle Creek Records in September of 2007. The pair recently separated to focus on their solo careers. Laura has achieved great renown within the local and national musical scene for her lyrical, lilting, yet commanding singing voice and her enchanting piano accompaniment. For more information, visit http://lauraburhenn.com.

Olivia & The Housemates came together in the spring of 2005 when a group of friends--Edward Donohue (guitar), Kristin Forbes (bass, vocals), Randy Scope (drums), and Dan Swenson (trumpet, organ, vocals)--agreed to help Olivia (vocals, guitar) put together some songs she had been working on. Naming the group was easy: most of the musicians already were housemates. Since then, this group has been making a splash with their infectious, upbeat, folk-pop-rock sound, incorporating trumpets, hand clapping, and Olivia's own earnest, sweetly soulful voice. For more information, visit http://www.oliviamancini.com.

Lode Runner is not superhuman, and does not have abilities that are far beyond those of any normal group of individuals. Wielding analogue synthesizers, striking guitar chords and syncopated electronic rhythms, they inebriate a mode of consciousness waiting to wake up from that long rest of elevator sound ringing from the city. Four individuals burn down that city and then construct monuments architected in a basement. Their live show is one to enjoy! For more information, visit http://www.myspace.com/loderunnerband.

The Spiritual Machine (formerly KOKO) has been described as "2/3 straight, 100% awesome." A guitar/synth/drums trio, the Machine whips up frenzied, sharp dance-rock peppered with elements of funk and post-punk. Their one and only goal: get the crowd moving. More information about the Spiritual Machine is available at http://www.myspace.com/thespiritualmachine.

About the venue

The Rock and Roll Hotel--not actually a hotel--is a concert hall and bar in Northeast DC's hip H Street Corridor that hosts an impressive variety of local and not-so-local artists from all ends of the music spectrum. Housed in a renovated former morgue, the Hotel features fashionably distressed mismatched furniture in its upstairs lounge area, winged guitars dangling from the ceiling, and deliciously Victorian oversized gilt mirrors lining both floors. The Hotel opened in August 2006 and quickly established itself as a favored venue of local music lovers, whether enjoying a show in the first floor stage area or lingering over cocktails in the comfortable second floor bar. For more information, visit The Rock and Roll Hotel website at http://www.rockandrollhoteldc.com.

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