Mike Mills: a Friend to Musicians

Mike Mills of R.E.M. is just plain awesome. Not only does he play bass and sing backup for one of the longest-running and influential "alternative" rock bands in America, he's also a dedicated supporter of musician causes.

Currently, Mike is hard at work putting the final touches on R.E.M.'s 14th(!) studio album, but being the generous fellow he is, he's made time to come to Washington, D.C. for tomorrow's benefit house party for Al "Carnival Time" Johnson and Sweet Home New Orleans.

There are a limited number of tickets available to this private event -- only ten at last count! For info on how you could attend, e-mail hopeforhome@futureofmusic.org. If you can't make it, please consider making a donation.

We've been blogging about the shindig all week; read the previous entries here, here and here.

Pitchfork also ran a couple of news items about the party.

We at FMC are thrilled to have Mike Mills on board for this worthy event. And it's certainly not out of character. Last November, Mike played a concert at legendary Big Easy venue Tipitina's to benefit Arabi Wrecking Krewe and the New Orleans Musicians' Clinic. "Future of Music Coalition presents: Musicians Bringing Musicians Home" also featured Sleater-Kinney's Corin Tucker, Tom Morello, the Coup's Boots Riley, Steve Earle, Jackson Browne, and Allison Moorer.

In October of last year, Mike testified before the FCC in Los Angeles at a hearing on media ownership held at UCLA. He talked about the harm consolidation has done to radio, speaking eloquently about the importance of localism and diversity on the dial.

We applaud Mike's ongoing commitment to bettering the lives of his fellow musicians and look forward to hearing him perform with Al Johnson at Saturday's party. See you there?