Rock For Hunger Fest 3 Thoughts

I am tired. Almost 18 hours at the Plaza yesterday and 25 bands, 30 vendors, 10 big sponsors, hundreds of t-shirts, raffles, auctions, drama, running around and one hell of a good time, it's all over.

While the show might be, Rock For Hunger's work is not. This show was another demonstration that the youth, Gen-Y, care about issues that have a direct impact on their life. I saw it in their faces, in their excitement and in conversations. They care.

I'll get into that some more later in the week, but for now, here's some highlights from my day:

• Michele Wright is an awesome person, personality and co-host. Last year I was a one-man show host running around with way too much on my plate. Being able to trust her to jump in and do the job that she did was amazing. I'll post a link here to all the interviews and photos she grabbed including one with Chris, Michele, Kardinal Offishall and myself.
• The future of Orlando music is its indie singer songwriter scene and true musicians. Not so surprisingly, the Whole Foods Stage (ironically the smallest stage in the atrium and completely acoustic) was the place to be all day. From Kaleigh Baker to Peter Baldwin to Chris Burns to Emily Sessoms to Ranyai to, well, myself. Everyone on the stage had the place in a frenzy. Maybe it was the passion, maybe it was that the other stages were too loud or maybe the energy and talent was just too powerful to ignore. Anyway you look at it, the kids on this stage have a very bright future.
• Talk 4 Hunger is a success. The 1st issue of Talk 4 Hunger, our new monthly newspaper program to give the homeless jobs and create a steady income for Rock For Hunger debuted at the Festival, doubling as the official program. I will post an online version as soon as I get my hands on the files (cough, Logan) and you can see some inspiration articles from Logan, Chris, Ben and myself as well as learning about the bands and the festival.
• People care about where their money is going. Knowing that every dollar feeds 4 people is powerful. Now you know, so please contribute accordingly.
• Raffles with 3 stages is difficult. After calling 10 tickets and no peeps from the crowd I had to improvise (note: to the lady I pissed off, the money is feeding the homeless, not me or my bar tab!)
• Stage managers are live-savers. Thanks to Adam Purdy, Logan Lenz and Dustin Owens for keeping the egomaniacs in check.
• Lisa and Ana ran the merch like pros! Thanks girls.
• Chris needs to sleep for a week. You might say I am a work-a-holic, but you sir are just crazy. Thanks for all your hard work and dedication. It's taking longer than we want it to but everyday we are rocking for hunger!
• I have that fire to get back on the mic. It's itching, we'll see how life lets me react to it.

That's it for now. If you have pics or videos, please, please throw them up on Rock For Hunger's new site or email them to me. Now is the time to get involved, not tomorrow or next week. Make a difference today.

Greg Rollett