(GRANT) Contra Costa County Director of Grants Marcy Orendorff announces receipt of a $4000.00 grant from the Lowell Berry Foundation.
Lowell Berry Foundation
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Delta Blues Festival - U-Tube
Recent: ABC News
Diablo News about Graduation
See Barbara Gorin at Delta Blues Festival
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Article from the Contra Costa Times - photo by: Jose Carlos Fajardo
A GIFT - WITH STRINGS ATTACHED
Joey Van Gerrvink, 12 of Concord, practices on his guitar. He is one of 12 children from the Contra Costa Interfaith Center in Concord given a new acoustic guitar from Guitars not Guns, a non profit group.
Guitars provided by the Gibson Foundation and the Guitars not Guns Music Program |
This is the look of our students when they were told the guitars now belong to them..!
One of the pleasures I enjoy is making the kids graduation very special. Recently, at our last graduation, our classes were held at the Contra Costa County Interfaith Housing Center. We had 12 students at a homeless shelter in Pleasant Hill, CA. I was able to have pizza donated from California Pizza Kitchen, and had an amazing “kid band” perform for our GNG kids! The kid band included 2 guitar players, a bass player, a drummer and a lead singer, all ages 12 and under! The boys played Nirvana, Hendrix and Green Day. It was so cute! I was also able to arrange to have the Newspapers come out and capture the moment. The photos in the paper captured the children’s faces when I announced they got to keep the guitars! The director of the shelter said it was the most awesome event they have ever held there!
Our mission is to give these children something to put their energies in a positive direction, and with your support you can help make that possible. What better way to do this, than through music!
Thank you to our Sponsors that help make this evening a special one - Gibson, Hot Picks, MONO Cases, Dean Markley, Dunlop, Steve Clayton, Inc., Hal Leonard, California Pizza Kitchen, XOX Audio Tools, Stage Ninja, D'Addario and Company, Ernie Ball, LaBella Strings, Daisy Rock, Budda Amps - all our future sponsors!
Barbara Gorin
VP Fundraising, Contra Costa County Chapter
Guitars Not Guns
www.guitarsnotguns.org
www.myspace.com/guitarsnotgunsca
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Classroom at the Boy's & Girls Club in Martinez, CA |
Our teachers are volunteers. |
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NEW>>>.Barbara Gorin in the news (click here )
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Bay Area Rock Scene... Check it out... Click here
Frank Darling update: Grant Writer for California
I am pleased to announce that Kimberly Janson has agreed to head up grant writing for Contra Costa County. Kim is a recent graduate of the Santa Clara Law School and a graduate of UC Davis.
Kim’s interest and experience in helping underprivileged children places her in a good position to head up our grant writing endeavors.
Her position as Director, Grant Writing, Contra Costa County, will be to both identify and write grants that can apply to Guitars not Guns in this area. As time goes on, we will evaluate the opportunity to do this on either a state-wide or even a regional basis, such as the Western part of the U.S.
I am confident that she will be able to attract funds that will benefit our program. Please welcome Kim to our team. kimberlyjanson@gmail.com
 - - Frank and Barbara - On Television
................Wow............Check out this Video .............Wow ................
Pat Travers @ Betty’s Rock Bar–Charity Event for Guitars Not Guns – Guitars Not Guns held a fundraiser at Betty’s Rock Club. The live show featuring Rock legend Pat Travers; The Billy Martini Show (theatrical ROCK Show) & Gator Alley (Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute) Betty's Rock Bar. 1251 Arroyo Way Walnut Creek, California 94596
 Randy & Bruce Radio 92.1
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Saturday Sept. 19, 2009 Guitars not Guns will be at the, - 
Meet Barbara Gorin and find out more about our music program.
Check out our new
myspace page for
Contra Costa County. Join as a
friend!
WOW, What a SHOW!
Bay Area Rock Fest
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Note from
Barbara Gorin – Vice President, Fundraising
- Contra Costa County Chapter of Guitars Not
Guns:
Recap:
The Independent - San
Francisco, California
Last
weekend's
Bay Area Rock Fest was simply amazing! Friday night,
especially, was incredible! The bands ruled
and so did the crowd! I want to thank David
Hatchell of
Bay Area Rock Fest
for naming
Guitars Not Guns as the Official Charity of BARfest! And a VERY special thank you goes out to Ed
Platt, the bass player for
Enchant.
If it weren't for Ed connecting Guitars Not
Guns with David Hatchell, none of this would
have been possible. Eric and Bear were an
incredible support as well!
For those of you who
haven't heard how GNG got connected with Bay
Area Rock Fest, back in February David
mentioned to Ed he would like to have a
charity involved with his rock show.
Without hesitation, Ed immediately told him
about Guitars Not Guns.
When Ed mentioned to me that David Hatchell
wanted Guitars Not Guns as the official
charity, I was ecstatic!! My first thought
was how great it will be to bring awareness
of our cause with the help of BARfest!
I met Ed last summer
at
Red House Studios' in Walnut Creek, where Ed is the bass
instructor, and hosts several of the jam
sessions. Ed's dedication and commitment to
our cause has been a shining light for our
Contra Costa County
Chapter of
GNG. I was very lucky to meet Ed! THANK
YOU ED!! We look forward to doing more
fundraisers in the near future!
I also want to thank
Bruce Johnson for all of the help he gave us
at BARfest! I could not have done
this without his help! Bruce is a volunteer
guitar instructor with our
Contra Costa County
Chapter of
GNG. His energy, dedication and support was
just incredible!
Friday night Enchant
put on a powerful set of their awesome
originals! It was pure perfection, and they
are all truly amazing musicians!
Friday Night's line-up
included:
TIMELINE
from the San Francisco Bay Area;
MOB RULES
from
Germany,
BALANCE OF POWER
from the UK,
ENCHANT from San Francisco
Bay Area and
SPOCKS BEARD from Los Angeles,
California.
On SATURDAY MAY 5th
the line up included:
ODINS COURT
from my home State Maryland;
EYEFEAR
from
Melbourne, Victoria Australia,
ZERO HOUR from the San
Francisco Bay Area;
CRIMSON GLORY from
SARASOTA, Florida and
JON OLIVA'S PAIN from
Clearwater, Florida
– not to mention
special guests who included
DC Cooper, the
current
Silent Force
lead singer and former Royal Hunt frontman
and
Metal Church
frontman,
Ronny Monroe.
DC Cooper helped calm
my nerves on stage, and we also joked a
bit! He is a very funny guy, and had the
ability to make me feel comfortable on
stage. Thank you DC!
The highlight was
Saturday night, was when the autographed
guitar that was donated by
Gibson was raffled! Since that guitar was my
responsibility, I made sure that every
artist who performed at BARfest autographed
that guitar! Some people joked with me that
"no one will know the difference…" and my
comment was, "well, I will know!" I'm 99.9%
positive I was able to get all the artists
to autograph it. I even chased down
Ronny Munroe
after his guest appearance with
JON OLIVA'S PAIN ,
and asked him to sign it.
The winner of the
autographed Epiphone Les Paul was Wendy
Simmons of Washington. What was amazing, is
that Wendy is the President and CEO of a
non-profit program called
Rock School,
which is
operated out of Kirkland, Washington. Their
purpose is to provide a positive environment
for creativity and artistic musical
expression to kids.
Wendy and I chatted a
bit on Friday night after she bought her
(winning) raffle ticket, and she was telling
me about her program. Their website is:
rock-school.org.
Kids and Music! The
same message Guitars not Guns sends!
CONGRATULATIONS WENDY!!
 - - And for all the guys
from the good ole South who teased me about
Guns not Guitars, (haha!!) – I want to
reiterate that GNG is not anti guns,
we are anti gun violence, especially in
schools. Our hearts go out to out the
students and family of the Virginia Tech
tragedy. I personally have family who
recently graduated from Virginia Tech,
so this especially hit home to me! Let's
continue to bring awareness to our cause,
and put a guitar in a kids hand instead of a
gun! Everyone knows how healing music can
be!
You can continue to
support our cause by sending donations to
our Contra Costa County Chapter of Guitars
Not Guns. We also accept
PayPal.
Send your
PayPal donations to:
fndarling@aol.com.
All check and money orders can also be sent
by US mail to our California Chapter
President Frank Darling, 4 Avis Court,
Orinda, CA 94563.
And last, I want to
thank all of our sponsors:
Bay Area Rock
Fest, The Independent,
Gibson Guitar,
Guitar
Center,
Dean Markley,
Jim Dunlop,
107.7 The
Bone, Comcast, Markstein Sales Company,
TIMELINE,
MOB RULES,
BALANCE OF POWER,
SPOCKS BEARD ,
ODINS COURT
,
EYEFEAR,
ZERO HOUR,
CRIMSON GLORY ,
JON OLIVA'S PAIN DC
Cooper, and,
Ronny Monroe.
I hope I didn't leave anyone out!
We
look forward to Bay Area Rock Fest 2009!!! |
Thank you for your support !! Barbara
Gorin pictured with
ROGER GLOMB,
CHARLIE HINTON and BROOKS LUNDY of The Inflatables
| Friday,
April 20th, 7pm at
Red House Studios in
Walnut Creek - An acoustic evening featuring
Brooks Lundy, (front man for the Police tribute
band Stung
and guitar player/singer for the
Inflatables), will join Mark Clearwater,
Joan Faber, and Marke Burgstahler among others.
Tickets for the concert are available at the
door for $10.00. Please call (925) 785-8342 for
more info.
Guitar Not Guns
will be offering Beer & Wine at this event. All
proceeds from beer & wine sales will benefit
Guitar Not Guns.
The beer was generously donated by the Markstein
Co. |
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Raja Singh, Randall Davis, Frank Darling, Bill Spooner,Brian Burns ........ Partying at the Red House |
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Christine, Barbara, Vicky & Jennifer rockin at the Red House. |
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The Darling's, (Left) and The Davis's on the (right) |
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The Delta Jazz Society invites you to dinner and jazz at the Pittsburg Yacht Club (more)
Guitars Not Guns –
Memorable Past EVENTS
AN EVENING OF PROGRESSIVE ROCK AND METAL WITH featuring Enchant with Redemption, Zero Hour and Timeline. - Check this out on you tube
Bay Area Rock Promotions has announced Guitars Not Guns as the official charity on March 24, 2007 at the Avalon in Santa Clara California, featuring Enchant with Redemption, Zero Hour and Timeline. For tickets to this show, at $25.00, visit http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/10068. Also check out BAR Forum at http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/bar-fest/288097-official-charity-bay-area-rock-fest.html
Guitars Not Guns is also partnering with Red House Studios of Walnut Creek for three live shows featuring local musicians March 16, 23, and 30th. There will be charity wine and beer sales sponsored by Marstein Sales Company. Tickets $10.00 available at the door. To learn more about this awesome organization please visit their our website at www.guitarsnotguns.org.
For more information on these upcoming shows, you may also contact Barbara Gorin at 925-785-8342 or email at meliketorock@aol.com.
For those of you who were not able to come to the last Fundraiser for Guitars Not Guns at Red House Studios, now is another chance! It was a blast, and we are doing it again ~ three Friday's in March! This time, we have the addition of beer! Don't miss the Guitars Not Guns charity WINE and BEER SALE! All proceeds benefit the Guitars Not Guns Music Program for kids. For more information about this awesome charity, please visit their website at guitarsnotguns.org. By the way, if you look under 40, be prepared to show ID! ;-) On March 16th, 2007, Red House Studios will present a Songwriter's Cafe Acoustic Show featuring John Brownfield, Steve Calapp and others. On March 23rd, the Blues Band INCONSOULABLE (Dan O'Donnell, Jack Sugrue, Lee Hamilton, Jeff Gruwell and others...) On March 30th, the bands T2, Catie Chase & the Get Aways. In addition, you can purchase our benefit CD produced by Red House Studios in Walnut Creek for only $10.00, featuring 12 bay area musicians. For every ten CD's we sell, one deserving child will be provided a guitar and 8 weeks of lessons! You can help make a difference in these children's lives! Hope to see you there! Date: Friday Nights: March 16, 23 and 30th, 2007 Time: 7:30-10:00 pm Location: Red House Studios 1667 Botelho Drive Walnut Creek, CA 94596 Members: Free Non-Members: $10. Barbara Gorin - 510.337.1001 -meliketorock@aol.com
The Fund Raising Event on January 5, 2007 at Red House Studios <http://redhouselive.com/> in Walnut Creek, CA was a success! We enjoyed good music and great wine! Thank you Bill Spooner <http://billspooner.com/> for hosting the songwriter's café, and Raja Singh of Red House for helping us make this event a success!
Barbara Gorin, VP Fundraising
GUITARS NOT GUNS OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY PARTNERS WITH MUSIC PROGRAM FOR IMMIGRANT YOUTH
In January 2007, Guitars Not Guns joined forces with the Music Sanctuary Project (MSP), a program that provides guitar and keyboard lessons to youth detained by Homeland Security and housed at a facility in Contra Costa County, CA. The Music Sanctuary Project began in August of 2006 and became a project of Guitars Not Guns in January to leverage the similarities in goals to serve children in music.
The students of the Music Sanctuary Project are primarily teenagers who came to this country unaccompanied by their parents. Many of the youth are fleeing violence and abuse in their home countries or are victims of elaborate human trafficking schemes. The youth sometimes stay at the facility for over a year while they go through removal proceedings or apply for asylum or other forms of relief. MSP provides weekly music lessons to the youth while they are in the facility, and also gives free instruments to youth who leave the facility to live with relatives or in foster homes in the San Francisco Bay Area. When possible, MSP links youth to individuals in the community who can give them free individual music lessons.
MSP lessons are currently taught in Kristen McDonald, Collin Carpenter, and Janelle Orsi. Lessons are taught in Chinese, Spanish, and English. During the first five months of lessons MSP provided lessons to 20 youth from China, India, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, and Ecuador. Four out of 12 students who left the facility during that time were given free musical instruments to take with them.
MSP started when a 17-year-old at the facility told his lawyer and social worker (from Legal Services for Children, www.lsc-sf.org) that he has always wanted to learn guitar. He fears deportation to Central America where he fled his father's severe physical and emotional abuse, pressure of gang involvement, extreme poverty, and the recent suicide of his mother. Realizing that learning to play guitar could mean a great deal for this youth, the young man’s social worker, Sarah Ewald, and a legal intern at Legal Services for Children, Janelle Orsi, fundraised and got 13 instruments donated to start a music program.
In January of 2007, MSP joined forces with Guitars Not Guns (www.guitarsnotguns.org), a national non-profit organization that provides guitars and lessons to foster children, youth at risk, and other deserving children. Guitars Not Guns provides mentoring of children by inviting professional musicians, teachers, entertainers, producers and other music related professionals to speak to the children in their music program, to make them aware of the opportunities a life in music can provide.
Guitars Not Guns and MSP are always looking for free musical instruments, money donations, and people willing to help teach guitar (inside the facility or to foster youth in the community). If you could help, please email Janelle Orsi at Janorsi@aol.com. Please send your contributions to: “Guitars Not Guns” 4 Avis Ct. Orinda, CA 94563 and note in the memo that your contribution is for the Music Sanctuary Project. Guitars Not Guns is a 501(c)3 organization and your contribution will be tax deductible.
Thank you!
Note from Barbara Gorin:
The fundraiser on November 30, 2006 in Blackhawk California for Shepard’s Gate put on by Nicole Tuckers, & Associates was a success! Donations were received for Shepherd's Gate, and we also raised funds by selling the Red House Studios Benefit CD. Singer Songwriter
Luke Franks (from the Federalists) performed. You can hear Luke’s bands song on Track number 8 of the benefit CD. Check out the Federalists websites too at http://www.myspace.com/thefederalistsrock and http://www.the-federalists.com/
Jason Moss, the 14
year old singer/song writer, also performed his originals. You can listen to Jason’s original’s at: http://www.myspace.com/jasondanielmoss.
I want to personally thank Nicole Tucker & Associates for inviting us to be part of the fundraiser, Vicky Van Brocklin for getting us the “hook up” with Nicole Tucker, 'Piattis’ Restaurant in Danville, California, for their generous donations of delicious appetizers, Stacy Passeri for the beautiful table decorations, Eric Larson of IKON Copy Service for providing us beautiful color copies of the GnG’s brochure, Ronald G. Shafer, of Shafer Construction and Development for his generous donations, Mitch House, Certified Real Estate Appraiser, for lending us a table, Pete Roberts of Southern Wine and Spirits for donating wine, Patrick David’s Restaurant for a Gift Certificate for the raffle, Frank Darling for weathering the cold, Kelly McAndrews for lending a hand at our table. In addition, Luke Franks and Jason Moss for providing us with wonderful music! I hope I didn’t leave anyone out!
With everyone’s support, we were able to make this event a success, and get recognition for our non-profit. Please look for more exciting events to come in 2007!
Sincerely,
Barbara Gorin
VP, Fundraising
meliketorock@aol.com
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GNG Teachers
at the
Boy's and Girl's Club in
Martinez California |
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photo left: - GnG President Frank Darling,
Raja Singh (the owner of Red House),
Randy Davis GnG Vice President and his wife Meredith
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Frank Darling President of GNG California along with Randy Davis Vice President and lead teacher show a copy of the new CD Music Lives Here..
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The Federalists
The Federalists are on track 8 of the benefit CD. (see below)
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For every 10 cd's sold one child will learn to play guitar. - - 12 Tracks
1-ALL HEROS - - 2- MIGGS - - 3-DEAR KEROSINE
4 - COLD HOT CRASH - - 5-FREE SOCIETY
6-NOW WE ARE SIX - - 7-RED HORIZON
8-THE FEDERALISTS - - 9-JUSTIN MCROBERTS
10-THE STILL REVIVAL - - 11-ROUTE 111
12 DAM HANSOME AND THE BIRTHDAY SUITS
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RED HOUSE LIVE TEAMS WITH GUITARS NOT GUNS
Red House Live is a new music venue in Walnut Creek, CA. It is a state of the art facility which is based upon membership for all levels of expertise. Red House has recording studios as well as a sound stage setting for jams and organized events. Since its inception, it had been received with great success.
The owner of Red House Live, Raja Singh has been in touch with Guitars Not Guns for over a year. We have been searching for ways to have some kind of a fund raising activity together. Recently, a local community event in Walnut Creek, CA. (Walnut Festival) presented an opportunity for Raja. He volunteered to organize a Saturday night rock concert with bands he knows from Red House Live. As a part of the concert, Raja had each band donate an original song to create a compilation CD made up of ten original rock songs that were performed at the concert. Raja created the CD from scratch, had the cover designed, and cut 1000 CD’s for sale at the concert and at other venues going into the future. He is donating all of the proceeds from the CD sale to Guitars Not Guns.
The GNG volunteers were at the concert along with seven students from a local high school, Miramonte, to sell at the concert and get out the GNG word. Randy Davis, VP of GNG, made several announcements during the concert as did Raja Singh. All of the announcements promoted GNG and the CD. CD's are $10 ea. Pick up a copy of the CD at
Red House Studios, Inc. 1667 Botelho Drive Walnut Creek, CA 94596 -
(925) 938-6900
Guitars Not Guns thanks Raja Singh and Red House Live for believing and assisting in our cause.
Frank Darling President - Visit Redhouse
Graduation and expansion in Contra Costa.
The Contra Costa County, California chapter of Guitars Not Guns graduated another level 1 class comprised of foster kids and at-risk youth thanks to the efforts of Frank Darling, Randall Davis, David Cronin, Jamie Cronin, Phil Haun and Dylan Serota. The classes have become popular with prior graduates. GNG promotes the idea that its graduates continue in the program, eventually to become assistant instructors and instructors. According to Randall Davis, "[i]t is a 'win-win-win' situation. The grads come back. They learn more about playing guitar and ultimately, they learn more about themselves, more about learning, and life lessons in cooperation, compromise, hard work, dedication, success. pride and the 'golden rule.'. First time students have mentors that are their own age with their same interests and problems. The grads learn to be leaders. They also free the instructors to help those who have a more difficult time with the lessons and techniques."
The program has been so successful in Contra Costa County that plans are now underway to expand the areas serviced by the GNG chapter. Chapter President Frank Darling envisions within a year three separate divisions of the Chapter, based on geography:- East County (Antioch, Pittsburg, Oakley; etc.), West County (Richmond, Hercules, Pinole; Crockett, etc.); and Central County (Martinez, Concord, Pacheco, Pleasant Hill, Walnut Creek, etc.). Special thanks to Brenda Sutherland at Contra Costa County Family Services and the Martinez Boys and Girls Club, whose efforts and facilities have allowed our program to blossom.
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We are looking for volunteer teachers for our new music program in Contra Costa County. Must be able to pass a background check. If you know a few chords you can help teach our beginners please volunteer now. Help us make this music program available to all the underpriveleged kids in Contra Costa County. An alternative to violence.
 FNDARLING@aol.com
I am very pleased to announce the promotion of Bruce Johnson to Vice President, Special Projects, Contra Costa Chapter of Guitars not Guns.
Bruce joined us about three years ago and has given a lot of his time to teaching, organizing classes, and leading the classes. On top of that, Bruce has been instrumental in assisting in our fund raising efforts by placing our 'autographed' series of guitars on EBay for auctioning.
Bruce is there for us when we need him and the Contra Costa Board felt it was time to recognize his contributions. He will continue to be a part of our core leadership group here in Contra Costa:
Frank Darling, President
Randall Davis, Vice President, Recruiting and Lead Guitar Teacher
Barbara Gorin, Vice President, Fund Raising
The functions that Randall, Barbara, and Bruce head up are the key moving pieces of our Contra Costa organization. We continue to strive to conduct at least one class in the three distinct parts of our county at all times and just recently achieved this by completing our first class in Richmond. We have a strong but small group of teachers in Richmond who now will keep these classes going.
Frank Darling, President
Guitars not Guns, Contra Costa County
Guitars not Guns, California
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