Kate Savkovich is no Bob Geldof, but that doesn’t mean she and the Amnesty International chapter at duPont Manual High School are unaware of Third World atrocities.
On Saturday, the chapter, along with the Kentuckiana Interfaith Taskforce on Darfur, will put on JAMnesty at The Temple’s Klein Center, located at the corner of Brownsboro Road and Lime Kiln Lane.
The event is meant to raise money to help the Darfur region in western Sudan, which has been ravaged by war, rape and torture since 2003, prompting the United States to eventually use the term “genocide” to describe what’s going on there.
Savkovich, a senior, said Manual’s chapter sat down nearly a year ago and decided Darfur was the most critical issue among students. “It’s hard to know how you can take steps to stop genocide,” she said. “We were just trying to think of things we could do.”
The lineup features about 10 bands, including Cabin, John Gage, Steve Cooley and Mike Schroeder (of Hog Operation), Serpent Wisdom and the River City Drum Corps. There’s no door charge, but there is a suggested donation of $10. Those donations will be sent to the United Nations World Food Programme.
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On what “Mollena” (off his latest album, People Gonna Talk) is about: “Three minutes,” he says.
On what he hopes to gain from People: “Apart from becoming fabulously wealthy, I always wanted to make the record that I’d buy if I heard it.”
On Jason Wilson, his double-bass player, with whom Hunter has played for 18 years: “I’m thinking of giving him time off for good behavior.”
Hunter hails from England, where he honed his chops jamming in a trio in the mid-1980s. Keying in on the absurdity of “a white English bloke playing the blues,” he performed under several pseudonyms, which he’d change every few months for kicks — and for his audience.
“If they couldn’t forgive and forget, at least it would be untraceable,” Hunter quipped. “It’s not their fault; we provoked them by playing.”
People Gonna Talk is Hunter’s third album under this name — if it really is his name. It’s got the soulful, bluesy ring that’s won him a huge fan in Van Morrison. Hunter describes his songwriting as conversational.
“A good song … should flow like a conversation,” he said. “It should have a beginning, a middle and an end. People get into those.”
But seriously folks, Hunter headlines Headliners Music Hall tonight. Check out his lineup: guitar, bass, drums and two saxophones. Serena Ryder opens. Tickets for the 18-and-over show are still available at ear X-tacy and Ticket Web for $12, $14 at the door. Showtime is 9 p.m.
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