International team of musicians Will Play Guitar For Food
Learn more at www.willplayguitar4food.com
By Charles Rathmann
Executive Producer

It was the first year of the new century, and I was one of hundreds of guitarists participating in Sonic Foundry's Best Guitarist on the Web contest. The contest is long over, and I didn't win any of the Ernie Ball guitars offered as prizes. But a handful of contest participants and I figured out a way each of us could win the real prize.

The contest, run at www.acidguitar.com -- now dismantled -- allowed each of us to post and review each other's music. There were a lot of hot players -- and a lot of hot tempers as competitors would flame and criticize each other mercilessly. But I noticed there were a few guys who comported themselves honorably -- and had some pretty severe chops as well. Perf DeCastro even had platinum-selling records with Sony Philippines. P. Anthony Burgess, who DID win an Ernie Ball bass, played some of the most beautiful bass solos I'd heard since Jimmy Johnson's contribution to Alan Holdsworth's Panic Station. Francisco Mestre, this rocker from France, proved to us that all that wine and cheese does not clog any arteries serving the hands or wrists.

My own playing -- honed through studies with my guitar guru, blues master Rockin' Jimmy Crimmins -- needed to find an outlet beyond the occasional gig and home recording.

About that same time, I met a couple of organizers with Heifer International -- a nongovernmental organization working to make people in the third world (and depressed areas of developed countries) self-sufficient. You can learn more about them at www.heifer.org to see why I was so impressed. But the budding relationship with these cool guitarslinging cats and the fact that I only had so much cash to give to Heifer International induced me to hit up my far-flung friends to collaborate on a benefit CD -- which you can learn more about at www.willplayguitar4food.com.

Each player contributed tunes and/or burned solos on other guys' tunes. CDRs criss-crossed the globe as we found that the Web was not the way to transmit high-quality audio. As we gained momentum, we picked up a few other musicians, like a snowball rolling downhill. Joaquin Gonzalez from acidguitar.com contributed a cool tune. Richard Young, a multi-instrumentalist and studio owner contributed a few. Scott Lerner, this jazz monster from New Jersey dropped one BRUTAL solo into Francisco's tune, Charisma. My own guitar guru Jimmy made time between paying sessions to drop some SCREAMIN' solos into a number of tunes -- and contributred a completed, previously unreleased tune. Philip Toshio Sudo, author of a book that influenced a number of us -- ZEN GUITAR -- contributed a tune from his recent CD release.

But ultimately, we will all be contributing more than music. The CD will be sold in wholesale lots of 12, and MSRP for the CD will be $15. Most of the CDs will likely be sold through retailers and on Amazon.com, which means that each CD will net at least $7.50. The purveyors of one really cool site -- CDBaby.com -- have volunteered to reduce their markup so $12 of each sale goes directly to Heifer International. The geographically disparate nature of the players will mean local retail distribution will be strong in a number of markets.

Here’s where you come in: The project would yield a margin of 100%, as CD manufacture will be paid for through charitable donations. All other expenses have been borne by the project participants or contributors. If you are going to make any charitable donation this year, let us multiply it by 7 to 12 times before we pass it onto Heifer International!

And -- once the CD is available, maybe you are in a position to buy wholesale quantities. Apart from that -- watch for news about CD release coming as soon as we raise enough dollars to stamp this baby!

Musicians involved in Will Play Guitar For Food include:
- Perfecto Arturo DeCastro, who has a platinum record with his former bands in his native Philippines. He is now studying classical guitar, producing records and gigging throughout the Pacific Rim.
- Jimmy Crimmins, former Blues Brothers sideman and respected jazz/blues session player and music educator. Jim is an endorsing artist for Gibson guitars, and information on his new album is available at www.rockinjimmy.com.
- Charles Rathmann, co-author with Crimmins of guitar instructional manuals aso brings marketing and product development experience.
- P. Anthony Burgess, bass player for the Australian pop group Page One, and winner of Sonic Foundry’s international Best Bassist on the Web contest.
- Richard Young, composer, multi-instrumentalist and owner of the leading commercial production facility in the Louisville market.
- Francisco Mestre, guitarist with the up-and coming French band, 8-Ten.
- Philip Toshio Sudo, late author of the book Zen Guitar – as well as other Zen-related books.
- Scott Lerner, a Cherry Hill, New Jersey based jazz player and endorsing artist for Baker guitars and Fuchs amplification.
- Eric Swanson, Milwaukee-based producer and arranger.
- Joaquin Gonzalez, Los Angeles-Cal.-based artist, composer and producer of commercial and artistic projects.

Charles Rathmann
Will Play GUITAR For Food
www.willplayguitar4food.com
info@willplayguitar4food.com