Live concerts streamed to children in hospital

The good folks at the Melodic Caring Project have teamed up with Kristen and Carrie Watt of Seattle Living Room Shows and Greg Roth of Seattle Music Insider to do something pretty special. They have been putting together very intimate concerts and streaming them live to the hospital rooms of children. What could be better than that?

On Friday night I was lucky enough to attend one of these shows. Seattle artists Damien Jurado (my favorite ever) and Naomi Wachira performed at The Piranha Shop in Seattle. The house was packed and cameras were fixed on the artists so that the guests of honor who were not able to be in the room could still enjoy the show.

Naomi and Damien both took plenty of time to look into the camera and address the children with inspirational messages before diving into their next song while at the same time the children were interacting by sending in chat messages and photos of themselves enjoying the show from the comfort of their bed.

At one point Damien was explaining that if this show was in his living room he would be playing in his long johns. Then In a surprising move he then took his pants off and played the rest of the show in his long johns.

“If you think about it, it’s kind of like solidarity to the kids who are watching, you know. Because it’s like they are wearing their night clothes so I should just be wearing mine” said Damien after he shed his pants.

“I am with you tonight. I am wearing my PJs while you guys wear your PJs… Let it be known that I am in solidarity with the kids in their PJs.”

You can see the video of Damien addressing the kids as well as a gorgeous performance of his song “Rachel and Cali” in the video below. For more info on the Melodic Caring Project click here and try to get out to one of their upcoming shows. It feels pretty great to be part of something like this.

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