HeadCount 10th Anniversary Benefit Show with Bob Weir & RatDog

Article Contributed by HeadCount | Published on Monday, April 14, 2014

Bob Weir and RatDog will join a slew of guest musicians at the HeadCount 10th Anniversary Benefit Concert at the Brooklyn Bowl in Brooklyn, NY on June 4th. The event will also be the official Kickoff Party for Mountain Jam, a festival that begins the next day at Hunter Mountain in upstate New York and runs through the weekend.

HeadCount founder Marc Brownstein of The Disco Biscuits, Brendan Bayliss of Umphrey’s McGee, Eric Krasno of Soulive and Lettuce, and Lettuce horn players Ryan Zoidis and Eric Bloom will all make appearances, with more special guests to be announced.

Qello, the world’s leading on-demand streaming service for full-length HD concert films and music documentaries, will be the exclusive presenting sponsor of the event, with Grain Audio, iCitizen, Mashable, Apple and Eve and Ticketfly also serving as sponsors.

Tickets go on sale to the public on Tuesday April 22nd at noon at BrooklynBowl.com. An exclusive pre-sale for Mountain Jam ticketholders and friends of official event hosts begins today. More information can be found at www.HeadCount.org/benefit.

“It’s going to be big fun,” said Weir, one of HeadCount’s founding board members. “It’s always great to collaborate with other musicians, and HeadCount’s tenth anniversary is a true reason to celebrate.”

Less than 24 hours after the concert, the tenth annual Mountain Jam will begin at Hunter Mountain. Weir and Ratdog will appear on Friday, June 6th, and Umphrey’s McGee will perform Thursday the 5th. Other performers include The Allman Brothers Band, Gov’t Mule, Pretty Lights, The Avett Brothers and The Tedeschi Trucks Band. The full lineup and ticket information can be found at www.MountainJam.com.

HeadCount’s mission is to promote participation in democracy through the power of music. The organization has registered over 300,000 voters since its inception, working with artists such as Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews Band, Wilco and Jay-Z. In 2012 HeadCount registered more voters than any organization with a budget of less than $1 million, and helped create “National Voter Registration Day,” the largest one-day voter registration drive ever.

“When we started HeadCount, we had big dreams,” said Brownstein. “But to be totally honest, we didn’t know if it would last more than a year, much less ten. So this feels like an incredible accomplishment.”

Qello previously partnered with HeadCount at the Lockn’ Festival, co-presenting the “Participation Row” non-profit village. Richard Johnson, Qello's Co-founder says, “We’re excited to join HeadCount in celebrating its 10th anniversary and proud to be associated with an organization that has music and empowerment at its core."

Brooklyn Bowl has hosted several HeadCount events in the past, including benefit concerts with the Radiators and The Disco Biscuits. “HeadCount has been part of the Brooklyn Bowl family since the day we opened our doors,” said venue founder Peter Shapiro, also a HeadCount board member and one of the official hosts of the event.  “So it’s fitting that the 10th Anniversary show is here.”