KAREN BLISS

Avril Lavigne, who has her own clothing line Abbey Dawn, has designed a charity T-shirt with heart to aid in the recovery efforts that continue as a result of the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

The shirts are black with a big red heart and simply include the brand name at the top and Japan at the bottom, which ends up reading  Abbey Dawn ♥ Japan.

100 percent of the net proceeds go to The Avril Lavigne Foundation, which will distribute it to Mercy Corps’ Comfort for Kids program in Japan, which is working alongside local partner Peace Winds.

Comfort for Kids trains caregivers to help children through the trauma of disaster. The goal is to bring help and hope to the children and youth of Japan who have been affected by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, it says in the press release issued by Sony Music on behalf of Lavigne’s Foundation.

The Abbey Dawn ♥ Japan t-shirt sells internationally on www.abbeydawn.com for $24.99.  It comes in two styles, oversized as well as crop jersey tee. All are available in five sizes, from extra small to extra large.  Anyone who purchases it will get 50 percent off their next order.

The Avril Lavigne Foundation R.O.C.K.S. Respect, Opportunity, Choices, Knowledge, and Strength in support of children and youth living with serious illnesses and disabilities. The foundation partners with leading charitable organizations to design and deliver programs, raise awareness and mobilize support for children and youth living with a serious illness or a disability.

Los Angeles electro-hip hop group Far East Movement is one of the mentors for the 4C The Power program, a national organization based in California, which provides arts training to youth by professional artists. The idea is that the students become more engaged in high school, ultimately leading to an increase in graduation rates. 

Far East Movement (a.k.a. FM) — Kev Nish, Prohgress, J-Splif and DJ Virman — is the first Asian-American group to have a top 10 pop hit in America with “Like A G6.” The song reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart and has sold more than 3 million copies. It is off FM’s 2010 album, Free Wired. The second single, “Rocketeer,” hit No. 7.

While they are frequently on tour, they have made appearances at many 4C The Power events, including a benefit for the University of California Autism Center and the Red Scarf Project, which supports children in remote areas of China suffering from life threatening heart condition. They have also conducted workshops for kids on how to create a song.

“Ever since the beginning [of Far East Movement in 2003], throughout highs and lows, the communities, the people, support us,” Prohgress told Samaritanmag when FM was in town for the MuchMusic Video Awards (MMVAs) in Toronto on June 19.  “We definitely want to give back to them, so we teamed up with a person [Diann Kitamura] who’s a superintendant in Sacramento [Calif.] and she has all these events and we go out there and support.

“We bring out a lot of our artist friends, whether they’re dancers, whether they’re photographers, movie directors, people like that and we hold little workshops for like two hours and teach the kids to write a song or something like that. And they get to express that afterwards. There’s not a lot of arts focus in American schools right now.”

Justin Bieber isn’t the only musician behind Pencils of Promise.  British singer Natalia Kills, signed by Black Eyed Peas member will.i.am, and whose album, Perfectionist, comes out August 16, is already supporting the New York-based charity which builds schools in the developing world.

“I recently opened an online eBay store where some of the proceeds go to Pencils of Promise to build schools,  so if it’s something I’ve worn before for a particular appearance, sometimes it ends up on my eBay store,” Kills tells Samaritanmag, during a recent stop in Toronto when she was on tour with Robyn.

Kills, whose real surname is Cappuccini, says she chose Pencils of Promise for a couple of reasons.

“A lot of my friends like to work two or three days a week for a few hours at least in an office for a non-profit organization,” she says. “It’s always to do with humans. I know it’s important to save animals and save the planet, but we have to start by saving human beings first and making their lives better, in my opinion, before we start on the rest of it. Basically, I have a few friends who like to do that and that’s how I found out about it.

“I think it’s actually the fastest rising non-profit that exists at the moment. They’ve built over 35 schools in less than 5 years, so they’re doing really well right now.  I don’t know anyone else [musician-wise] who supports it, but I know me and Justin Bieber do. “

Bieber started Schools 4 All with Pencils of Promise founder Adam Braun, a campaign that challenges students, parents, entire schools and communities to launch a personal fundraising page to help PoP build more schools. According to the site (www.schools4all.org), it has raised more than $143,000 to date, which equals seven new schools. The campaign ends June 30 and the person who raises the most money will receive a visit at the school of their choice from Bieber and Braun.

More than 40 artists from all over the world, including Canada’s Simple Plan, These Kids Wear Crowns and Saidah Baba Talibah, cut a charity single of Coldplay’s “Fix You” in Singapore recently to benefit the victims of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami that occurred March 11.

The recording was completed during Music Matters, May 26 and 27, the Asian music industry conference that brought the artists to Singapore to showcase. Proceeds go to the Japanese Red Cross Society and a Tokyo charity called Peace Boat.

“Japan is a very close market to us,” Music Matters president Jasper Donat, who is based in Hong Kong, told Samaritanmag. “It’s the world’s number two music market; it’s the biggest in Asia. Obviously, we had the tragedy, the tsunami and the earthquake, so we challenged our artists, and working with Universal Publishing, they very kindly donated the rights to Coldplay’s ‘Fix You’ track and we re-recorded it using all of our artists. We’re going to be releasing that in a couple of weeks time with a fairly tear-jerking video.

“It started with [Simple Plan frontman] Pierre Bouvier singing on it and finishes with an amazing Japanese guitarist called Yuto [Miyazawa]. In between, it’s just beautiful. The way it was mixed, they have a lot of Japanese instruments playing over the top.  It’s stunning.”

Produced and arranged by Joseph Curiale at Ocean Butterflies in Singapore and co-produced and mixed by Zennon Goh with associate producer Jeff Miyahara, the version also includes the rest of Simple Plan; all six members of These Kids Wear Crowns and Toronto singer Saidah Baba Talibah.

Joining the Canadians are members of America’s Evaline; UK’s Will And The People, Goober Guns and Franko; Ireland’s Sweet Jane; Taiwan’s Okubo; China’s Car Sick Cars; Taiwan’s KoOk and Silverbus; and Japan/Germany’s Pitchtuner; Singapore’s Sixx and 53A Band; Indonesia’s Polyester Embassy and Disconnected; India’s Pentagram; Australia’s Ball Park Music; plus China’s Helen Feng; Belgium’s Sunny Gottlieb, Jay-J, Katerine Agoustakis and Nelson Morais.