Holiday Benefit Shows

Two locally-based organizations, the Washington Area Music Association (WAMA) and Hungry for Music, are each putting on a series of benefit concerts throughout the Washington Metro Area over the course of the holiday season.

The WAMA Crosstown Jam for Flood Relief concert series will help victims of Hurricane Katrina, focusing on musicians most hurt by the disaster. The funds raised will go to the Tipitina's Foundation and the New Orleans Habitat for Humanity, who plan to build a musician's village. The concerts will be held at IOTA Club and Cafe in Arlington, VA and Jammin' Java in Vienna, VA on Tuesday, December 27 and Chick Hall's Surf Club in Bladensburg, MD on Wednesday, December 28. More details, including the artist line-up for each show, are available online at www.wamadc.com.

Hungry For Music's Holiday Benefit Concerts will raise money for the organization's ongoing effort to "provide musical instruments to individuals, schools, and community music programs who cannot afford them." The series began this past week with a show at IOTA Club and Cafe and continues with shows taking place on Saturday, December 17 at Potter's House in Northwest Washington; Sunday, December 18 at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington in Rockville, MD; and Thursday, December 22 and Wednesday, December 28 at the Mansion at Strathmore in Bethesda, MD. For a full list of artists and more details on all these shows, see the Benefits section of HungryForMusic.com.