Browne, Dead Play for Seva

In 1978, hippie-activist Wavy Gravy launched the Seva Foundation, a charity that helps eradicate blindness and provide eye care for people in Nepal. Twenty-five years later, several of Gravy's musical friends are gathering to raise money and celebrate the organization's tenure.

The festivities will take place on December 13th at the Berkeley Community Theater in Berkeley, California.

"Seva is Sanskrit for service," says Jackson Browne, who will perform along with the Dead and Steve Earle. "Major religions have this idea of being of service to humanity -- and what could be more fundamental than to help somebody who's blind be able to see."

Seva has also started community-development programs in Guatemala and the Mexican state of Chiapas, as well as diabetes-prevention efforts in American-Indian communities.

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Song Stories

“Help Me”

Joni Mitchell | 1974

Joni Mitchell wrote and recorded this song for her album Court and Spark, but she had to switch from her regular band to make the song sound exactly the way she wanted. "I had attempted to play my music with rock & roll players," she told Rolling Stone. "They’d laugh, 'Awww, isn't that cute? She's trying to teach us how to play.'" Mitchell switched to a jazz band, Tom Scott’s L.A. Express, and scored the biggest hit of her career in the process.

More Song Stories entries »

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