More than music
Red Carpet to hold food drive for homelessBy DAN FELDNER, Staff Writer dfeldner@minotdailynews.com
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The three operators of a local music venue are going to help fight hunger and homelessness in the Magic City one song at a time.
The Red Carpet, 16 S. Main St., will have an open house and food drive Sunday to benefit the Minot Area Homeless Coalition.
Dan Hansen, James Hanson and Jeff Goody are the new operators of The Red Carpet, which had been closed the past year before they recently reopened it. The open house will start at 4 p.m. with an introduction as to what they are trying to accomplish, with music starting at 5 p.m. featuring acoustic performers Mike Power, Carly Anne and Joshua Gagne. The show will run until 8 p.m.
"It's gonna be mostly acoustic, nothing too loud," said Hansen, who is also the founder of Red Beard Productions. It's "just to give the people a little sample of what we're all about," he said.
Hansen said the concert will be free to attend, with any free-will donations people wish to make going to the homeless coalition. Music fans are also asked to bring any canned goods they can spare, which will also go to the homeless coalition. Besides free music, Hansen said free food will be available to concert-goers.
"All ages are welcome," Hansen said. "One of the misconceptions is we only want kids, but we want the parents of these kids to come out and check it out and see that it's a good, clean environment for their kids to go to."
He noted that the open house, like all the shows at The Red Carpet, is completely drug and alcohol free.
Hansen, who is also involved in other charitable work such as the annual Rock the Leaves concert, has ties to the homeless coalition and realized the reopening of The Red Carpet was the perfect opportunity to give some help to those who need it most.
"I'm involved with the Minot Area Homeless Coalition and I was talking to Mac (Louis McLeod, executive director of the homeless coalition), who's in charge over there, and he said that the things they needed most are just food and money," Hansen said. "So I thought, let's just have a little food drive here and try to get some food collected for the holidays, because the holidays, Christmas and Thanksgiving and all that, usually that's when they're in the most need."
He noted they will be working with the homeless coalition again Jan. 9 at 6 p.m. for another benefit concert, Beardstock, and will also team up with another music venue in town, Pangea House, in the coming year.
"First, we're about the music, we're all about the music," Hansen said. "But at the same (time), we're all about helping out the community as well."
The original idea to reopen The Red Carpet was James Hanson's. Hansen said they had been doing shows at a local hotel when they learned The Red Carpet was available. Some maintenance issues with the location had been resolved, and after talking with the landlord, the three decided to reopen the venue.
"It's a music venue that local bands can perform in and out-of-town bands as well," Hansen said. "(It's) just a place for people that are young and old that they can come to and relax and get away from everyday life and just listen to some good music."
Another show will be held the day before the food drive on Saturday at 6 p.m. Featured acts will include Vendetta Spoken, Mynd's Eye, I Apparatus and Ghosts of Fairfax. The cost for that event is $5.
Any bands interested in playing at The Red Carpet can go to the Web site (www.minotredcarpet.com) or send an e-mail to minotredcarpet@gmail.com.
"We just want to emphasize the fact that this is a place for people to just express themselves musically, whether it's them performing or it's them watching," Hansen said.
While the newly reopened venue is only a few weeks old, they are already looking at improving it. Hansen said they are considering adding some video game stations in the future, along with food and drink vending. Having some open mic nights for people to come out and show off their talent might also be in the cards.
While they are definitely all about the music, they are just as deeply concerned with helping out their community. At a time of year when budgets are undoubtedly stretched thin in a poor economy, a can of soup or a few dollars is a small sacrifice to make considering all the help those donations will add up to for some of Minot's neediest residents.
"I think soups and vegetables are probably the best things you can bring. Whatever you can bring, bring out those canned goods," Hansen said. "And whatever you can give as far as money goes is good because, like I said, the Christmas season is when the homeless are in most need."
