DEEPER BLUES RETURNS WITH FOODSTOCK FALL FESTIVAL
Every penny, every pea to benefit Danville Area Food Pantry

Danville, IL, September 23, 2008 - Thanks to the surprising success of its first Foodstock benefit, held in March of this year, Deeper Blues will present the Foodstock Fall Festival. The event will be held at Lincoln Park on Saturday, October 11th, with music starting at 10AM and continuing until 7PM. This time around, the event promises more music, more fun, and a lot more money raised. The concert is free to all, but a donation of food or money is strongly suggested. Again, all donations will go directly to the Danville Area Food Pantry to support its program.

"We were very encouraged by the support the community showed for the first event," said Lane Baldwin, Executive Producer of the event, and bassist/vocalist of Deeper Blues. "We were also very pleased that we were asked to mount a second, much larger event in the same year. It shows what a community can do for itself with the proper attitude."

"We set a very lofty goal - fifty-two thousand dollars a year," said Bob Stevens, of MidWest Management and coproducer of the event. "The first event, which was much smaller than this one, raised five thousand dollars in food and money, so with an event this large, we might actually reach our goal in our first year."

The concert will feature the return of all four bands that performed at the original concert: Deeper Blues, Doc Ashton & the Root Canals, Phaze II, and the New Kingdom Christian Church Choir. In addition, the event will include performances by Fifth World and Urban Squirrel, both from Chicago, and Benny Jenkins and Flathead Six.

Sponsoring businesses include KISS Country and KOOL Oldies radio stations, Neuhoff Broadcasting, The Spears Center for Servant-Leadership, Speedy's Quick Print, MB Music & Sound, Days Hotel, Casey's General Stores, Among Friends, Back Door Pizza, Charlotte's Café, County Market, Waldenbooks, Country Store Health Foods, Escape - An Aveda Salon & Spa, Blue Kangaroo Books, Wilson's Auto Service, Bud's Express Cellular & Car Stereo, Riegle Barber Shop, Turtle Run, Anker Florists, Danville Paper & Supply, Lincoln Lanes, Fat Boys Entertainment, Gold Rush Pawn Brokers, Danville Light Opera, Retro This-n-That, Monical's, Red Lobster, Pepsi Bottlers, Gutteridge Harley-Davidson, Big Lots, Downtown Danville, Inc., The Pawn Stop, Pepsi Bottlers, Village Mall, Royal Donut, B&J Music, Vermilion Valley Produce, and Tractor Supply Co., with more sponsors signing up every day.

Fundraising activities will include numerous gift basket raffles, 50/50 raffles, special auctions, and various gift items available for purchase. Radio station owner Larry Weatherford will MC the event, with special appearances by food pantry director Chuck Brooks, and several surprise guests. "This time, we want more of everything," said Baldwin. "More music and more fun, of course. But more importantly, we want to raise as much money and food as possible. It's going to be a long winter, and we have a lot of people in need."

Around the country, others are taking notice of Foodstock's success. "We're working with musicians in Sacramento, CA, and Nashville, TN, to mount Foodstock events," said Bob Stevens, manager for Deeper Blues, "and they'll operate under the same condition - that every penny and every pea goes to the program. No one is making a dime."

Other potential cities include San Francisco, Chicago, Champaign/Urbana, Peoria and Indianapolis. "In less than a year, the whole thing is going viral," Baldwin said. "We're all very proud that Danville is leading the way."

"It all started as a way to commemorate the release of our first CD, Dig the Hole," said Stevens. "We wanted to give something back to the community. We never thought it would become a national network in less than a year! It just shows that, with the right attitude, we really can change our world."

"Our charity work is extremely important to all of us," said Baldwin. "We all believe it's important to give something back to the community, to help make it a better place to live. This is one way we found we could help."

The Foodstock Fall Festival will take place Saturday, October 11, from 10-7, at Lincoln Park. To learn more about Foodstock, visit danvillefoodstock.com. To learn more about Deeper Blues, visit deeperblues.com.