Local bands 'Stand Up' to be heard

By Julie Garisto
Published August 24, 2007

Stand up and sing

Stand Up for Kids, a benefit concert to help local homeless teens, begins at 8 p.m. Saturday, and features Military Junior, the Lake Audition, Inertia!, Joon, 48 States Away and spoken word by David W. Durney. Admission is $10, and includes a free 15-song Stand Up for Kids CD. Springs Theatre, 8029 Nebraska Ave., Tampa. (813) 695-5120. www.standupforkidscd.com.

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Vinnie Blesi digs local arts. The low-key fella helps bands and artists behind the scenes through his events site, TampaBayMuse.com.

But on Saturday night, Blesi will step away from his computer to present a concert at the historic Springs Theatre in Tampa. The show features local bands who appear on a CD compilation he produced to raise money for local homeless children.

Blesi's CD project started in February while researching Stand Up for Kids, a national nonprofit group whose goal is helping homeless and at-risk kids. He became impressed with the organization's grassroots work.

"I liked that they didn't spend a lot of money on raising money," said Blesi, 48. "Their approach is to actually find kids and do what's needed, like food and shelter ... (or) getting a driver's license or ID."

Over the previous months Blessi discovered "an explosion of good bands" on MySpace coming from Hillsborough, Pinellas and Polk counties. "One evening it just popped into my head to put together a charity compilation of my favorite of these bands," he said.

The end result includes several of the bands playing at Saturday night's show, plus Jeremy Gloff, the Vera Violets, Red Room Cinema and more.

"Instead of doing a sampler-type compilation of pop, blues, punk, etc., I wanted to put together a CD that had a succinct sound," Blesi says. "Similar to a good book or movie, the CD has a beginning, middle and end."

[Last modified August 22, 2007, 11:15:55]