Blazers to perform at Rock for El Salvador concert

Four bands featuring Blair students and parents will perform during the Rock for El Salvador concert at the Washington Ethical Society at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow, May 12. All proceeds from the fundraising event will go to the International Partners delegation.

There is a suggested donation of $10 for teens and $20 for adults, but the audience "can just give what they want to contribute," said Mairi Rothman, a Blair parent and coordinator of the event. "If you get a coke at the movies, you're spending ten bucks. Why not spend the same amount for some excellent music?"

The three-hour concert will open with pop music from the band Full House, according to Rothman.

"We will play some U2 and other music the adults in the audience can appreciate," she said. Later on, her son, senior Zach Rothman, will perform several Led Zeppelin songs with senior Jeremy Goodman and juniors Shaagnik Mukherji, Diego Ardila and Ele Rubenstein. Sophomore Sarah Rothman will host the event.

Zach Rothman said that he and senior Jeff Holliday will play songs by the Canadian indie rock group Death from Above 1979. The night will close with The Fighting Janes, a band that includes Blair sophomores Eric Merchant and Andrew Joseph.

The first Rock for El Salvador concert was organized by senior Bruno Falcon, who invited the Blair band Aeris to perform. Like the first concert, this second Rock for El Salvador will donate all proceeds to the International Partners, an offshoot of the Washington Ethical Society.

Mairi Rothman explained, "We are a humanities group that goes to El Salvador, to struggling communities where families make about an average of $100 per year and have identified ways to improve their own futures. We ask them what they need, and we raise money to get it for them."

Fifty International Partners volunteers and more than ten of them Blair students will go to El Salvador from July 13 to 30 this summer to help the communities actualize their rebuilding plans and to implement the new Safe Birth Project. Mairi Rothman, who is a midwife, estimated that about $3,000 will be needed to train 35 midwives in emergency procedures and provide them with basic birth kits.

Zach Rothman went to El Salvador as part of the International Partners delegation two years ago. He and other volunteers constructed a school building "the size of several Blair classrooms" with the help of local masons in 2004. This year, the volunteers will try to improve the school and build a community center and an eco-tourism business, said Mairi Rothman. She also stated, "I have a lot of faith in the Blair network of human beings to do good things, so I have a lot of hope that many people will show up tomorrow night to support their friends and do their part to change a little bit of the world."

The Washington Ethical Society is located on 7750 16^th Street NW (at Kalmia). For more information, contact Mairi Rothman at (301) 674-9976.