I know I have plugged Mark Johnson’s Playing For Change enough to make it feel like I have a personal interest, but I can’t help but support such a beautiful expression of uniting the world through music.  And, considering the amazing reach & impact it is having, I don’t think anyone can dismiss it’s significance.  Today, just hours before going to see the Playing for Change band at Club Nokia in Los Angeles, with special guests Ziggy Marley and Toots and the Maytal’s, I want to share their contagious story and a video of tour highlights from www.playingforchange.com:

“The Playing For Change band features musicians from around the globe, many of whom appeared in the now ubiquitous “Stand By Me” video (which has been viewed on the internet more than 30 million times) including New Orleans based blues singer Grandpa Elliott and soul singer Clarence Bekker from Amsterdam.  Momentum has continued to build for the project as founder Mark Johnson and the musicians of Playing For Change were just named “Persons of the Week” on ABC’s “World News Tonight with Charlie Gibson.”

Playing For Change has been one of 2009’s most unlikely and startling cultural phenomenons. Hear Music’s two-disc CD/DVD Playing For Change – Songs Around the World, released on April 28th, stunned the music industry selling over twenty-six thousand copies in its first week and landing at #10 on Billboard’s Top 200 Pop chart.  This remarkable and unpredicted popular response has been driven by tens of millions of video hits, countless blogs and pure viral communication between fans and followers.  The project’s deep emotional resonance, combined with the muscle of the internet and word-of-mouth has struck a profoundly enduring chord world-wide”.

Even if you can’t make the show, be sure to pick up a copy of the DVD: Playing for Change: Peace Through Music and the CD/DVD: Songs Around the World.[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJbTpaq9au8[/youtube]