(Marquette, Michigan) – About 100 people listened to folk songs and rousing harmonica music and drank hot apple cider at a free benefit concert in Marquette Monday night (Feb. 23, 2009) to help raise money for the nonprofit Cedar Tree Institute and its many environment and other projects.
National harmonica champion “Hurricane” David McChesney of Joshua Tree, California and folk singer Michael Waite of Marquette County performed in candlelight for two hours at the “Songs of the Earth” at Messiah Lutheran Church in Marquette, Michigan.
Twice named one of the 15 hardest working non-profits in America by World Magazine, the Cedar Tree Institute (CTI) was founded in 2004.
“To show respect and honor the environment we lit 100 votive candels during the concert,” said Rev. Jon Magnuson, the co-founder of the Earth Keeper Initiative and CTI director.
Best-known for its interfaith and youth-related environmental projects, the CTI founded the Great Lakes Earth Healing Initiative, the Zaagkii Wings and Seeds Project involving teens and Native American youth protecting pollinators and the Manoomin Project that is restoring wild rice across the central U.P.
Other CTI efforts include the Janus Project for hospice workers.
A songwriter from Joshua Tree, California, McChesney has played the harmonica for nearly four decades and performs under the name “Hurricane” David. An avid wildlife photographer, McChesney recently published the book “Muir Roots: At One with the Wild,” a collection of 176 color images and various tales about his adventures in the wilderness including the Galapagos Islands.
The son of a gourmet cook and an English professor from the Milwaukee area, Waite has always lived in the U.P.
Waite, who plays guitar, and two friends recorded the 2007 album “Let it Go.”
Waite played some ballads and original songs about a “stark winter” that were inspired by his home in the forest near Halfway Location between Marquette and Big Bay.
Both performers said they are pleased to help raise funds for the CTI because of its dedication to protecting the environment.
“Taking care of the earth and what’s around us is part of living on the Earth,” Waite said. “What ever you do you should include that as part of your work.”
McChesney, who lives near the Joshua Tree National Park in California, said “everything I have done has been nature and wildlife oriented.”
“I have been an environmentalist for years and years,”McChesney said. “My home is a wildlife sanctuary with 95 species of birds, bobcats on the roof, coyotes in the yard and roadrunners looking through the window.”
During the concert, Rev. Magnuson thanked Rev. Dave Van Kley, pastor of Messiah Lutheran Church in Marquette, who was just about leave with a mission group headed to Columbia.
Concert photos by Greg Peterson, CTI volunteer media advisor
CTI:
http://www.cedartreeinstitute.org
Michael Waite
http://www.michaelwaitemusic.com
906-360-7664
michaelwwaite@gmail.com
setitup@earthlink.net
“Hurricane” David Jesse McChesney
http://www.outmywindows.com
david@outmywindows.com
or call:
Carolynn J. Jean
906-249-9273
eaglewomancj@hotmail.com
Rev. Jon Magnuson, CTI founder
906-228-5494
906-360-5072
magnusonx2@charter.net
Greg Peterson:
906-401-0109
—
CTI projects:
The Zaagkii Wings & Seeds Project: At-risk teens, Native American youth protecting pollinators
http://zaagkiiproject.wordpress.com
http://www.youtube.com/zaagkiitv
http://zaagkiitv.blip.tv
The Manoomin Project: At-risk teens plant wild rice
http://www.cedartreeinstitute.org/wildrice2007.html
http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096416108
http://blip.tv/file/549632
http://blip.tv/file/341528
Earth Keeper Initiative:
http://www.cedartreeinstitute.org
http://earthkeepers.blip.tv
http://www.youtube.com/yoopernewsman
Earth Healing Initiative:
http://www.earthhealinginitiative.org
http://earthhealingtv.blip.tv
http://www.youtube.com/EarthHealingTV
Duration : 0:10:54
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