Performers Ari Hest and April Smith and the Great Picture Show will mix music and message at Pick-Staiger Auditorium on Saturday, April 26.
The performance, which costs $10 for students and $15 for non-students, is part of a five-stop tour organized by Music Inspires Health, an organization that seeks to encourage healthy attitudes among adolescents and young adults through entertainment mixed with interactive education. The tour’s health portion will focus on health, fitness and prevention of HIV/STDs, smoking and depression.
The founder of the group, Benjamin Levy, a fourth-year medical student at Emory University, said he wanted to combine his love of music with his desire to create health programs that students could enjoy. Northwestern was the perfect venue for this program, he said.
“It seemed like a logical choice, because it’s got a great undergrad campus that’s connected to a medical school, and it’s got one of the best music and theater programs in the country,” he said.
Levy said he came up with the idea for Music Inspires Health after seeing the remaining members of Queen organize HIV/AIDS awareness concerts with Nelson Mandela in South Africa. His organization spent two years researching effective methods of presenting health information to young adults through meetings and focus groups, including at NU.
Ari Hest, who is headlining the show, is a singer-songwriter who released three albums under Columbia Records before leaving the label to work on his own project, “52,” in which he releases a new song every week to subscribers on his Web site.
April Smith is a New York City-based singer-songwriter who released her debut album “loveletterbombs” in 2005. After being invited to join the tour, Smith said she jumped at the chance to not only perform but also help set a positive example for others.
“Generally musicians are kind of looked upon as being rowdy people who have no regard for their health and they’re drinking and they’re doing drugs, so I think that it’s really cool to show people for some musicians it’s not that typical stereotype,” she said.
The show currently has no student group sponsoring it, as of Thursday evening. Right now, it is being promoted by two fourth-year Feinberg students: Thomas Kim and Amul Shah. The concert will help promote informed thought on habits common among some college students, including drinking, smoking and having sex, Kim said.
“Those habits are kind of formed when you’re younger,” Kim said. “It’s a good way to promote to young adults who are setting those behaviors for a lifetime, especially off in college.”
The concert would be about 95 percent music and only feature about six minutes of health education, which will be presented as short films dispersed through the show, Levy said. Additionally, each performer will deliver a personal message about staying healthy.
Smith said her focus is on smoking. She said she wants to make sure she can hit every note when on stage, and if she were a smoker this would not be possible.
“It’s not just being born with a certain talent that makes you a good singer or a good artist, it’s also taking care of that talent or taking care of something that’s really a gift,” she said.
Tickets for the 7:30 p.m. show are available at the Pick-Staiger box office and on Pick-Staiger’s Web site.
