MUSIC FOR A CAUSE
Blues & Brews Festival benefits group that provides guitars, lessons in detention centers
Phil and Linda Oliveira have dedicated their lives to the Freedom in Music Project, which they founded. The Freedom in Music Project provides guitars and lessons to youth detention centers and men’s and women’s recovery academies to give people at the facilities a positive outlet. Many of the guitars have been donated over the years from private citizens and companies such as Gibson and Fender, but donations are starting to dwindle and grants for the program are hard to come by. That is where the Blues & Brews Festival comes in. The event benefiting the Freedom in Music Project will be held on Saturday, Aug. 17. There is a $10 cover charge.
Now in its sixth year, the music festival has changed its location from Taos Mesa Brewing Co. in El Prado to the recently opened Blue Grasshopper Brewery and Pub in Downtown Albuquerque. The brewery can hold up to 175 people and features an outdoor patio. It also offers a food menu that includes brick oven pizza and about 50 craft beers from Blue Grasshopper and other New Mexico breweries.
“The sound system’s incredible,” Phil Oliveira said. “(There will be) six bands. They’re all playing for free. We’re very happy about that. They give us their time. We’re going to bring in drum kits, bass, mics and all that stuff. It will be a quick change for bands to go on and off. And all the bands and musicians are great. We’re very grateful to have them
for that day.”
Chris Raven will open the event at noon, followed by Beg, Borrow and Steal; the Trainwreck Blues Band; Trinity Soul; and The High Desert Blues Band featuring Phil and Linda Oliveira. Headliners Danny T and The Stealing Thunder Band will wrap up the night. The Freedom in Music Project will be raffling off a $100 gift card to Blue Grasshopper’s Downtown location, as well as a Fender Stratocaster electric guitar. Ticket holders receive two raffle tickets and can purchase additional tickets for $1 each.
Proceeds from the event not only help to purchase guitars but also items such as guitar strings, picks and other things
needed to maintain the guitars. The facilities visited also receive a written curriculum on the history of the sixstring guitar. It includes photographs of how to play chords, tablature, and basic tempo.
The Oliveiras’ dedication has paid off, and they will soon take their program to a detention center in Roswell. Their hard work and determination to give the people they serve some hope has not been in vein.
“When we first opened our first program, it was on Second Street,” Linda Oliveira said. “We were in Downtown Albuquerque at an event, and there was some kid working the sound board, and he said, ‘You don’t recognize me, do you?’ He looked so different. He said, ‘I want you to know one thing: What you taught me about music was wonderful, but what you taught me about life was even more important.’ He said, ‘I got my GED, and I’ve been accepted to college. I’m becoming a youth pastor. I’m taking a group of kids to Christian camp this summer.’ We were, like, ‘See? It works.’”