Pearl Jam Aims to Help Veterans Through 'Songbird Sings'

Pearl Jam is playing stadiums this summer and they stopped in Boston for two shows at Fenway Park on August 5th & 7th. The band's Vitalogy Foundation donated $1 from each ticket sold to four non-profit charities in Massachusetts and a quarter of the take when to Songbird Sings Veterans Voices, a charity that works with veterans who suffer from trauma, addiction, and post traumatic stress.

PJ broke attendance records at the Boston Red Sox stadium, selling 72,722 tickets over the two- night stand. That created donations of $18,180.50 for each of the four non-profits. Veterans Voices will also received additional support from the Foundation To Be Named Later (FTBNL), a charitable fund created by Paul Epstein, a Boston-area social worker, and his twin brother, former Boston Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein (a/k/a the man who ended. the Curse of the Bambino). Paul's still in Boston, but Theo is bringing the magic to Chicago now as the Cubs president of baseball operations.

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Robin Lane & the Chartbusters - "I Don't Want to Know" (1980)

Songbird Sings was founded by Boston new wave music legend Robin Lane, who released a pair of beloved albums with Robin Lane & the Chartbusters on Warner Bros. in the early 1980s. Originally founded to help women who were victims of violence, the organization has expanded with programs to aid veterans.

"Songwriting for war veterans with PTSD helps them get in touch with feelings that may have been isolated and numbed," said Lane to MassLive.com. "It allows them to feel and process actual emotions that are not dominated by trauma, start the process of making healthy life choices, and regain control over their own lives."

The grant money will be used to hold songwriting workshops for veterans. Each session opens with group drumming and includes 10-20 veterans working together to develop community, find their voices, and share their stories in song.

Pearl Jam's tour wraps up this week in NYC, but most of the band (minus singer Eddie Vedder) is reuniting as Temple of the Dog with Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell to take the 1991 grunge supergroup on tour for the first time. You can learn more about Songbird Sings Veterans Voices here.