We were the first ones on the WWW to bring you news of the fire at 3145 Mount Pleasant St.

The first five-alarm blaze in the District in nearly 30 years forced hundreds of residents out of their beds and into the cold March weather in the middle of the night. Family photos, birth certificates, love letters, baby blankets, wedding dresses, family recipes, journals and diaries, passports, artwork, records, hard drives, clothes, toys, heirlooms, rainy-day savings tucked under mattresses: gone.

When the flames died down, over 200 people were displaced. While The Post describes the residents as “a diverse mix of immigrant families, single professionals, artists and musicians”, the fact is that the building was home to a lot of low income tenants who need our help.

The property had more than 7,000 housing code violations in recent years and at the time, the management was on the verge of settling a lawsuit filed by the tenants. DC Council member Jim Graham calls it like he sees it, “the fire is a classic example of eviction by neglect.”

Ryan Wakeman and an all-star line up of DC bands are determined to end this history of neglect.

In the spirit of Live Aid, Farm Aid, Live 8, and Live Earth… Rock to the Rescue! After seeing the devastation first hand, our resident Bob Geldof, aka Ryan Wakeman, enlisted the support of some of D.C.’s finest rock stars for a performance at La Casa where YOUR donations go to helping the residents get back on their feet.

We at BYT want to help the cause! So in addition to going to the show and donating what money we can afford, we’re going to get you guys PUMPED for the show with an audio preview of the bands who are going to make the spirit of Mt. Pleasant rise out of the ashes like a rock and roll phoenix.

And to make things even more fun we have paired US Royalty, Wild Fictions, Fever, Ra Ra Rasputin, The Coats, Kitty Hawk, and Sugarcane Crawl with their ‘85 Live Aid equivalents. AWE-SOME!!!!

US Royalty.

John, Paul, Luke, and Jacob (all biblical names, all very misleading)
myspace

Live Aid Equivalent: The Beach Boys
Why? Cause of the family connection (paul and john are brothers). And ’cause John hands down beats Carl Wilson in a beard contest and Brian Wilson in a crazy contest any day of the week.

Wild Fictions.

Chris and Kelly DeWitt
myspace

Live Aid Equivalent: The Pretenders
Why? Cause Kelly DeWitt is as cool as Chrissie Hynde

Fever.

Alex, Justin, and Aaron
myspace

Live Aid equivalent: The Cars
Why? Cause I say so. I love The Cars and I love Fever.

Ra Ra Rasputin.

Anna, Brock, Ken, and Patrick
myspace

**too busy practicing to send us tracks (good sign for an awesome show)
Live Aid equivalent: INXS
Why? Cause they’ll make you die from dancing before autoerotic asphyxiation is even an option.

The Coats.

Karl, Rocio, Jesse is Awesome

Live Aid equivalent: Dire Straits
Why? Cause they ALL get chicks for free (and Jesse Bishop will be wearing a headband)

Kitty Hawk.

Chris & Reuben
myspace

Live Aid Equivalent: Queen
Why? Cause one of the band members has a fake Freddie Mercury mustache in his flash myspace photo

Sugarcane Crawl.

Frank, Jessica, Meagan, and “Brother Weaver”
myspace

Live Aid Equivalent: George Thorogood and the Destroyers
Why? Cause they love tradition and were bad to the bone at their Gold Leaf show.

Thank you to Ryan Wakeman (left) and Live Aid Equivalent Bob Geldof (right)

COME OUT AND HELP THE VICTIMS OF THE MT. PLEASANT FIRE!!!! BE A PART OF BENEFIT CONCERT HISTORY!!!!

To learn how you can help more go to: http://www.hearmountpleasant.org/

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