A Concert for Finland - June 19th

Expanding on their trend of local philanthropic performances, aged and confused Alameda cover band Old Coal will be playing an international benefit show to aid the country of Finland on June 19^th at John Patrick’s in Alameda. The show will feature karaoke as well as a Q&A session with Finnish defectors, Ian and Izumi Kennedy, who will detail the struggles of living in the Scandinavian country that ABBA is not from. While a benefit for a country with the 34^th highest GDP in the world may seem odd to most, Old Coal is concerned about the stranglehold Mobility giant Nokia has on the Finnish public and has seen the pain through the eyes of Kennedy, who endured a brief and forgettable stint as the band’s drummer in 2009. Says singer Neil Jessrobin, “when Ian showed us pictures of kids talking into shoe boxes covered in tin foil, on these so-called phones with Baltic herring used as antennae, I broke down in tears. In the world of the iPhone, the global symbol of freedom and happiness, this cannot happen.” Jessrobin, who has long studied Finland at the University of Wikipedia, continued “we’re only 24 years removed from the Japanese colonization of Finland and it’s been only 18 years since Kyostie Karetie’s groundbreaking parka-less performance shattered the world of bland family entertainment on the Kimo Toskala Variety Show . There is still hope for a Smartphone revolution for these peace-loving, fish-eating neighbors to the North”. Adds bassist Pete Spag, “Finland can be the next Minnesota if we can just raise awareness. If we can get one Finnish teenager to text while driving, just so we can later tell them not to, this show will be worth it.” This will be a free show starting at approximately 9:00pm.