Todd Park Mohr of Big Head Todd and the Monsters will perform at this week's benefit concert for the Playing for Change foundation.

By Mark Brown, Rocky Mountain News
November 5, 2007

The Playing for Change foundation has a lot going on: It's producing two films about street musicians and has ambitious plans to construct music schools in foreign countries. Then there's this week's benefit concert at the Paramount Theatre with Keb' Mo' and Todd Park Mohr of Big Head Todd & the Monsters.
The foundation's mission statement is simple yet high-reaching: "connecting the world through music by providing resources to musicians and their communities."

Though the foundation is based in Los Angeles, executive producer Whitney Kroenke Burditt helped organize the show here - it's a music-friendly town, and besides, her family owns the Paramount, so there's more money for the charity. She talked about the show and Playing for Change with Rocky pop music writer Mark Brown.

Where did the interest in music come from that got you involved?

"I started out in theater and in dance. I've always been a big music fan applied to the work I was doing. When I met my partner, Mark John- son, he had the idea to do this proj- ect. What I liked about it so much was the immediacy of finding music on the street. And I loved finding things that were getting passed over. That's what piqued my interest."

It reminds me of Alan Lomax or the Dead's Mickey Hart, both of whom traveled the world recording sounds. How much of the filming did you go along for?

"The first film, I was there for all of it; the second, I was there for parts of it. It was an organic process finding the musicians. When we started out on the first one six years ago, we just started in Los Angeles because that's where we all were. We'd just walk around and listen. A Boulder- based company built a recording studio that we wheeled around. We'd say: 'Here's $50. Be here at this time at this place.' They'd show up and we'd park ourselves there and spend some time with them. Now it's the same idea. We found most of our musicians from other musicians. (One) suggested Barcelona - it's such a mixing place for musicians. We also have a connection with Jackson Browne and he has a place in Barcelona. We met Manu Chao out on the street. Crazy people play around there."

Do you find more street musicians in foreign countries? The laws seem to make it tough here.

"In Europe the idea of performing on the street has been more accepted and encouraged. I mentioned Manu Chao - people who are selling hundreds of thousands of records will come play on the street to feed their creativity. It's sad in the United States that they don't allow that expression. At the same time, you'd still be surprised at how many people are out there. In L.A. we have all of these regulations; New York is the same way. . . . If you say 'street musicians' people think 'homeless.' It's not that. People get record deals off the street."

Do you get overwhelmed by the scope of what you're doing?

"Yes and no. There are not very many of us on the production side, six or seven of us. We're all really close and have a close relationship with all the musicians. What's exciting now is, it's taking on a life of its own. We're making a TV show. We want to do the foundation. We want to do all these things. It's scary letting go of it a little bit. The potential to go and find people on the street is pretty much infinite. You can do it over and over again for years, finding new people."

How did Keb' Mo' and Todd get involved in the concert?

"Keb' has been a fan of our project since we started. My partner, Mark, had produced a couple of Keb's records. When we started to do the second (film), we asked if he wanted to do a song with it. We recorded him at his house and it closes the film. He sings on the song One Love, which we recorded with musicians around the world. . . . We got hooked up with Todd Park Mohr through (promoter) Chuck Morris. Todd is really excited. It's fun for the musicians who are bigger to play with the smaller musicians. The talent - it's there, and they're hungry. We've gotten a lot of interest from other musicians for another concert."