You’ve probably taken many a “Slow Ride” around the Beltway in rush-hour traffic, but this time it’ll be for a good cause.
Foghat headlines the Rock & Roll for Children benefit concert at The Fillmore in Silver Spring, Maryland, on Saturday, March 9, with the Fleetwood Mac tribute band Tusk as the opening act.
“It’s for a good cause,” Foghat drummer Roger Earl told WTOP. “I’m so happy that I and the whole band have a chance to do this benefit for the Rock & Roll for Children Foundation. I’m really looking forward to doing this.”
You’ll hear a set list of classic-rock hits like “Slow Ride,” which first captured rock radio in 1975.
“At the beginning it was 7:40 [minutes long],” Earl said. “We released it as a seven-minute single, but of course DJs back then, a number of them started cutting the ending part out anyway, so we remixed the end, but it’s a classic tune. It actually started out with a John Lee Hooker riff and we added Foghat to it. Instead of a shuffle, it was a two-four [tempo]. At the beginning of the song, Nick [Jameson] said, ‘Just go bang,’ which I did. I love my job.”
Founded in Rockville, Maryland, in 2008, the Rock & Roll for Children Foundation has raised over $1 million for various children’s charities, including over $500,000 for The Children’s Inn at the National Institutes of Health, which allows families to stay on campus with their kids as they receive extended experimental treatments.
“It’s such a wonderful place where kids can have a respite from the care and their families can stay together,” founder Jon Belinkie told WTOP. “People don’t realize that The Children’s Inn, while located in the D.C. area, serves kids from 105 different countries, 1,500 families from all over the world. None of these kids or families have to pay to stay there. That’s why it’s so important that we do what we do to help them pay for this stuff.”
You can also bid on all kinds of trips, experiences and rock ‘n roll memorabilia, including Foghat’s original line of wine bottles and one of Earl’s former Ludwig guitar kits used on actual Foghat tours from 1985 to 1996.
“There’s an amazing auction with an unbelievable array of music memorabilia,” Belinkie said. “We have guitars from The Stones. We have a signed guitar from Taylor Swift. Taylor reached out and sent another one with her picture airbrushed on it. She happens to be very philanthropic and has been totally supportive of us every year.”
Listen to our full conversation on the podcast below:
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