Ride For Music , a team of cyclists and music industry veterans who were displaced by the pandemic, are currently biking from Tampa, Florida to Nashville, TN to raise awareness and funds supporting touring artist employees whose liveliho ods and careers were destroyed by the COVID – 19 pandemic. Ride For Music is a cycling organization and 501c3 nonprofit based in Florida and founded by Kevin Lilly and Kevin McCarthy . The group will stop in Charleston on Saturday, September 11th. “Ride for Music began as a response to the devastation the pandemic caus ed me personally, my concert venue and the entire music industry,” said Lilly. “ I completely lost my concert production company, while my concert venue catapulted towards bankruptcy. I was full of anger and frustration that the music and arts industry was left to fend f or itself by our government leaders with no financial aid provided. To this day, fifteen months after being forcibly closed, we still have yet to receive any relief funding while other industries received millions long ago.” I knew I had to channel that energy and frustration into something else more productive… I decided that I wanted to be a catalyst for positive change and attempt to turn something devastating in my life into something hopefully very positive for others.” The six – week c ycling tour began on August 17th in Tampa and will conclude in Nashville on October 1st with official tour stops being made along the way at independent American breweries and small businesses that suffered from closures associated from COVID 19. Much like Forest Gump, Ride For Music encourages the public to ride along for lengths of the trip. The planned stops will serve as rallying points to join a ride, share a beer and enjoy performances by partner musicians. The full list of stops will be posted in the charity website www.rideformusic.org Ride For Music will donate 100% of the money raised directly to the audio engineers, guitar techs, stagehands and tour managers that were forgotten in the government relief funding bills. The purpose of this campaign is to show support to these essential members of the live events industry for without them, live music would not exist. To donate, visit: https://www.rideformusic.org/get-involved-copy
