24-ish hours after launching the Kickstarter campaign to help rebuild and replace the equipment that was lost or damaged during Saturday night's burglary, the Ridgewood DIY venue Silent Barn has already raised more than $20,000 of the $40,000 it says it needs to rebuild. Two people have even pledged $1,000, which gives them free entrance to the venue for life! The Kickstarter campaign will run through September 18; the video pitch, for those of you not familiar with the venue's past pre-burglary, is above.

Photo by Kevin Mazur/©Yoko Ono

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Better Than: Getting harassed by Lou Reed's manager.

There's many perfectly valid reasons to find Sean Lennon deeply dubious. The main knock on the guy is that he uses the obscene wealth and ridiculous connections to date models, to hang around in feathered fedoras, and to release solo albums periodically that are too annoyingly well-crafted to dismiss entirely. The extent to which this rap is fair is highly debatable, of course. But let it be said that to spend time with Lennon is to find him charming. He was clearly in awe of the special guests who dropped by last night, and when he plays bass he does the exact same head-bopping dances as Flea, which immediately makes him a thousand times dorkier than he looks and thus more likeable. And more importantly, and to his immense credit, Lennon is willing to use his connections for a good cause. He mentioned from the stage that he and his mother put together tonight's "Yoko Ono & Friends To Japan With Love" benefit show in a matter of days. (There was also a John Zorn curated affair at Columbia on Sunday that included Sonic Youth and Mike Patton.) The result was a packed, $100-a-head crowd at Le Poisson Rouge and a predictably impressive display of the power of one of the world's greatest friend's list.

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​"I've been inspired by Japan for many years and have a true love, appreciation and respect for the Japanese people and their culture," said early American-adopter and purveyor of Japan's Harajuku girl style, Gwen Stefani. "The disaster in Japan is beyond heartbreaking and I want to do anything I can do to help." Stefani has already donated $1 million to Save the Children's Japanese relief efforts, and sometime this week she'll be selling Harajuku Lovers t-shirts of her own design for the same cause. Stefani is, as you may've noticed, isn't the only artist who is attempting to rally for relief efforts. A guide to some of the best.

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Three-day weekend ahead for most of us, which is another reason to file over to Sunday night's spectacularly loaded tribute to too-soon departed Ari Up at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. Even without the excuse, there's so much planned to honor the riot-grrrl ancestor on the eve of what would have been her 49th birthday. Just look at this list from the press release:

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all portraits by Paul Quitoriano

Marlo! With a beard! Smiling!

A paintball tournament with cast members from The Wire sounded like one of the best id-fulfilling charity events ever, even better than a five-martini lunch with Sterling-Cooper executives. (Though maybe not as a good as a strip-club field trip with the Sopranos.) So when the announcement went out that Jamie Hector, the actor who brought to life ruthless young kingpin Marlo Stanfield, had organized a Cops and Robbers face-off between "The Streets" and "The Law" in Long Island City, count us as one of the many Internet-nerds/box-set owners very excited about such a prospect.

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The six-hour benefit for underground New Zealand songwriter Chris Knox at Le Poisson Rouge on Thursday was indie-fundraising done right: all-star jams that made sense, meaty set lengths, a thoroughly worthwhile lineup, decidedly fan-oriented ticketing, and a stunning marquee name to sell out the room at $75 a ticket (and thin it out pleasantly midway through, after he performed).

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Jack Dylan

It gets bigger if you click.

Things that good-hearted music-listening dudes and dudettes should do this week to make the world a better place:

1. 1) Purchase the new LCD Soundsystem record This Is Happening immediately because James Murphy explicitly asked the world not to leak it early and it's worth every iPenny;

2. 2) Buy one of the few remaining tickets to Brandon Stosuy's "Rites of Spring" event on May 2, because you simultaneously get to help Haiti and to stare (responsibly) at Björk, who will be DJing;

3. 3) Send guilt-inducing e-mails to Chris Knox benefit scalper Lee Shaker, who has since officially apologized for trying to make money off an event trying to help someone great felled by a stroke, but still deserves a reminder never to do such a thing again;
   

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CREDIT

Mangum: last spotted at Elephant 6's Surprise Tour in 2008

Mr. Mangum will just be playing "a very short acoustic set" on May 6, according to Pitchfork. But please don't start freaking out. "It's not the start of a comeback," his publicist tells P4K. Mangum's appearance is, rather, an altruistic gesture in line with supporting a Nantasket carousel: a benefit for friend and New Zealand musician Chris Knox who suffered a series of strokes last year. The event isn't posted on the venue web site yet, but we're told that Yo La Tengo, Kyp Malone, Portastatic, and Sharon Van Etten will also be there. What songs Mangum will do are unknown, but we're personally pulling for all Justin Bieber covers. [Pitchfork]

St. Vincent, Britt Daniel, Bon Iver, Zach Galifianakis,
Janeane Garofalo, and more
Haiti Benefit @ Music Hall Of Williamsburg
Saturday, January 23

BrooklynVegan might best be known for having the most obnoxious commenters in the entire music blogosphere (which, in fairness, is certainly no small achievement), but give the borough's most famous animal products opponent credit: dude's got a good heart. And reach, apparently. It's not just any half-assed blogger who can get icons of both alt-rock and alt-comedy together for an impromptu fundraiser for Haiti Relief. According to the BV post announcing the benefit, "100% of the proceeds" from the show were split between the Red Cross and a Haitian orphanage selected by performer/newly minted movie star Zach Galifianakis.

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If this doesn't say it all, don't know what does

Wyclef's Yele charity has recently drawn a firestorm of criticism, but he's not the only musical figure trying to mobilize folks and funds on behalf of Haiti. There's also an impressive number of benefit concerts and music events happening in the city over the next few weeks, plus a series of ongoing efforts from the likes of Lady Gaga to Clipse to Blink-182. Our exhaustive round-up of the ways artists are attempting to involve their fans, and the general public, in the relief effort, be it downloading a new song (or a great cover of an old one), buying a custom T-shirt, or sending that ever-so-simple text message. Did we miss something? Kindly leave it in the comments.

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