Matt Sorum (Guns N’ Roses, Velvet Revolver) is no stranger to giving back, be it by lending his talents as a drummer for countless benefit concerts through the years or starting initiatives on his own to bring music wherever needed throughout the world. It was on one such journey, in which he had issues getting 25 Fender guitars through customs in Haiti, that brought him together with neighbor and activist Abby Berman in their Los Angeles suburb.
Sorum was heavy a bunch of guitars, and Berman was trying to find instruments and funding for the nearby Rosewood Avenue School. The two became friends and decided to form Adopt The Arts in 2011 after California initiated massive funding cuts, which essentially eliminated music and arts in grades K-12. Since then, Adopt The Arts has “adopted” several schools by hosting numerous events which have helped purchase over 1000 musical instruments (primarily guitars), paid teacher salaries, and works tirelessly with the LAUSD School Board and State Legislators serving as advocates of the arts in schools.
The next big event for Adopt The Arts will be held Monday, January 12, 2015 at The Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles, where a gathering of some of the most talented musicians in the world will gather to perform with and honor BILLY GIBBONS and BUTCH TRUCKS for their contributions to American art and culture.
It is sure to be a night of amazing music with artists BILLY GIBBONS, BUTCH TRUCKS,SLASH, DUFF McKAGAN (Guns N’ Roses, Velvet Revolver), RICHIE SAMBORA (Bon Jovi), ORIANTHI, STEVE LUKATHER (Toto), EDGAR WINTER, JIMMY VIVINO (Conan O’Brien) vocalist FRANKIE PEREZ, MATT SORUM (Guns N’ Roses, Velvet Revolver) and many more special guests all performing! THE DISREPUTABLE FEW, a group of surprise killer musicians, will serve as the backing band for the night.
We spoke with Matt Sorum for a few minutes about the amazing group he had managed to gather for this event and he was ecstatic with the lineup, “I can’t believe how lucky I am to have such great friends that will show up if they’re in town when I call and ask them to help out with stuff like this. I guess I’ve done some things right through the years. I’ve forged a lot of deep friendships with some amazingly talented individuals and obviously haven’t pissed off too many people.”
The honoring of Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) and Butch Trucks (Allman Brothers Band) was something Sorum has been wanting 
to do for a while. “You know, the songs that those two guys have played on that are just monster hits could literally fill a stack of albums alone – just the hits! They’ve contributed so much through their decades of playing in these iconic bands.To show them some respect and pay homage for all they’ve given to the world through their music is going to be great. Butch is especially excited. Drummers never get any love! He’s flying in from Atlanta and is really looking forward to it. We’re doing an entire Allman Brothers set…and of course we’ll be doing ZZ Top as well. It’s just going to be a rockin night of music!”
This sold-out show is undoubtedly going to be a night of epic proportions and you can watch it LIVE free on http://www.vrlive.tv/ in the first ever 360 Virtual Reality filming of a full-length concert!
Sorum was extremely excited for this history-making aspect of the show, saying “This is going to be fantastic! If you’ve ever seen just the 360-VR view cameras that have been used for a few concerts from one perspective, then try to grasp how cool it will be to be able to literally look around the entire venue in 360-VR! That is going to be a trip! If you don’t have the special glasses, you can still get the 360-VR effect on any device (smartphone, tablet, desktop, laptop) but you have to move the cursor a little to see what you want.”
So you have no excuse! Kick back on your sofa, open a cold beverage, put it on http://www.vrlive.tv/ and watch this show live or on playback later. Again, it’s free to watch, but donations to Adopt The Arts are greatly appreciated and can be made from vrlive.tv or directly at http://www.adoptthearts.org/donate.php
WHEN: Monday, January 12, 2015
TIME: 10:00 p.m. EST / 7:00 p.m. Pacific
WHERE: The Roxy or on vrlive.tv in 360-VR
Check back on Friday where ‘Adopt The Arts’ will be featured as our ‘Pay It Forward Friday’ organization and more of the interview with Matt Sorum talking about this great foundation as well as Kings Of Chaos 2015!
